A wonderful novel about a man who wakes up in 1999 under mysterious circumstances and has to begin putting his life together in a series of notes. He comes to remember that he lived in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, witnessed the fall of the Empire and advent of the Soviet Union, and then suffered under that regime in a way that led to his missing most of the 20th century and reawakening at the start of the new century. The novel is composed of daily notes, first from Innokenty, the patient, and then later from his doctor and one other character as well. It is a study on what we remember as significant in history and time - most people want him to talk about the political and social upheavals he remembers, but he wants to talk about the significance of sounds, smells, relationships, more seemingly mundane things.