The first thing that reviewers note in Natalia Chervinskaya’s prose is intelligence: “natural intelligence”, “sharp mind”, “smart, ironic” and even “too smart”. However, Lyudmila Ulitskaya, who knows a lot about writing, adds the ingredients: excellent education (VGIK), the merciless eye of an artist, innate wit, sad skepticism and free use of words. It is worth reading for anyone who remembers the role the Jackson-Vanik Amendment played in emigration from the USSR. And those who don’t know, even more so. The amendment was finally repealed, but life cannot be canceled or replayed - it was lived just as the “too smart” Chervinskaya wrote and drew it.