binstonbirchill's review against another edition
3.0
This one didn’t really click for me and that’s likely due to a variety of reasons. First, I was tired when reading most of it. Second, because I was tired I wasn’t able to readily transport my mind to the 1950’s when this was written. And while I have a good knowledge of wwii, and russia as a whole, knowledge of Marx and communist theory largely eludes me. Given some sleep, background and concentration I feel I could get a lot more out of it than I did this time around. So if you are in need of a casual read, look elsewhere. If you want to sit down and have a think then pull up a chair.
corneliabull's review against another edition
pappa sa jeg burde lese den, men ikke-fiksjon om et totalitært regime er ikke det jeg er ute etter akkurat nå..
domreadsb00ks's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0
I really struggled to understand parts of this book but its a Polish author so I had to stay loyal
bubblegumbook's review against another edition
5.0
I read this for my Senior Symposium class. This book was hard to get into at first but man, once you get used to the writing, its amazing. I felt like I was reading a nonfiction 1984. I am actually going to write a research paper comparing the two novels. I love how poetic Milosz writes, even when he isn't trying to write poetry. I will probably return to this one many times in life because this book demands to be re-read.
x150151041's review against another edition
5.0
Many important [history] lessons for me from this book. Maybe it's my own fault for never taking a world history class, or any class that covered what happened in the Soviet takeover of eastern Europe. My US history class stopped around the early 1900s; my class on the Russian revolution stopped when the Bolsheviks took control of the country. In a way, it makes me empathize with those who, in the context of American politics, rabidly fear anything they see as "socialism". But moreso it shows what is really to be feared, i.e. holding on to orthodoxy to the point of disregarding human compassion (etc).
"The supreme goal of doing away with the struggle for existence--which was the theoretician's dream--has not been and cannot be achieved while every man fears every other man. The state which, according to Lenin, was supposed to wither away gradually is now all-powerful. It holds a sword over the head of every citizen; it punishes him for every careless word. The promises made from time to time that the state will begin to wither away when the entire earth is conquered lack any foundation. Orthodoxy cannot release its pressure on men's minds; it would no longer be an orthodoxy. There is always some disparity between facts and theories. The world is full of contradictions. Their constant struggle is what Hegel called dialectic. That dialectic of reality turns against the dialectic fashioned by the Center; but then so much the worse for reality."
"The supreme goal of doing away with the struggle for existence--which was the theoretician's dream--has not been and cannot be achieved while every man fears every other man. The state which, according to Lenin, was supposed to wither away gradually is now all-powerful. It holds a sword over the head of every citizen; it punishes him for every careless word. The promises made from time to time that the state will begin to wither away when the entire earth is conquered lack any foundation. Orthodoxy cannot release its pressure on men's minds; it would no longer be an orthodoxy. There is always some disparity between facts and theories. The world is full of contradictions. Their constant struggle is what Hegel called dialectic. That dialectic of reality turns against the dialectic fashioned by the Center; but then so much the worse for reality."
katherine_shelton's review against another edition
4.0
Some chapters are pretty abstract, but the chapters on the four different writers/poets helped to "ground" the book for me. It helps to review dialectical materialism before reading.
sethlynch's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting book, gives a good insight into life in the Eastern Bloc up to the early 1950s