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A review by theliteraryhooker
The Cancer Ward by Rebecca Frank, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
4.0
While I feel like some of the subtleties of this novel were lost on me due to not having a lot of background knowledge on the history of the soviet union, the themes were universal, much like the disease at the centre of the novel.
In the cancer ward, it doesn't matter if you're an exile like Oleg, a well-to-do man like Pavel, or even a doctor. The disease doesn't discriminate. The treatment is awful regardless of how well-connected you are.
However, for a book about cancer patients in 1955 Uzbekistan, it had some surprisingly tender moments. Oleg's interactions with Vera especially were some of my favorites. They're subtle and respectful, but with such an understated longing for that connection. Although the novel as a whole was excellent, those are the parts that I think will stick with me.
The book does get a little dense at times (and again, I probably felt this way mostly due to my own lack of knowledge about the events surrounding the novel) but it was absolutely worth pushing through for the stories of the individual characters.
In the cancer ward, it doesn't matter if you're an exile like Oleg, a well-to-do man like Pavel, or even a doctor. The disease doesn't discriminate. The treatment is awful regardless of how well-connected you are.
However, for a book about cancer patients in 1955 Uzbekistan, it had some surprisingly tender moments. Oleg's interactions with Vera especially were some of my favorites. They're subtle and respectful, but with such an understated longing for that connection. Although the novel as a whole was excellent, those are the parts that I think will stick with me.
The book does get a little dense at times (and again, I probably felt this way mostly due to my own lack of knowledge about the events surrounding the novel) but it was absolutely worth pushing through for the stories of the individual characters.