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Title: A short story with a hard cover
Review: Although certainly not the worst book I've read, the promising setting and conflict of this book made its poor execution a real disappointment. Mostly set in a Leningrad beseiged by the German army (with many flashbacks) the narrator presents his tale with little emotion, virtually no character development, and an absence of plot. The book is more short story than novel; don't let the number of pages fool you: the type is large and widely-spaced. It's an afternoon's reading, if that. All in all, I'd suggest waiting until this book makes its inevitable way to the remainder rack.
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