Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: 20th century classic

It is almost criminal that a book this beautiful and this important is unread, and almost forgotten. Some of Serge's fiction barely qualifies as such, written more as an essay than as a novel. Not so this. It does have an unusual structure, with each chapter focusing on a seperate character caught up in an absurd -- but utterly terrifying -- purge under Stalin. Yet each character is exquisitely drawn, with even the most despicable people rendered human and sympathetic in some way. The scenes, from a snowy Moscow night to a vast Siberian plain to a Spanish civil war hideaway, are stunningly evoked.This should be read with the best fiction of the last century, not consigned to the back shelves with cold war historical documents and Soviet oddities. Serge speaks to terror and freedom of thought, existential choices and the ability to reconcile oneself to imperfect realities. Utterly inspiring.