I am getting well through it now and it seems for me that the story line is becoming much more cohesive. One thing that I thought early on, and now the story seems to be flowing is more easily seen, for me the prose is short on rhythm and smoothness, seems choppy and a little technical to me.
Maybe the original Russian is that too, I have no idea, but wonder if it is a result of the exactness of translation rather than the translation caring more for "nice prose".
One paragraph I liked very much and thought appropriate for this time:
"Those caught hoarding and concealing food supplies will be shot on the spot"
Supermarkets are bare of flour here, it is all stored in the pantries of hoarders with overly grand intentions of turning into bakers (seems a whole country of bakers is materializing?). Not a bad ambition, but sure to fizzle and the flour spoil, while the rest of us who have the routine of just buying what we need for our normal week or so of baking bread or other items go without
.