Narbikova relaxes her dense, meandering style in this work, written after Day Equals Night, and turns in a finely tuned, hilarious account of the romantic beginnings and absurd collapse of a love affair. In perestroika-era Moscow, two sisters fall for the same man. Petia, a college romantic, is madly in love with the much older Boris, a sculptor. Her older sister, Yezdandukta, is a 35-year-old virgin obsessed with housewifely duties. Boris loves Petia passionately, but because of a comic errorÄPetia oversleeps on New Year's EveÄBoris and Yezdandukta find themselves in bed together. Narbikova does a fine job of mocking the exaggerations ("Petia became so emotional because of the things that were visible and invisible that she was lifted up almost half a meter off the ground") and stupidities ("he did it because he didn't know what else to say, but after he did it, he didn't know what else to do or what to say") of love. The Soviet Russian backdrop, where "names served as substitutes for substance," is described in equally bemused terms. This fresh and sharply observed novel, which, like its predecessor, won the Nabokov Prize, may be a more accessible introduction to Narbikova's fiction than the more difficult Day Equals Night. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved