Monday Begins on Saturday

It's incredible that people read this as a satire of (quoting the Goodreads blurb here) "Soviet pseudo-science" when it's so clearly applicable to research-focused academia in any context, or honestly any job involving working with and around the idiosyncrasies of your colleagues. Granted Vybegallo can be read pretty clearly as a Lysenko analog, but I think the more interesting parts of the book are the ones where its affection for the process of scientific labor outshines its scorn for the foibles. The final section on Nevstruev is particularly poignant as well as being really strong science fiction writing, which obviously the authors are capable of but still takes one by surprise that far towards the end of what is up until that point a largely humorous book.

What if Terry Pratchet had been born in Soviet Russia instead of Englad?returnWhat if the company from Office Space researched magic?returnWhat if Terry Gilliam intentionally set out to design academia cum government agency in charge of magic then filmed it?returnAny of those could be the elevator pitch for Monday Start On Saturday. As is par for the course with the Strugatsky's, we have some brilliant criticism of the Soviet system deftly embedded in fantastical settings and storytelling to help them get by. We experience the inept silliness of the government agency in charge of magical research through a programmer and mathematician everyman. A lot of the fun is built around references to and easter eggs of a wide variety of folk/fairy tale characters as well as some literary characters. Unfortunately, while I recognized the vast majority, I think a few references to russian or slavic folktales went a bit over my head. Rather than a novel, this is really a set of vignettes, presented as both 'chapters' and 'stories' of various goings on at the Institute. As such, it does feel a little incomplete and meandering. It also lacks the overall punch that the tighter narrative of Roadside Picnic possessed.

Bizar, philosophical, rich of ideas and really funny to read. Once again a fantastic novel of the Strugatzky brothers.
As other reviewers already pointed out, you get a far deeper understanding of the books meaning when considering the time and place it has been created. In the first half of the 60ths in the soviet union. There are many references regarding the absurdity of the world view of the regime.
Another part I really enjoyed are all the work groups in the magical institute. Each of them working for decades on something very complicated in their special field - most of the time without any use for anyone. Just because they can and it's 'science'. Reminded me at my time in university ;)

The title, Boris Strugatzki mentions it in the afterword, isn't meant to be negative. Saturday begins on Mondat aka no free-time... Instead it's a very optimistic view, where each od your days is good and you don't need weekends anymore because you need a rest of your exhausting worklife.


.... and the book is just full of great ideas. I laughed a lot :)

What a fun read. Now How the hell am I going to get my hands on the rest of the books from this series in English... Younger Me You Fool, Why didn't you pay attention in Russian classes back in high school!?

Anyway, regrets aside, to the review. The book comprises three humorous short stories featuring Soviet Scientists/Wizards working at NITWITT (National Institute for the Technology of Witchcraft and Thaumaturgy) and their daily troubles. By the style it's like the wizards from The Unseen University but written almost 20 years before Pratchett's Discworld series and dealing with typical Soviet (and basically any variation of a socialist regime) bureaucracy, inept administration, a dishonest, show-horse professor, and equipment failures. Not to mention fairy tales gone wrong: Baba Yagas property belonging to the state and waiting for compensation, the wish granting Gold Fish died from a depth charge in WWII, the wish granting trout exhausted from giving televisions and radios to the people, the all knowing cat suffering from dementia and many many more.

The characters are almost all scientists working at the institute trying to figure out happiness, meaning of life and solve mathematically proven unsolvable problems, while arguing, debating and trying to survive their other colleagues. And who knew that Merlin was a staunch Communist before Karl Marx.

And finally the brilliant title Monday Starts on a Saturday that reflects the authors ideal of a proper scientist.