This was fantastic. Alternating between 1986 and 2006, this is the story of two boys (young men) who meet at a Soviet summer camp, Camp Barn Swallow.

The book begins in the more modern era, where we find Yurka returning to the ruins of the camp which held such an important place in his life. As he wanders through the camp’s remains, he starts having flashbacks to the fateful summer in 1986. Each place he sees within the camp’s remains has some kind of memory attached to it, most all of which involve a young man named Volodya, who was a counselor at the camp but only slightly older.

As we travel through the story, we experience the summer, the forbidden love that develops between the boys, and the events that unfold after the summer is over. As the boys grow, events unfold within their lives and the Soviet Union and its downfall which cause them to lose track of each other.

This is why, 20 years later, Yurka returns to the camp, seeking a long buried time capsule.

I enjoyed this story. It makes quite a statement about what life was like in the final years of the USSR and the stigma within their culture over two men having feelings for each other.

As you read this, remember that it has been translated from Russian to English, and while I feel it was done quite well, some may feel it is a bit off.

This is a wonderful journey of falling in love, losing each other, losing one’s way in life, and yet still having the hope reconnecting with your lost love one day.

This book has been banned in Russia, so you know it’s something that should be read. I’m eagerly awaiting the next two books in the series to be released.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher/author for this copy of the book.

Interesting in premise, I found the writing to be hard to follow and I was not a fan of the main character. there were one or two supporting characters that stood out to me but all in all, one that I will not revisit.

I had mixed feelings while reading this book. On one hand, it was enjoyable to immerse myself in the everyday life of the Pioneer camp. There was a sense of nostalgia, even though I’ve never been to a camp myself.
On the other hand, I couldn't fully connect with the romance between Yura and Volodya. It felt a bit shallow to me, even though I understand it’s their first love — and a significant one, especially since we know what happens to them later in life after that unforgettable summer at the camp.

One of the biggest highlights for me was the portrayal of homosexuality in the USSR and how being gay was impossible during that time. This theme was really well explored, and I found myself sympathizing with the characters and their stories.

I’d definitely recommend this book, especially if you’re interested in immersing yourself in the atmosphere of a Soviet summer at a pioneer camp.

It seems unfair to offer a star rating since the narrative's trajectory and point-blank, no-frills style made reaching the end impossible. Unfortunately, "Pioneer Summer" is too distracted by the historical significance of its setting. Yet even its exploration of the cult-like nature of the Soviet Union feels like a distracted perusal of a topic buried beneath an endless stream of names. The queer angle of the story is glimpsed from afar, obscured by a mirage and a wall of cursory assumptions. The language, likewise, reflects the monotony and slight artifice of a typical airport read, lacking both flair and flow. It serves merely as a tool for quickly constructing a story for those who view literature as little more than formulaic drama on paper. Then again, since the book has apparently found its audience on TikTok, perhaps its appeal is best assessed by that specific readership.

This one was such a cute little read, the plot and overall sotry line was good. I do like the style of writing and the plot.

1 star

Bear with me. The story of how I ended up reading this book is a long one (but not as long as the book itself, don't worry).

I'm currently studying Russian in college and my professor was absent for a few days to go to a conference. When he came back he told us that he had been on a panel about a popular book in Russia. The book in question was Pioneer Summer (the Russian version), which was a queer romance about two boys at a Soviet pioneer camp that had originated as a self-published work on fanfiction.net. When it was published, the book became so popular that it prompted a massive crackdown on queer literature in Russia. My professor said that the book was being translated into english and published in the US this summer, and vaguely alluded to not liking it. Of course, when I saw it on NetGalley, I had to read it! I'm regretting it a little now, not going to lie.

For many years, Yura has spent his summers at Camp Barn Swallow, a Soviet Pioneer camp. Now 16, he meets the new troop leader Volodya and the forbidden flame that arises between them will follow them many years into the future. I would like to preface this review with the fact that I deeply love fanfic and I am fully in favor of the recent trend of traditionally published fanfic. Fandom and fanfic have a special place in my heart–I've even written fanfic myself–so I went in fully ready to love this. Good god, I did not.

Most importantly, this book commits the sin of simply being boring as hell. It's about 450 pages and I could have easily cut it in half. One entire chapter is about 20 pages of a play-by-play of the crappy show that the campers put on, and about 10 more are about Yura making up scary stories to make the campers behave (this happens several times). It's unabashedly tedious and long-winded. The writing also feels super awkward and pretty cringe at points, which might be a result of translation but you can really only blame the translator so much.

Yura is a child, and everyone else in the book knows it. He's called childish by many people and remains childish throughout the whole book, including after the events of that summer. Also, reminder, Yura is 16 and Volodya is 18, which isn't the worst age gap ever but since Yura acts about 12 it's pretty uncomfortable. Volodya is pretty neurotic, which generally I think is valid given that it was not a good time to be in the Soviet Union and especially to be gay, but it makes him feel very one-note. All the female characters are either crazy, whiny, or generally useless so that's not great. Generally all the other characters are totally inconsequential, it's probably not even worth learning their names.

There's also just some deeply strange messaging around queerness. Volodya mentions that his gay sexual awakening was...his cousin. Weird parallel to draw between homosexuality and incest but, hey, The Secret History did that too and it's a masterpiece supposedly so whatever. Yura and Volodya later mention disliking flamboyant gay men and that's never challenged. There's a bit of a self-harm narrative but it's really there for no reason. There's a brief non-graphic sex scene that, despite being non-graphic, made me quite nauseous. All around, pretty terrible.

There's definitely more but I'm not flipping back through the book to check what I missed. I appreciate this book for acting in resistance to the queer censorship laws in Russia but pretty much everything else about it sucks.

Thank you to Abrams Press for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review.