Scan barcode
A review by oofym
One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Glad I read this, there's that quote about how books can be windows into someone else's life or a window into a different world. This is primarily what this novella is, it's not very fun to read, nor is it entertaining or particularly engaging, hell it doesn't even have much prose that stands out.
But as the title suggests, this is a glimpse into a day in the life of a man living in a soviet prison camp. To be able to read about this situation from an author who has lived through pretty much exactly what you're seeing in the book is a very special privilege and why literature is so important.
This is fictional, but it reads somewhat as an autobiography or a memoir, my edition came with some information on the authors life (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn) and I'm very grateful that stories like this are out there.
I came out of this appreciating my very easy and untroubled modern life more. "A man who is warm will never understand the man who Is cold" so says Ivan, but this book helped me understand a fraction of that coldness.
But as the title suggests, this is a glimpse into a day in the life of a man living in a soviet prison camp. To be able to read about this situation from an author who has lived through pretty much exactly what you're seeing in the book is a very special privilege and why literature is so important.
This is fictional, but it reads somewhat as an autobiography or a memoir, my edition came with some information on the authors life (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn) and I'm very grateful that stories like this are out there.
I came out of this appreciating my very easy and untroubled modern life more. "A man who is warm will never understand the man who Is cold" so says Ivan, but this book helped me understand a fraction of that coldness.