GRcade

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.

It would have been better if it had been in comic book form.

Denny, you used to be cool.

Oh I'm only joshing, you drunken oaf!

Denster wrote:Oh I'm only joshing, you drunken oaf!

*hic*

I performed in an award-winning stage adaptation of this, at the Southbank Centre in London.

And, for once, I'm telling the truth.

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.