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simonmee's review against another edition
4.0
Today we had easy work, the kind they normally reserve for criminals.
Pretty grim.
Pretty grim.
desirosie's review against another edition
3.0
Man, I need to take a break from the Gulag and the Holocaust. Maybe some post-apocalyptic fiction to cheer me up?
extragravy's review against another edition
5.0
Shalamov has a slightly different perspective from Solzhenitsyn, and a more matter-of-fact writing style. I enjoyed these stories and expect to come back to them again.
fuzzyhebrew's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I don't think anyone could have imparted the experience of a gulag more effectively than Shalamov. After reading Ivan Denisovich, I wasn't really aware of how bad it got, but this book holds no punches. Most of these short stories are based around things he witnessed or experienced, which makes it worse because this is not a work of fiction. This is truly what can happen in an authoritarian country. Shalamov states that during his time in the camps he learned that there is no friendship among starving men, and that it doesn't take long for humans to devolve to their base instincts. However, a large portion of these stories showed humans acting with courage and integrity when they had nothing to gain. Stories show us prisoners helping each other out of empathy or a sense of justice. Some people retained their will to be good just because they were that way. So despite him losing hope, his stories reflect hope in a hopeless time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Death
spacestationtrustfund's review against another edition
3.0
ipb1's review against another edition
4.0
Makes [a:Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's|19771050|Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1574793149p2/19771050.jpg] [b:One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich|852538|One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich|Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1580834282l/852538._SX50_.jpg|838042] sound like a bit of a picnic. Grim.
bookwisp86's review against another edition
5.0
"I didn’t know the people who slept at my side. I never asked them questions. There is an Arab saying: ‘He who asks no questions will be told no lies.’ That wasn’t the case here. I couldn’t have cared less if I was being told lies or the truth. The camp criminals have a cruel saying which is even more appropriate here – it expresses a deep contempt for the questioner: ‘If you don’t believe it, take it as a fairy tale.’ I neither asked questions nor listened to fairy tales."
What a depressing but good read. A collection of stories about the miserable conditions in Soviet forced-labor camps during the Stalinist regime. The author himself spent 20 years in the camps and managed to survive. Many did not. A look into endless toiling despair and how people barely survived it while still trying to remain human.
What a depressing but good read. A collection of stories about the miserable conditions in Soviet forced-labor camps during the Stalinist regime. The author himself spent 20 years in the camps and managed to survive. Many did not. A look into endless toiling despair and how people barely survived it while still trying to remain human.
impressionblend's review against another edition
4.0
Dark, bleak, and soul-crushing. I have a hard time reviewing books like this, and they always leave me with questions of whether there is a limit to the horrible things humans will do to each other, and how do we let these things happen?
"Friendship is not born in conditions of need or trouble. Literary fairy tales tell of ‘difficult’ conditions which are an essential element in forming any friendship, but such conditions are simply not difficult enough. If tragedy and need brought people together and gave birth to their friendship, then the need was not extreme and the tragedy not great. Tragedy is not deep and sharp if it can be shared with friends."
"He didn't want to die here in the frost under the boots of the guards, in the barracks with its swearing, dirt and total indifference written on every face. He bore no grudge for people's indifference, for he had long since comprehended the source of that spiritual dullness. The same frost that transformed a man's spit into ice in mid-air also penetrated the soul. If bones could freeze, then the brain could also be dulled and the soul could freeze over. And the soul shuddered and froze - perhaps to remain frozen forever."
mishasw's review against another edition
5.0
What does it mean to be human? Why can humans labor in slavery in conditions not even machines and horses and function in. Why do we persevere? A book that truly investigates the human condition through shocking shocking shocking true stories. Perhaps the most salient anti communist anti Stalin book of all time. A testament to the fallen, memory eternal!
bobf2d33's review against another edition
4.0
Based on the author's experience in the Soviet Gulag, this a collection of short stories that describe life in prison camps.