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Title: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn ISBN: 0-679-44464-5 Publisher: Everyman's Library Pub. Date: 14 November, 1995 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.42 (105 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A classic of the twentieth century.
Comment: This was Solzhenitsyn's first published novel and it caused a sensation. I first read the book when I was in high school in 1964 and recall being stunned by the story (even at that early date, high school students were reading the book and, as can be seen from the comments of the other reviewers, high school students are still reading it). It relates one day in the life of a prisoner, a carpenter who had been imprisoned on baseless charges, in a labor camp in Siberia in the Soviet Union under Stalin. Solzhenitzen drew on his own experiences in labor camps to write this short book. A few years later, he was awarded the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Rating: 5
Summary: Life in a gulag, on one fine day
Comment: I read this book on the recommendation of a friend, who said he literally shivered through the entire book. So did I.
This is Solzhenitsyn's tribute to the millions of people lost inside the Gulag Archipelago. Unlike the mammoth Archipelago, which documents the evil prison camp system of the Soviets, this is an intimate story of just one man, Ivan Denisovitch, who is sent to the impossibly harsh camp because he returned as a prisoner-of-war and was thus by definition, a traitor.
The book takes place over one day in Ivan's life in the Gulag. He schemes for an extra ration of bread, he survives an inspection, he grasps the crumbs of existence that literally are the difference between life and death. At the end of this day, you feel as cold as the sub-zero Siberian air. This book is utterly brilliant and, though depressing, heroic. Ivan never sacrifices his humanity for a moment.
There was an actual biography (now out of print) by Victor Herman called Coming out of the Ice. He was an American caught in the Stalin purges and imprisoned in a Siberian gulag. He survived the deadly games of partial cannabalism and lived on rats he trapped. He eventually got out and was able to document his experience. It compares exactly to Ivan Denisovitch. (By the way, where did the gulags go after the fall of the USSR?)
Rating: 5
Summary: Magnificent
Comment: There are some books that stay etched in you're memory and "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" is one of them. The first major breakthrough in the Solzhenitsyn repertoire is a powerful, moving account of the everyday struggles a prisoner of the Gulag faces. This vivid account that Solzhentisyn effortlessly conveys, details the experiences, motivations and practicalities of life that Ivan Denisovich encounters within a Russian labour camp.
The truly remarkable and gripping feature of this account is that it comes from a man who has lived and breathed the exact struggles that is reflected in Ivan Denisovich's character.
Tvardovsky, the Russian editor who founded this great literary work noted that "not a drop of falsehood" existed in this account and did everything possible to see it controversially published in the face of strong opposition. For this reason alone it I thought it was deserving of a read and I wasn't disappointed.
This book does not concern itself with the wider implications of life in the Soviet union because these wider issues do not effect the character. What the character is concerned with is managing to survive another day in this typically unforgiving labour camp and how he draws upon his extensive experiences and instincts developed from his years in prison.
Although this book is primarily focused around one man, there is a huge amount of insight into the variety of different prisoners that are prevalent in labour camps, ranging from the beaten up scroungers to the over privelleged slackers. This gives the reader a fresh perspective some idea of how much so little can be worth and what is vital to basic survival.
Anyone who has a fascination with life in Russian labour camps in the Stalinist era or who just wants to lose themself in a moving account should pick up this wonderfully written, flowing piece of literature. Solzhenitsyn truly pours his soul into this work.
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Title: The Gulag Archipelago: 1918-1956 by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn ISBN: 0060007761 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 22 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch (Cliffs Notes) by Franz G. Blaha ISBN: 0822009609 Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: 01 April, 1986 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn ISBN: 0374511993 Publisher: Noonday Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 1991 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: The First Circle by Thomas P. Whitney, Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn ISBN: 0810115905 Publisher: Northwestern University Press Pub. Date: October, 1997 List Price(USD): $16.05 |
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Title: Things Fall Apart : A Novel by Chinua Achebe ISBN: 0385474547 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 September, 1994 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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