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4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
When I head Russ Roberts say on his EconTalk podcast that this book was over 700 pages, only covered 3 days, and yet wasn't slow, I had to check it out for myself. And he was right — I was blown away by how fast-paced the book seemed, given its depth. I did get lost in some of the back and forths and philosophical and moral debates, but overall, this book was enjoyable and rich. The character work was incredible and I learnt so much about the Soviet regime in the 1940s.
It took me a while to get through though as it's one you do have to be in the mood and switched on for. It's not light bedtime reading, that's for sure. Keeping track of characters was a real pain, and I read the (paperback) book with a pencil in tow (paperback, not on Kindle, after Russ' recommendation), making notes of first appearances of characters and defining plot points about them to help jog my memory — though I also tried to not care so much for most of the time...given my nature, this didn't really work.
Overall, if you're interested in this part of history and getting real insight into what life in a special Soviet Russian prison camp was like, both for those inside and their relations outside, then this is an essential read. Solzhenitsyn based the story and characters on his real life experiences, making the detail, dialogue, and character development even richer.
Note — if you pick this up, make sure you are indeed reading _"In_ the First Circle" and not "The First Circle". The latter was published with nine chapters removed and different plot points and characters so as to get past Soviet Russia censorship in the 60s. The version that I've read was how Solzhenitsyn intended for the story to be read.
It took me a while to get through though as it's one you do have to be in the mood and switched on for. It's not light bedtime reading, that's for sure. Keeping track of characters was a real pain, and I read the (paperback) book with a pencil in tow (paperback, not on Kindle, after Russ' recommendation), making notes of first appearances of characters and defining plot points about them to help jog my memory — though I also tried to not care so much for most of the time...given my nature, this didn't really work.
Overall, if you're interested in this part of history and getting real insight into what life in a special Soviet Russian prison camp was like, both for those inside and their relations outside, then this is an essential read. Solzhenitsyn based the story and characters on his real life experiences, making the detail, dialogue, and character development even richer.
Note — if you pick this up, make sure you are indeed reading _"In_ the First Circle" and not "The First Circle". The latter was published with nine chapters removed and different plot points and characters so as to get past Soviet Russia censorship in the 60s. The version that I've read was how Solzhenitsyn intended for the story to be read.