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A review by dobbsthedog
Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski
4.5
I’m really unsure how to rate this and how to review it. I guess probably 4.5 stars, as 4 doesn’t seem like enough, but I’m not sure that it was a 5 star read?
I really liked this book. And all the thanks to Will M Watt for promoting his narration of the audiobook, otherwise I likely never would have come across it!
This is the story of Ludwik, a young man who falls in love with another young man at a summer agriculture camp in Soviet era Poland (early 1980s). The story between Ludwik and Janusz is sweet, but challenging; homosexuality isn’t illegal, but it’s also not exactly legal. It was interesting to read about Ludwik and the challenges he faces as communism is beginning to fall in Poland, how corrupt everything was. You really couldn’t do anything or have much of a life unless you were a member of The Party (the communist party); you couldn’t see a doctor or get medications, you couldn’t get proper rations, you couldn’t pursue a higher education, unless you knew the right people. And Janusz knows the right people, is working his way up within the party, whereas Ludwik sees the reality of it, the struggle of the everyday person.
I truthfully don’t know a lot about Soviet era history or the history of Central/Eastern European countries, so I found this all really interesting. As a proponent of Marxism/communism, it’s so disheartening to see it used in a racist and totalitarian way, the way it was in the Eastern Bloc. The fact that this book uses Ludwik to critically look at the political and social systems is probably why I enjoyed this short little book so much.
I really liked this book. And all the thanks to Will M Watt for promoting his narration of the audiobook, otherwise I likely never would have come across it!
This is the story of Ludwik, a young man who falls in love with another young man at a summer agriculture camp in Soviet era Poland (early 1980s). The story between Ludwik and Janusz is sweet, but challenging; homosexuality isn’t illegal, but it’s also not exactly legal. It was interesting to read about Ludwik and the challenges he faces as communism is beginning to fall in Poland, how corrupt everything was. You really couldn’t do anything or have much of a life unless you were a member of The Party (the communist party); you couldn’t see a doctor or get medications, you couldn’t get proper rations, you couldn’t pursue a higher education, unless you knew the right people. And Janusz knows the right people, is working his way up within the party, whereas Ludwik sees the reality of it, the struggle of the everyday person.
I truthfully don’t know a lot about Soviet era history or the history of Central/Eastern European countries, so I found this all really interesting. As a proponent of Marxism/communism, it’s so disheartening to see it used in a racist and totalitarian way, the way it was in the Eastern Bloc. The fact that this book uses Ludwik to critically look at the political and social systems is probably why I enjoyed this short little book so much.