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Oh ... I missed that one ... its probably right at the beginning of the book too *NM* The_Muted_Grimaud Send a noteboard - 10/01/2012 04:26:53 AM
I find Solzhenitsyn's style to be a bit stilted. A far better writer on the Gulag topic, both from a stylistic and personal experience standpoint, is Varlam Shalamov, whose Kolyma Tales (Колымские рассказы) are considered some of the best on the topic.

Solzhenitsyn's story is set in Kazakhstan, which was not as brutally cold as Kolyma or Magadan, and Solzhenitsyn never saw the worst of the worst that the Gulag system had to offer. Shalamov saw the people coming back from uranium mines.

Either way, Solzhenitsyn has written other works which are better. In the First Circle (В Круге Первом) is probably the best.

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One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Alexander Solzhenitsyn - 10/01/2012 02:03:00 AM 9164 Views
Shukhov is his last name, not a "nickname". - 10/01/2012 02:23:27 AM 1802 Views
Oh ... I missed that one ... its probably right at the beginning of the book too *NM* - 10/01/2012 04:26:53 AM 998 Views
Still a really good book, though - 11/01/2012 03:40:56 PM 1877 Views
What I liked was that it didn't try to be a brutal, exaggerated, horrible story ... - 13/01/2012 02:34:26 AM 1875 Views
I totally agree - 13/01/2012 04:39:33 PM 1688 Views
Interesting information ... - 13/01/2012 02:29:01 AM 1877 Views
I enjoyed it when I read it years ago. - 12/01/2012 08:40:38 PM 1816 Views

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