Interweaved with flashbacks, the story takes place in Kharkov in 1958, during the 41st anniversary of the October Revolution.

Eddie is a 15-year-old boy who comes of age as he writes poetry and tries to rebel against a society he thinks is amoral.

Eddie loses his virginity, wins a poetry contest and participates in a robbery that goes wrong.

[1] Kirkus Reviews wrote that the book "tries hard to shock but ends up being the story of your basic bright, sensitive boy who isn't quite cut out to be a monster of depravity, though he does try".

[1] Publishers Weekly wrote that "Limonov expertly captures the horrifying boredom of working-class Soviet urban life, and uses just the right hip, offhand tone to describe Eddie's adventures in the demi-world of teenage gangs and small-time hoods".