MCN wrote:I finished reading this book last night. Whilst it's not exactly the longest book in the world, it has packed into it a more profound message than any other.
It tells the story of a single day as a prisoner in the Soviet Gulag labour camps in the 1940s, and, whilst being technically fiction, was written by a man who had experienced it first-hand. No other book has made me think about the world we live in, and the world as it used to be as much as this has. It truly has affected me.
I implore anyone with even a passing interest in the history of the Soviet Union, 20th Centurey history, or European post-war history to read this.
I remember reading this about, mumble, mumble, 30 years ago..... and yes it is a fantastic book. Now I'll have to buy a new copy. If I remember rightly the prose has a unique style - quite simple but profound, somehow very Russian, certainly. Nice recommendation.
