The book, which was written from 1989-1995 and hidden away until a chain of strangers had the chance to smuggle it out, is a series of stories that “are a frank look at the life of regular citizens trying to get by under a repressive regime. Many of the characters fail to grasp the reality of the world in which they live, either through ignorance, stubbornness, or a misguided hope that the regime is more reasonable than it really is.”