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mj470's review against another edition
5.0
Where the first volume mainly focused on the sham trials, the absurd convictions, and the lengthy pre-gulag prison sentences the second one is primarily focused on life in the camps.
So many times in both of these books I can hardly believe what I'm reading. Solzhenitsyn is relentlessly flat in the retelling which effectively shows the normalization of atrocity. It is exceedingly hard to stomach. It went on as late as 1959. The Western mind cannot comprehend this fact as I think most of us feel like this all ended in the 40's with the fall of the Third Reich. Solzhenitsyn seems very aware of this and concludes this volume with some deep analysis of the human spirit and some strong warnings to the West against radical liberalism. It's stunning and stirring and horrifying.
He has a particularly beautiful passage about how the life blood of Russia survived this against all odds. It has an oddly hopeful view for when society seems totally lost.
So many times in both of these books I can hardly believe what I'm reading. Solzhenitsyn is relentlessly flat in the retelling which effectively shows the normalization of atrocity. It is exceedingly hard to stomach. It went on as late as 1959. The Western mind cannot comprehend this fact as I think most of us feel like this all ended in the 40's with the fall of the Third Reich. Solzhenitsyn seems very aware of this and concludes this volume with some deep analysis of the human spirit and some strong warnings to the West against radical liberalism. It's stunning and stirring and horrifying.
He has a particularly beautiful passage about how the life blood of Russia survived this against all odds. It has an oddly hopeful view for when society seems totally lost.
emma_is_cute's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
2.75
lenas_books's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
tittypete's review against another edition
3.0
More ghastly shit from Soviet Russia. This is part two of a fairly snarky analysis of the political terror and prison labor stuff that went on there for a super long time back in the day. This chunk of words covers the evolution of the prison camp system, a bunch of executions and some day to day color of what it was like to survive in super cold, foodless workfarms. People got grabbed and next thing they have to dig a canal from the White Sea to the Baltic or dig in a gold mine or something. Mostly you died. Starved then died. Or had dysentery along the way.
There were some interesting bits about how women and kids fared. (Spoiler: they fared shittily.) The part I found most fascinating was the description of commie loyalists who were steadfast in their belief that the commie system was perfect and there just must have been some mistake that got them there. True believers. Brainwashed and taking it on the chin for the party. History is fucked up.
Makes sense still why Russians are so scary. They went through a lot of miserable crap. Kids that get hit grow up to hit their kids and so forth. If ye catch my dangd drift.
Reading!
There were some interesting bits about how women and kids fared. (Spoiler: they fared shittily.) The part I found most fascinating was the description of commie loyalists who were steadfast in their belief that the commie system was perfect and there just must have been some mistake that got them there. True believers. Brainwashed and taking it on the chin for the party. History is fucked up.
Makes sense still why Russians are so scary. They went through a lot of miserable crap. Kids that get hit grow up to hit their kids and so forth. If ye catch my dangd drift.
Reading!