Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008)

Note: This is my fourth review of a non-fiction book, first on good reads. As a policy I don't give ratings for non-fiction works, I'm perfectly happy to let my personal biases reflect my opinions of non-fiction work, but I'd rather reflect on non-fiction as it is, than let how much I agree with it impact how much I like it

I just got around to reading Solzhenitsyn's 'The Gulag Archipelago', I read the abridged because I'm too much of a pussy to read 3 volumes of this.

The more recent editions prologue is written by Jordan Peterson, I didn't hate the prologue, I actually largely like Peterson as controversial as that is, but I do think that took away from the rest of the book. Peterson was (unsurprisingly) far more political than the book intended to be and probably would have turned some readers off from an otherwise highly valuable book

I learned a lot more about the operations of secret police than I expected too.

On the treatment of people in gulags, in some ways, it was much better than I expected, in some ways it was worse. My expectations were pretty low so I guess that was unsurprising.

We then get to the line, Solzhenitsyn's most famous quote, one I was familiar with well before reading this book, it's poetic, and probably would have been even more profound in the unabridged than the abridged version. "In the intoxication of youthful successes I had felt myself to be infallible", I mean maybe I'm wrong but had I read more about Solzhenitsyn's backstory, much of which, as I've been told, was cut from the unabridged version that already powerful quote might have been even moreso

But one thing I didn't know before reading which I love even more now, was directly after that quote, Solzhenitsyn says something I've been echoing for years, the importance of the Nuremberg trials. Putting evil on trial and actually giving evil a fair trial when doing so

I actually view the Nuremberg trials alongside the US Constitution as two of the pinnacles of morality in human history, and I was really happy to see Solzhenitsyn had similar sentiments, especially because he's a much better person than I am… (more)

This book is pretty much exactly what you'd expect. It's a day in the life of a man in a Soviet labor camp/gulag. I wouldn't say I enjoyed reading it, but it was fine. I'm not sure I really got much out of it since I feel like no matter what you can never *really* understand what it was these people went through. Like he said a warm man can never really understand a cold one. It was good, but I just can't really bring myself to be enthusiastic about it? This just feels like a book you'd read in high school to learn empathy and yeah I'm empathetic but IDK maybe I'm being too harsh. It was pretty good all things considered and I can see why it's historically important as well.… (more)

First published in 1962, this was the first book that openly talked about life in the Soviet gulag system. The story is very simple, it follows a single day in the life of a former Russian solider, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, now serving 10 years hard labour in Siberia after being falsely accused of treason because he was an escaped German POW.

The authorities claimed that "he’d returned from captivity to carry out a mission for German intelligence. What sort of mission neither Shukhov nor the interrogator could say…. Shukhov had it all figured out. If he didn’t sign he’d be shot. If he signed he’d still get a chance to live. So he signed."

The thing about this book that really struck me was that nothing really happens and is almost devoid of any emotions. Shukhov is counting the days down to his supposed release date with no idea as to whether or not it will actually happen yet shows almost no discontentment at all. He just goes through the motions of his day, the same day he has had thousands of times before. In fact, he feels almost serenely fortunate at the end of it because he'd managed to get hold of some extra food and smuggle a piece of scrap metal back into camp that he will be able to fashion into a tool with which earn extra rations in the future. However, he also realises that tomorrow the daily struggle to survive will resume.

“The belly is a demon. It doesn’t remember how well you treated it yesterday; it’ll cry out for more tomorrow.”

Solzhenitsyn writes from personal experience, he spent eight years in the gulag. The simplicity of this tale makes it a remarkable piece of powerful writing that shines a spotlight on an important piece of social history as well as being a history maker in itself. As such it deserves to be regarded as a classic.… (more)

I read Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago not that long ago, so although One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is a fictional novel I had a fair idea of what to expect. As with the Gulag Archipelago, what's startling in Solzhenitsyn's writing is that there's never any sense of self-pity, and black humour is always bubbling just below the surface.

This novel does what it says in the title. There's little reminiscing by the protagonist of life before the camp, nor wishing away the days to freedom (for as Ivan Denisovich knows, freedom may never come, with exile likely after he finishes his ten year sentence, if indeed another sentence isn't landed on him before that one finishes). The slim novel focuses on a regular day in this inmate's life in camp and is a glimpse into the reality of what millions of Russians endured - harsh work in extreme sub-zero temperatures in inadequate clothing with a belly half-empty from meagre food rations.

Given the extreme conditions that Solzhenitsyn writes of, his style intrigued me in this novel as it did in the NF Gulag Archipelago. Such is his protagonist's lack of self-absorption in the misery that's been inflicted on him, it's not a novel that left me with a profound sense of horror about the conditions the prisoners lived in. What sticks with me more is the grit and mental toughness of Solzhenitsyn (for this novel is undoubtedly based on his own experience as a prisoner). The novel even ends with a positive reflection by Ivan Denisovich, as he lies in his cold bunk with ice on the ceiling and his legs shoved into his coat sleeves, of all the things that had gone right that day, from not falling ill as he'd thought he would at the start of the day, to some extra rations for favours and his team not getting put to the worst of the work. It's remarkable, and perhaps that's the biggest insight of all - that those who survived were the people who were able to sustain the right mentality attitude and focus throughout these long sentences.

4 stars - an enjoyable read. Perhaps it would have been more shocking to me if I'd not read Gulag Archipelago relatively recently.… (more)