This is the sense of there being no objective reality in these worlds - because the truth can simply be changed at any time by the government. Whether that’s the mother’s love for the daughter with mismatched eyes or the secret service for safety. Something similar is happening here, in Bottled Goods, there is a sense of everything being bargained for. In this story Omon Ra becomes a cosmonaut in everything but reality. The soviet idea that everything must be accounted for somewhere. I feel in a lot of ways this could be read alongside another short book, Omon Ra - which is about the way in which the soviet’s believed that even if they were faking a moon landing, there should be an amount of effort expended somewhere to ensure that there is a kind of balance.
Everything everyone does in this worlds is in reference ot the secret police, to the favours and pardons that are required at all levels to get what they want.
A class struggle exists within the confines of the communist theatre - which is what the location of many of the events feels like. One of the main conflicts is between Alina and er mother, and the way that the mother does not approve of the life that Alina had chosen for herself, including her husband, who is from a much poorer family. I won’t spoil it, because it’s a lovely turn in the book. Later, a magical realist twist is very pleasing. There are some quite normal chapters, where the changes are simple switching of perspectives, or something spoken from a different character from the protagonist. It has the filmic quality of most modernist novels that flick between the formal stations without a flash of static between.
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