"MEN -IN A HURRY."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 224, 21 September 1935, Page 2 (Supplement)

"MEN -IN A HURRY."

NOVEL OF SOVIET RUSSIA.

"Men In a Hurry," written-by Juliette Pai-y and translated from the French by Beatrice de Ilolthoir, is described by its publishers, J. M. Dent »nd Sjons, as "a novel of love and hate," whose scene is laid By turns in Paris, New York and Moscosv. It is a story of life under the Soviet and centres round the activities of Washington Dodd, an American auto-matic-maciune millionaire, who takes his wife and daughter to Russia, on a business expedition undertaken with the purpose of securing a contract for the supply of Crimean wines to the' States after flio repeal of the Prohibition laws. The book is written in what may be termed jazz style; short scenes succced each other somewhat disconnectedly and alternate here and there with chapters which consist of little more than a series •of news items culled from the world's Press on some topic or another with which the novel is at the moment concerned. The whole effect is Similar to that produced by the technique of the screen; as a novel it may be read with some interest as an experiment in form even by those who cannot be bothered -attempting to follow the story. The best parts of the narrative are those which deal intimately with the ordinary ! physical discomfort of daily life in Moscow, of which a few extraordinarily vivid pictures are presented.