A Russian history, yet

Once the quote (Putin) data highlight of the book, we understand that it will, definitely, be much more than a biography. Through the prism of the character Limonov, that's life in the USSR and Russia that one bed Limonov as it appears in the novel of Carrère is a little friendly aventureier, certainly. But whatever. "Sympathique" is not the word that best characterizes the daily life of the USSR and post-Soviet Russia.
Life in the USSR and Russia is often a bit surreal. That of Limonov also, in its way.
Limonov, fictional character - historical character - the character of the news is also an illustration of what the Soviet system meant for art and thought, but also for everyday life; an illustration of the cataclysm that was the collapse of that regime in the life of an extraordinary man.
In short, as always with Carrère, nothing is simple, but here we resolutely passes from the personal and family dimension to a historical dimension.