Reviews

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

alix2a's review

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Read it bc I had to but it’s informative and good

celtic67's review against another edition

4.0

Read at school. Fantastic book.

pithingcontest's review

informative slow-paced

3.0

[6/10] Very informative, no-frills look into a day in the life of a prisoner in Stalin's Siberia. Reminds me of reading Night by Elie Wiesel in middle school. Really not sure how to rate this one—it definitely accomplished its goal and is clearly a landmark novel in the history of literature, but at the same time it would feel inappropriate and inaccurate to say it's my favorite book ever or anything. It's obviously not trying to have some satisfying narrative arc that would please me personally; it's a political event, and I'm still very glad I read it! Only reason it's not higher is because of my brain's personal ranking system, I guess.

mikaylagoodwin's review against another edition

dark reflective tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

bibliobrandie's review against another edition

Got halfway through this and just couldn't finish. Maybe I should read it at a time other than the dead of winter.

sharkduck125's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

bonz_authorshipdown's review

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.75

I liked this book, but nothing really stuck out to me too much. I liked the sort of commentary it had but then again it also wasn't anything special but I can't say the book was bad.

cfoley's review

dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

rosmarus's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

wildweasel105's review against another edition

5.0

This is an unforgettable journey into one man's life encapsulated in one day in Siberia circa the early 1950's. Solzhenitsyn brings the reader to the harsh and bitter reality of the Soviet Gulag. The hero, Ivan Denisovich, has the soul of a bird, flying above the trappings of the cruel prison system that Stalin had designed to showcase "man's inhumanity to man".

I read this as a college freshman in 1972, and the bleak, yet stirring tale of the triumphant human spirit is just as poignant today as the first time I read it!