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mcglassa's review
4.0
Considering the surface level story is about the events on a cancer ward (depressing) and the deeper story is about totalitarianism in Soviet Russia (super depressing), the book is enjoyable and addictive. I found myself wanting to read on for another chapter, wanting to find out more about the nonchalant way the hospital doctors discuss patient's cancers and their impending treatments.
Much of the deeper meaning probably went over my head, but I enjoyed the story and the range of characters in the book - all thrown together under one roof on the ward. As with any Russian literature, it can be confusing at times when every characters has several names, but I didn't find this hindered the story. I particularly enjoyed the last few chapters when the whole mood of the book changed.
Much of the deeper meaning probably went over my head, but I enjoyed the story and the range of characters in the book - all thrown together under one roof on the ward. As with any Russian literature, it can be confusing at times when every characters has several names, but I didn't find this hindered the story. I particularly enjoyed the last few chapters when the whole mood of the book changed.
samrosen's review
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
edders's review
5.0
Having just finished this I am now eager to obtain a copy of Solzhenitsyn's other more famous work, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.
The parallels between a hospital and a prison have been the basis of much artistic and philosophical thought for at least a century: the institution, the lack of choice, the submission. Uniform, regulated times for actions and meals, prohibitions, etc. This is not missed in this book, by the author or by his characters - but it plays secondary to the urgency of death pressed over all the patients on the ward. They begin their own grappling struggle with the meaning of their lives and what they should do in the time they have left. There is much here which is compatible with now accepted ways of treating patients in this position, respecting their willpower, informing them of choice and recognising that they have come to seek treatment not as blank slates and pieces of flesh to receive biological cures but as human entities with desires, fears, agendas etc etc.
The passions evoked in each character and the urgency of life in this book make it very enjoyable and it feels like an authentic portrayal of many dilemmas and life situations. There is a strong political element to this novel - and a stronger one to Ivan Denisovich, focusing as it does on the camps only alluded to in this book - and it is all the more valid in the politics represented because it feels devoid of contrived cliches or artificial pictures. Obviously the situation is changed and no doubt things happen a little more dramatically than they might in real life but the agonies and passions felt are convincing and evocative.
I recommend this but those that read it may well be dulled by the translation or confused due to lack of context. This book is caught up in the intrigues of Soviet Russian power and without knowledge or curiosity about them it perhaps wouldn't have the same sparkle.
The parallels between a hospital and a prison have been the basis of much artistic and philosophical thought for at least a century: the institution, the lack of choice, the submission. Uniform, regulated times for actions and meals, prohibitions, etc. This is not missed in this book, by the author or by his characters - but it plays secondary to the urgency of death pressed over all the patients on the ward. They begin their own grappling struggle with the meaning of their lives and what they should do in the time they have left. There is much here which is compatible with now accepted ways of treating patients in this position, respecting their willpower, informing them of choice and recognising that they have come to seek treatment not as blank slates and pieces of flesh to receive biological cures but as human entities with desires, fears, agendas etc etc.
The passions evoked in each character and the urgency of life in this book make it very enjoyable and it feels like an authentic portrayal of many dilemmas and life situations. There is a strong political element to this novel - and a stronger one to Ivan Denisovich, focusing as it does on the camps only alluded to in this book - and it is all the more valid in the politics represented because it feels devoid of contrived cliches or artificial pictures. Obviously the situation is changed and no doubt things happen a little more dramatically than they might in real life but the agonies and passions felt are convincing and evocative.
I recommend this but those that read it may well be dulled by the translation or confused due to lack of context. This book is caught up in the intrigues of Soviet Russian power and without knowledge or curiosity about them it perhaps wouldn't have the same sparkle.
ianchanning's review
4.0
The daily life of a cancer patient. I read it as a teenager, perhaps I was too young to understand
aishie's review
4.0
So, this is not quite a joyous, fluffy marshmallow, look at the cute puppies, feel good frolic through a meadow. Which, in fairness, the title does go a long way to dispelling any thoughts you might be harbouring on that front! What it is, is a hard hitting allegory about the Soviet Union and the chaos it was in, trying to recuperate after Stalins reign of terror and how difficult it was for some to leave this behind, and for others who were rebelling against the poison. Read literally- it's a look at the lives of cancer ward patients, who are also dealing with a reign of terror in their bodies.
Education doesn't make you smarter. And so is the second chapter of the 'cancer ward' entitled. Never a truer 5 words spoken/written. These words uttered in this chapter, by Kostoglotov, while we're still at the scene setting part of the novel,resonates throughout. The seemingly educated man of the ward seems to be the one least versed in the way of the new, Stalin free, world. The one who is struggling to understand what's going on, why he's not being afforded certain privileges he previously had, why there is a lack of respect for him. In short, the new world. That quote, twanging its way through the novel, also makes itself known in the real life world, the world we live every single day. Who can say they don't know someone who is super smart, super intelligent, but who couldn't cross a road safely If they tried. This rings true for the allegorical side of the novel, all these seemingly smart people who are highly educated but who let themselves be involved with Stalin, his regime, the purging that went on etc etc. this small review space doesn't even begin to cover what went on in this mans lifetime! One of
The characters, Ludmila Afanasyevna is an interesting one. I admire her persistence and her single minded was with regards the care of her patients and how, above all else, operations/medicine/radiation therapy supersedes everything else. Now, I admire it, I don't however agree with it. One of her beliefs ' Ludmila Afanasyevna was unshakably convinced that any damage to the body was justified if it saved life' resonated with me throughout the book. I know this book is of an allegorical nature, so if you're to read this as the literal sense, the human body, is what she's saying, that to put the body through serious trauma and seriously erode someone's quality of life, worth it for them to have that life? I know this is a sensitive enough topic, but personally myself I don't agree with that. To prolong someone's life, but to take away their ability to live that life doesn't seem worth it to me.
Then, if you're look it at the allegorical level, its truly a commentary on the current state of the Soviet Union (this takes place 2years after Stalins death).Ludmila and Stalin-staunch in their views, to a point of detriment? Stalin during his reign as the leader of the Soviet Union implemented some serious changes, insofar as the structure changed dramatically to a more industrial fuelled economy, the widespread nature of the labour camps and of course the famine which was a direct result of the change of the economy, his Great Purge regime, the Cold War etc etc. Solzhenitsyn, through his character, with such a bold controversial statement must surely be making some allusion towards the regime and how damaged the country was afterwards. Yes it survived, and yes it emerged as a super power-but at what cost.
In Chapter 16, Rusanov received a greater dose than normal of a radiation type injection(the a actual contents of which escape me now) and he ends up having a horrific dream, and when woken up from it, has difficulty distinguishing the dream from reality (a little like a Fr. Ted sketch we all know and love...well, anyone from Ireland or the UK anyways!). Another extended metaphor on the poison that Stalin pumped into the Soviet Union and that after his death, it took the citizens a little while to distinguish between right and wrong? You have to hand it to Solzhenitsyn he weaves quite the not so hidden tale:-) he's using the tumours and the poison used to treat them so effectively to make all these extremely bold statements about the disarray the Soviet Union was in, particularly bearing in mind that Stalin was only dead 14years when this work was published and they were still very much feeling the after effects of his tyrannical reign.
Education doesn't make you smarter. And so is the second chapter of the 'cancer ward' entitled. Never a truer 5 words spoken/written. These words uttered in this chapter, by Kostoglotov, while we're still at the scene setting part of the novel,resonates throughout. The seemingly educated man of the ward seems to be the one least versed in the way of the new, Stalin free, world. The one who is struggling to understand what's going on, why he's not being afforded certain privileges he previously had, why there is a lack of respect for him. In short, the new world. That quote, twanging its way through the novel, also makes itself known in the real life world, the world we live every single day. Who can say they don't know someone who is super smart, super intelligent, but who couldn't cross a road safely If they tried. This rings true for the allegorical side of the novel, all these seemingly smart people who are highly educated but who let themselves be involved with Stalin, his regime, the purging that went on etc etc. this small review space doesn't even begin to cover what went on in this mans lifetime! One of
The characters, Ludmila Afanasyevna is an interesting one. I admire her persistence and her single minded was with regards the care of her patients and how, above all else, operations/medicine/radiation therapy supersedes everything else. Now, I admire it, I don't however agree with it. One of her beliefs ' Ludmila Afanasyevna was unshakably convinced that any damage to the body was justified if it saved life' resonated with me throughout the book. I know this book is of an allegorical nature, so if you're to read this as the literal sense, the human body, is what she's saying, that to put the body through serious trauma and seriously erode someone's quality of life, worth it for them to have that life? I know this is a sensitive enough topic, but personally myself I don't agree with that. To prolong someone's life, but to take away their ability to live that life doesn't seem worth it to me.
Then, if you're look it at the allegorical level, its truly a commentary on the current state of the Soviet Union (this takes place 2years after Stalins death).Ludmila and Stalin-staunch in their views, to a point of detriment? Stalin during his reign as the leader of the Soviet Union implemented some serious changes, insofar as the structure changed dramatically to a more industrial fuelled economy, the widespread nature of the labour camps and of course the famine which was a direct result of the change of the economy, his Great Purge regime, the Cold War etc etc. Solzhenitsyn, through his character, with such a bold controversial statement must surely be making some allusion towards the regime and how damaged the country was afterwards. Yes it survived, and yes it emerged as a super power-but at what cost.
In Chapter 16, Rusanov received a greater dose than normal of a radiation type injection(the a actual contents of which escape me now) and he ends up having a horrific dream, and when woken up from it, has difficulty distinguishing the dream from reality (a little like a Fr. Ted sketch we all know and love...well, anyone from Ireland or the UK anyways!). Another extended metaphor on the poison that Stalin pumped into the Soviet Union and that after his death, it took the citizens a little while to distinguish between right and wrong? You have to hand it to Solzhenitsyn he weaves quite the not so hidden tale:-) he's using the tumours and the poison used to treat them so effectively to make all these extremely bold statements about the disarray the Soviet Union was in, particularly bearing in mind that Stalin was only dead 14years when this work was published and they were still very much feeling the after effects of his tyrannical reign.
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