Reading 1001 discussion

5 stars
11 jan 2018

Solzhenitsyn wrote a really good novella that effectively showed the horrendous life of people in the forced labor camps run by the Soviet government. He showed the dreariness and sameness of the days, which must have led to so much boredom and even mental breakdowns. He allowed the reader to feel the cold seep into their bones. He made me hungry. I was completely immersed in the story and longing for a way to break the pattern. And then as the book wound to an end he brilliantly told of the thousands of days left to live in the hellish place! I think this final sentence may have been one of the best I have ever read. Powerful.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is an remarkable portrayal of one day in a soviet era 'special' work camp for political prisoners. Although you are only given the activities of one day, the reader shares many horrible feelings of hunger and freezing cold, but also pride in being able to survive and even some pride in being able to effectively scavenge or wile one's way into situations where you will get an extra piece of bread or gruel. This balance of the terrible conditions and the survival instincts of the men, and especially the desire of the main character, Ivan, to maintain some small dignity is what makes this such a triumph of a book. Although we are only given one day, the suggestion of endless days stretching out to an unknowable future closes the book leaving this reader stunned.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
4/5 stars

Alexander Solzhenitsyn is a former Soviet battery commander and is a survivor of the notorious Soviet Gulag. The story is fictional but clearly written by someone with first hand knowledge. The book is literally a day in the life of a prisoner in the Soviet hard labor camp. The story clearly expressed the challenges prisoners went through just surviving the day especially in the Siberian cold. Bread is an important component of this story and I will never look at a piece of bread in the same way especially the crusty bits. I also enjoyed the afterward by Eric Bogosian and the introduction by Yevgeny Yevtushenko.

“The ones that don't make it are those who lick other men's leftovers, those who count on the doctors to pull them through, and those who squeal on their buddies.”

“There is nothing as bitter as this moment when your go out to the morning roll call – in the dark, in the cold, with a hungry belly, to face a whole day of work. You lose your tongue. You lose all desire to speak to anyone.”

“Unlike Primo Levi's horrific account of the Nazi death machine (many features of his stories are almost identical to Solzhenitsyn's, right down to the manner in which the soup is ladled out), this was not a story of something that had happened in the past and now was thankfully over.”

A novella, that depicts life of a prisoner in Siberia for a crime he did not commit. So good. I love this author. I read this in 2009. Reason read: 1001
This book was published in 1967 as translated by Ralp Parker. I read it in 2009. It is the story of Ivan Denisovich Shakhov, an ordinary Russian citizen who is in a labor camp in the 50s and it encompasses a single day. In this single day, Ivan moves from misery, to hard work, to contentment, to religion. He gives to get, and in the end he gives without any plan to receive back. I liked Alyastika. A refreshing characterization of a Christian. Themes; struggle for human dignity, outrage of unjust punishment, and the importance of faith. The cold particularly was so real to me. The individuality as depicted by Shutchov's spoon and bread that represents physical and spiritual sustenance. A short novel but so full.