This slim novella tells the story of, surprise surprise, four soldiers, I guess in the Russian Civil war in the 1910s. We never hear which side they fight for or which side they fight against. For them, it isn't about politics but rather just what they do. They drift together at the beginning of the book, survive the hardships of a Russian winter using teamwork and cleverness, then march to a plain, where they once again just sit around and wait. Eventually, they march off again, where the book ends in a spasm of violence.

Interesting little book that brutally describes the tedium of war, where little things, like a watch containing the picture of an unknown woman, make all the difference in the world. I really enjoyed how it ended too, in a clever, sad, unexpected way. Nothing too spectacular, but a really nice book.