I understand why Polyakov is popular and certain readers love books like Гипсовый трубач: folksy humor, something I don't much like in English or Russian. In this case, I read 130 pages of chitchat between a filmmaker and a writer who go outside Moscow to discuss (allegedly) a project. Then I abandoned the book: I found a few decent laughs but most of the humor felt either too easy or too forced. And, sorry to say, just plain boring. There's just not much "there" there.