Pain and the human spirit. (Gulag Archipelago - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)

Member Name: fried.dog.davy

Product:	Gulag Archipelago - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Date:	18/09/00 (419 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Unique historical record, beautifully written.

Disadvantages: A long book which wears you down.

This is a very fine book but it is not one you want to read if you are feeling depressed. I have tried to read it twice, but there is only so much oppression a soul can take. I have never managed to get beyond half way.

The book tells the story of Solzhenitsyn's life. He was a Russian soldier in Stalin's army who rather stupidly wrote a letter to a friend in which he criticised Stalin. The letter was intercepted and Solzhenitsyn was arrested. There then follows a harrowing account of his trial and imprisonment, including his experiences of torture and the Gulag.

To say that this book is a biography is only half true. It is also a history of the Russian people in all its horror. It was a time when the innocent were arrested and tortured simply because someone had denounced them. People would just vanish to the labour camps of Siberia, never to be seen again. It is George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm all rolled into one and and made real.

Solzhenitsyn himself says that many people could have written this book. Many wanted to tell the world what was happening to them but never had the chance. The truth is, however, that Solzhenitsyn writes with a clarity and conviction which is unique. He does not just tell what happened but he provides psychological analysis and social comment as well.

In the chapter on his arrest, he describes the way a victim's world falls in on itself when they hear the words "you are under arrest". It doesn't matter how educated or eloquent they are, all they can ever stutter in response is, "me, what for!"

In the chapter on his interrogation he describes how the human spirit is gradually worn down until you are willing to sign any false confession which is placed under your nose. And so the book goes on with its mixture of personal testamony, psychology and historical comment.

In the end I have to admit that the book defeated me. It is beautifully writ
ten by a Nobel Prize for literature winning author, but it was just too much for me to take. The human pain and oppression wore me down eventually (what it did to those who were actually there I can only begin to imagine).

Solzhenitsyn himself is a living proof that the human spirit can survive even the worst of degredations and in that there is hope. However, hope is very thin on the ground through much of this book, so while I would encourage everyone to read it, I would also advise you to take a very deep breath before you start.

Summary: