A classic adventure story, a tale of endurance and survival, The Long Walk is the story of a Polish officer who escaped from a Siberian Gulag and walked to India.

Whilst doing research for this review, I discovered that another man claimed that Rawicz had stolen his story. Witold Glinski says that the events in The Long Walk actually happened to him. Glinski claims Rawicz read an account of his voyage in the Polish embassy in London, and based the book on that recollection. In retrospect, this explains the curious character of the book. The book is incredible, but too incredible to be fake. There is just something about the book that rings true. But nonetheless, the book has a dreamy character, with strange bits that probably are the result of Rawicz making things up that he didn't really know. Reading Glinski's account makes much more sense of the things that happened, the flow is better, and nothing seems out of place.

Accusations had been leveled against Rawicz from the moment the book was published, but the BBC discovered evidence that Rawicz was in fact serving with the Polish Army after being released from the gulag during the time the events in the book occurred.

Despite all that, I liked this book. Given that it does seem to be based upon true events, it is still worth a read, even if it wasn't Rawicz who actually walked to India. There are a couple interesting things in the book that I noted. One thing that came to mind only because I am reading The Science of Conjecture by James Franklin, is the Soviets had a strange insistence upon obtaining confessions. Rawicz/Glinsky spent several months in the Lubyanka prison while the NKVD was attempting to obtain his confession. In retrospect, this seems strange. Why bother? There was not really any danger of a popular uprising in the WWII period, they did not need to obtain confessions.

However, going back to the 10th century in Continental Law, there was a preference for confession above all other forms of proof in legal cases, due to the difficulty of interpretation of other kinds of evidence. Confession was felt to be unambiguous in ways that other kinds of testimony were not, primarily for religious reasons. This struck me as funny, in a perverse way, that the Soviets insisted on confessions for their show trials when the ultimate reason for doing so traces back to the Torah.

This book is also excellent for the sense of the vast emptiness it effectively creates. Central Asia has a whole lotta nothing going on, and this book will make that impression stick in your mind. ( )

18 February 2001
The Long Walk
Slavomir Rawicz

The long walk of the title was from a soviet labor camp in northern Siberia, south across Asia to India. The author was a Lieutenant of Polish Calvary, who was arrested by the Russians after the partition of Poland, convicted and sent to Siberia. He was tortured both in Kursk and in Moscow's Lubyanka prison, and refused to sign a confession, and so was sentanced to 25 years labor in 1940. He survived the march in the cold north from the Trans-Siberian railway, past Lake Baikal, to a point north of the Lena River, to a timber camp in the great Siberian forest. He determined to escape, and reasoned that travel towards the South was less risky for recapture. He and seven companions, including an American engineer, escaped in a snowstorm, walked for two days without pause in the snow. They then traveled for more than a year across Mongolia, the Gobi, and the Himalayas. Four of the seven reached India. The author describes seeing some creatures in the Himalayas that might have been the abominable snowmen.

From the afterword, it seems that this book was somewhat of a phenomenon in the 1950's, when it was first published, after the author settled in England. He received correspondance from all over the world about it, but curiously never again saw his companions on the trek after separating from them in India. ( )

http://thebookwormslibrary.com/?p=93 ( )

Slavomir Rawicz was a Polish cavalry officer in World War II. He came home on leave and found himself arrested by the Russians for the crime of, well, being Polish. He was kept in prison, but refused to confess. After a few months, he was tricked into signing a confession and shipped off to Siberia for 25 years hard labor. After a horrible trek up into the northern wilderness, he finds himself in a Siberian work camp.

He decides he's not about to spend 25 years there, and makes plans to escape. He enlists six other men, a Latvian, an American, other Poles, and they sneak out in the night. Their escape plan will take them through Mongolia, across the Gobi Desert, up and down the Himalayas, and through India.

It's an incredible story. I couldn't put it down once I got started. Sometimes there were gaps in the story, but it was absolutely gripping. Really worth reading. ( )

I really, really wanted this to be a true story, but it is a complete fake (search on Wikipedia). I read it several times at an impressionable age. There were so many things that seemed just fantastic and yet almost possible nut turned out to actually be impossible.
If this was a true story then it would be a 4 1/2 stars. As a work of fiction I give it three stars. I suggest that anyone interested in this story read Heinrich Harrer instead. ( )

This was a suggestion by a non-fiction book club that I am a member of. The subject matter of the book was way too intense to complete during the holidays (December). I did manage to get thru the first six chapters but the story line wasn't progressing fast enough to hold my attention. If this were a book to read for say March or April, I would probably be totally engrossed. However, during December I was looking for a lighter - feel good, happier ending. So, I'm not saying don't check this book out - just be prepared for a difficult journey when you do. It is detail oriented, super serious, full of self-sacrifice and totally worthy of a Lenten read. ( )

First published in England in 1956, this book tells the story of how the author, a 25 year old Polish cavalry officer, escaped from a Soviet labor camp during WW II. With 6 companions, he trekked 4000 excruciating miles through Siberia, Mongolia, China and Tibet before reaching freedom in British India. Despite incredible hardships in the tundra, Gobi desert, and Himalayan mountains, the fugitives struggle southward month after month, surviving on solidarity, the kindness of local inhabitants, snake meat, and pure guts.

Narrative Context: High

Subject: Personal narrative, survival, epic adventure, imprisonment, escape, freedom, torture, labor camp, war, World War II, 20th century, Poland, Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, Central Asia, Tibet

Type: Memoir

Pacing: Fast-paced. The plot moves the story along.

Tone: Direct and understated.

Similar Titles or Authors: As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me: the Extraordinary True Story of One Man’s Escape from a Siberian Labor Camp and His Three Year Trek to Freedom by Josef Bauer; Rescued by Mao: World War II, Wake Island, and My Remarkable Escape to Freedom Across Mainland China by William L. Taylor; The Man the Nazis Couldn’t Catch by John Laffin; Love and War in the Apennines by Eric Newby; Escape from Archangel: an American Merchant Seaman at War by Thomas E. Simmons; The Flame Keepers: the True Story of an American Soldier’s Survival at War by Edward A. Handy; The Last Escape: the Untold Story of Allied Prisoners of War In Germany, 1944-45 by John Nichol; We Die Alone by David Armine Howarth; The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III: the Full Story of How 76 Allied Officers Carried Out World War II’s Most Remarkable Mass Escape by Tim Carroll; We Refused to Die: My Time as a Prisoner of War in Bataan and Japan, 1942-1945 by Gene Samuel Jacobsen

Whole Collection Context: Empire of the Sun by J. G.

Special Features: Map of journeys to and away from gulag.

Learning/Experiencing: Exciting and unbelievable survival experience; learning about Russian labor camps during WW II.

Characterizations: Story told from narrators point of view, but there are a small number of sympathetic secondary characters.

Story Line: Escape from enemies to freedom, but also survival in extremes of weather and hunger/thirst and psychological endurance. Pretty incredible.

Language: Clear, straightforward, unembellished.

Setting: Setting is extremely important to the story. The escapees crossed 4000 miles of Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, and Tibet in extremes of cold and snow, heat, hunger and thirst, and difficult terrain.

Fascinating, well-written, matter-of-fact style that rings true. Can't help but doubt its authenticity, though. Yetis? Was he hallucinating, or did he make this up? Come to find out there is no little controversy - a BBC article details some of the research done to check veracity. Dubious, as I suspected. ( )

This is a great story of the human spirit, in many different ways ~ one that lingers. Ronald Downing did an amazing job of putting Slavomir Rawicz's words into both simple English prose and poetry. There is nothing fancy about the writing, but it is spare, beautiful and captures the lands of Siberia, Mongolia, Tibet and not often written about areas during WWII. "Slav" is an understated amazing person. He escapes, along with 6 other prisoners, from a Russian "work camp" where he is unjustly held for 25 years on suspicion of being a spy (he never was). I was humbled by the group's devotion to each other. I was waiting for the inevitable implosion of the group, splintering off, etc., but it never happened. These folks hung together until the end, or their untimely demise(s) ... each person contributing his/her strength to the journey and for the common good. The instant kindness and sacrifice they showed to Kristina (a young Polish fugitive they pick up along the way) was amazing. This book is a quick read and I highly recommend it, especially if you like stories about seemingly "common/normal" people doing heroic things (a favorite subject of mine). Know that it is quite sad though, as one would expect. ( )

http://spwebdesign.livejournal.com/53... ( )

This is the heartfelt memoir of a Polish man who escaped from a Russian work camp. What a wonderful thing it is that an account like this is now preserved in published form! This is a very emotional work and also a very well-written one. The writing style is rather vivid and even to a degree poetic. Either the author is a very talented writer or he got some good assistance! I'm afraid this review can't do justice to the book. Get it and read it yourself! ( )

This was my form 3 English novel, way way back. It blew me away as a 13 year old, and it blows me away still. The Eastern European names are hard to master, but this incredible true account of stoic survival and an awe-inspiring journey will move you. ( )

Somewhere, buried deep in the depths of my brain...is a kernel of information that casts doubt on Rawicz's journey. (not the gulag/escape part, but the long journey SOUTH to India...) I recall reading a mild criticism based on some observable facts, and some historical research. Don't remember source, date, etc. Any help???

Memoir of a Polish soldier captured by the Russians, tortured, forced to sign a false confession while drugged, and sent to a labor camp in Siberia. From there he escaped with others and set off on foot to India. Tale of survival and human limits. ( )

Interesting and dramatic tale of a successful escape from a Soviet Gulag. The Abominalbe Snowman makes a cameo. ( )

Quite possibly the most inspiring book I've ever read. This thing is awesome from start to finish. ( )

I was worried that it would be too much history, or that Slavomir would be self pitying, but neither was true. This read like an action/adventure story. ( )