cover image Soviet Women: Walking the Tightrope

Soviet Women: Walking the Tightrope

Francine du Plessix Gray, Francine Du Plessix Gray. Anchor Books, $15 (228pp) ISBN 978-0-385-41733-4

Gender stereotypes, fragile families, sexual frigidity and limited knowledge or use of birth control are rampant in the U.S.S.R., where women are expected to have both full-time jobs and large families. According to PW , ``Gray's series of sharply focused, brilliantly incisive vignettes add up to a remarkably revealing, often surprising profile of Soviet women under glasnost .'' (June)