A review by cajonist
Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, David Burg, Nicholas Bethell

4.0

The book that exposed the dark underside of the USSR to the world. Powerfully poignant in its handling of the wide range of emotions suffered by the seriously ill and their range of coping mechanisms the book is awash with strong character development with a cast of deep, complex, well-realised characters and supporting staff. Throughout the book, however, the strongest writing occurs when the characters reflect on Russia as they know it and how it came to be. Be it Rusanov's experience as a KGB crony, Kostoglotov's attempts to overcome the emotional crippling wrought in the Gulag or Shulubin's attempts to comprehend how the meek stand idly by pretending not to see the evil all around.