A review by emmkayt
Red Plenty by Francis Spufford

5.0

Face it, you've been waiting all your life for a fictional account of the intricacies of mid-twentieth century Soviet economic planning, WITH FOOTNOTES, and you didn't even know it! The author usually writes non-fiction, and initially set out to do so here, but somewhere along the line he settled on a marvelous structure of interrelated fictional vignettes, each section framed both by a quotation from a Russian fairy tale and by an italicized non-fiction introduction to the historical developments in question. The particular focus is on the USSR's mid-century shift to try to move from the quick ramping up of an industrial economy to the creation of 'plenty' for its citizens, and its challenges. Well-explained, and the stories are funny, poignant, and illuminating. There is an entire chapter in which a character applies linear programming methods to the distribution of potatoes. I loved it.