USSR: Diary of a Perestroika Kid

Fiction. It's hard to be sentimental about a Cold War Childhood if you grew up on the Soviet side, in the forgotten Belorussian Republic, in a crumbling industrial city like Mogilev. But it's even harder when your friends kick your ass and piss on your beloved collection of model cars. With USSR—a big title for an intimate story—Vladimir Kozlov offers an unforgettable perspective on the 1980s, when all that matters in a boy's life are rock and roll, fistfights, and clumsy attempts at masturbation. With Gorbachev and Reagan lurking in the background and the Soviet economy on the verge of collapse, Kozlov presents life on the streets of Mogilev through the raw emotions and diabolical slang of kids who cannot fathom a world outside their own. Like a fucked-up Soviet spin on The Wonder Years, USSR reminds us that to be young is to be ruled by embarrassment and terror. But it wouldn't bother you to grow up on the crumbling edge of the Soviet Union, if only your friends would stop kicking your ass.