[I Am From Moscow] presents a simple, lucid, and convincing account of life in the Khrushchev era. (p. 138)

Much of the book deals with the petty concerns of daily life, commuting, shopping, negotiating with the bureaucracy. These themes once provided material for the satires of Zoschenko and of Ilf and Petrov, but in recent decades have been considered too serious for laughter. Krotkov deals with these subjects in incisive personal terms and also writes with complete frankness about the problems of sex and family life usually concealed by the "hypocritical puritanism" of the Communists. Thanks to a lively sense of humor he can present the funny as well as the sad aspects of his experience in the Soviet Union. (p. 139)

Oscar Handlin, "Life & Letters: 'I Am from Moscow'," in The Atlantic Monthly (copyright © 1967, by The Atlantic Monthly Company, Boston, Mass.; reprinted with permission), Vol. 220, No. 5, November, 1967, pp. 138-...