Vladimir Sorokin's first published novel, "The Queue," is a sly comedy about the
late Soviet "years of stagnation." Thousands of citizens are in line for . . .
nobody knows quite what, but the rumors are flying. Leather or suede? Jackets, j
eans? Turkish, Swedish, maybe even American? It doesn't matter-if anything is on
sale, you better line up to buy it. Sorokin's tour de force of ventriloquism an
d formal daring tells the whole story in snatches of unattributed dialogue, addi
ng up to nothing less than the real voice of the people, overheard on the street
as they joke and curse, fall in and out of love, slurp down ice cream or vodka,
fill out crossword puzzles, even go to sleep and line up again in the morning a
s the queue drags on.
