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Grossman uses a Tolstoyan grand perspective and realistic writing style to narrate the experiences of the Shaposhnikov family during the Soviet Patriotic War, and connects hundreds of characters and a series of intersecting historical events through the experiences of family members. The pain of history, the abuses of reality, and the difficult situation of human nature under the double crushing force of totalitarianism and war are all included in vivid and profound details. Grossman is "the first writer to rise up against Soviet totalitarianism after World War II." His unique experience and humanitarian courage make this book shocking enough to scare the powerful, and it can be called a beacon of freedom in Soviet Russian literature. This book contains elegies and reflections on the Nazi extermination camps and the Soviet Gulag, philosophical thoughts and discussions on life, politics and historical destiny, and a depiction of the struggle between the extreme evil and subtle kindness of human nature... It is still deeply shocking when I read it today.