The plot of the book revolves around a substance called "blue lard" that the clones of Russian writers produce when they write[1] which is then used to power a hidden reactor on the moon.

[2] Some of the cloned Russian writers include Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Akhmatova, Chekhov and Nabokov.

In June 2002, a Russian youth activist group, Walking Together, threw portions of copies of the book into a toilet installed outside the Bolshoi Theatre, in protest of Sorokin's collaboration with the Theatre.

The group accused Sorokin of writing pornography, due to the novel's inclusion of a gay sex scene between Khrushchev and Stalin.

[1][2] A review from the Financial Times stated that the book helped "cement Sorokin’s place among the greats.