malvvina 's review for:

Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, David Burg, Nicholas Bethell

4.0

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It was definitely a tough read which got me a little bored at moments, but the last few chapters is what touched me the most: when Oleg the main character and labor camp worker (prisoner) experiences one normal day after leaving the titled cancer ward. I grabbed this book as in I love dystopian literature and thought I might as well read about real experiences of normal people living in a totalitarian regime and my observations are as such that it is just sad normal life of people living normal lives without any grand hope or revolutions or brave 16yo saving us all just. Just living lives where each person no matter their status is very much disposable and replaceable, unfortunately quite like today regardless of where you’re coming from. As a side note I really enjoyed the science and healthcare centric chapters, as that also give me an insight what challenges the medical personnel was facing decades ago.