This book does an excellent job of not only being fun and exciting to read, but of realistically portraying living conditions in the USSR. Katya and the other characters are all recognizable to a former inhabitant of that dreadful (former) country, and strangely enough, reading the book evoked an odd feeling of nostalgia... BTW, the movie, too, is excellent, although I'd probably read the book first. It is similarly realistic and evocative.