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Title: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn, Richard Brown ISBN: 0-7861-0329-9 Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks Pub. Date: May, 1992 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 4 List Price(USD): $32.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.41 (109 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Harrowing Tale of Stalin-Age Work Camps
Comment: Stalin gets off easy in the annals of history for his butchery, probably because he fought with the U.S. against Hitler. But this book will make people think a little differently. Stalin was a man who killed nearly 100 million of his own people, ostensibly in the name of security, but the real reason lies in paranoia and power-hunger. This is a tragic story by a man who experienced the same thing. Solzhenitsyn spent time in a Soviet labor camp because he made a derogatory comment about Stalin. But Ivan Denisovich Shukhov's crime is even less. He is captured by Germans in World War II but escapes to Russian lines. Instead of being decorated, he is caught in one of Stalin's witch hunts and is labeled a German spy. He confesses to a crime he did not commit, and is given 10 years hard labor. One Day chronicles his life in the camp. It is a story you will not soon forget. This short volume tells of the back-breaking work, the cruel injustices, and ultimately denounces Stalin. If the book had been published ten years earlier Solzhenitsyn would most likely have been killed. But Krushchev allowed it to be published. Along with Doctor Zhivago it stands as one of the greatest pieces of Soviet Literature ever written, still as powerful today as it was when published in 1962.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Sickness of Communism
Comment: "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich," by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, is one of those books that look deceptive. It isn't that long, and it's a little mass-market paperback that would blow away with the wind. Even the cover design really doesn't convey what lies inside. What we have with this book is a worthy contribution to the annals of Russian literature. Solzhenitsyn finds himself in the ranks of Tolstoy, Turgenev, and Gogol with this gripping tale of the Stalinist Gulag system. Solzhenitsyn went on to write a massive indictment of the Gulag system in a three-volume work called, "The Gulag Archipelago." Solzhenitsyn won a Nobel Prize for Literature and found himself exiled, forcibly, from the Soviet Union for his writings. He returned to Russia after the collapse of Communism.
As the title indicates, the story covers one day in Ivan Denisovich's ten-year prison sentence. Ivan is a peasant who runs afoul of the authorities when the Germans capture him during the war. When he finds his way back to the Soviet camp, the authorities charge him with treason and sentence him to the camps. Denisovich is luckier than many of his fellow convicts; they are serving 25-year sentences. This day is better for Ivan than most; he ends up getting a better work assignment, a member of his squad gets a parcel loaded with food, and Ivan manages to get extra food rations. He even scores some tobacco, his only weakness.
Ivan lives day by day; it is the only way he can survive the camps. What is most shocking about this book is the matter-of-fact way in which the story is told. All of life is reduced to acquiring food and staying warm. Following the rules and avoiding punishment is just as important. Woe to the man who ends up in the guardhouse cells for ten days. I was nauseated by how hard Ivan worked on the power plant. Here's a guy who is a prisoner, forced to lay bricks in the middle of winter, and he is busting his hump to do a good job. But in a way, this can be uplifting, too. Ivan refuses to give up to the brutality of his condition. Every day is a struggle, but Ivan never grouses or causes problems. He accepts everything camp life throws at him and triumphs. You get the impression that Ivan is going to make it out of the camp no matter what.
This is an excellent book that exposes the real face of Communism. No matter how brutal Communism is (or was) as a system of government, it failed to crush the spirit of humanity. I recommend reading this book in conjunction with Arthur Koestler's "Darkness at Noon," another book that exposes the sickness of Communism.
Rating: 3
Summary: Wouldn't really be worth your time, if it wasn't so short.
Comment: I'd give this book 2 stars if it weren't for the historical and political significance it has accrued. Like a lot of "dissident" literature, Solzhenitsyn's work has become overrated. The narrative voice here changes abruptly from an erudite prose to "Shukhov" speaking colloquially, and back again. The political points made are as unsubtle as the characters themselves. And really, when you think about it, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov doesn't really have that bad of a day...just a dull one.
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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: Doctor Zhivago by BORIS PASTERNAK ISBN: 0679774386 Publisher: Pantheon Books Pub. Date: 18 March, 1997 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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