Ilya Ehrenburg's [The Thaw] is without doubt the most important literary work published in post-Stalin Russia…. No single document from a Soviet source since the mid-thirties has provided such a revealing image of the Soviet citizen and his life.

Significantly entitled The Thaw, Ehrenburg's book reflects that brief period, now referred to as the "Malenkov era." The significant changes which occurred during this period revealed the extent of the internal dissensions which had arisen under Stalin's rule.

As a novel, The Thaw is good journalese, in the genre of the "slick" magazine story, with a fast-moving, formularized plot. But although its significance as literature is slight, as social commentary it is outstanding.

Unlike most Soviet novelists, Ehrenburg has here broken with official Party demands that Soviet life be shown "as it should be" rather than as it is. Soviet life is shown candidly, with all of its hardship...