The Queue by Vladimir Sorokin. Short summary

5 seconds

A description of a meaningless Soviet queue in the USSR. Vadim meets Lena there, but spends the night with Luda, a store clerk.

1 minute

Lena, a student at the Textile Institute, is standing in line. No one standing next to her knows what has been «thrown out. There is chatter about nothing.

Lena meets Vadim. He looks more intelligent than the people in line, but he too stands meaninglessly behind some product, not knowing if he needs it.

It’s the end of the workday. A woman writes numbers on the palms of the people in line, but everyone is afraid to go home. Vadim and Lena spend the night on a park bench.

In the morning, everything repeats itself: empty conversations, roll call. It begins to rain. Vadim is taken into her apartment by Luda, with whom Vadim, after a meager meal and high-pitched conversation, copulates.

It turns out that Luda works at the «Moscow» store, which is where the queue is