Well this is embarassing, but I don't think I "got" the majority of the references in this book. From page one it felt like we were spoofing something, but I don't have the cultural background to know what. Names were said in a joking way, childrens stories littered throughout (I did catch Baba Yaga), and the colorful characters felt like they were stand-ins for ideas or perhaps stereotypes of unfamiliar things. This is the favorite book of a friend and I feel bad being unable to fully appreciate it.