Members with This Book
Most Helpful Reviews
see all reviews
Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “The following is a book review I had to write for my 11th grade english class: |
Newest Reviews
see all reviews-
“Deeply affecting and difficult to recover from. Comparable to the best Holocaust fiction or Angela's Ashes in its impact. Once I was drawn into this deceptively simple story of one man's day in a Siberian labor camp under Stalin's regime, I could not put the book down. I had it like a disease. Halfway through, I found myself moving in slow motion, paying attention to small things, eating thoughtfully, grateful for being warm and comfortable. After I read it, I had trouble settling into another book; all other fiction seemed fluffy and inconsequential.”
Dame Maggie Salisbury wrote this review 2 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“The story tells an account of repression under Stalinist rule. Ivan Denisovich Shukov was accused of espionage after being captured by the Germans as a prisoner of war. The novel begins with Shukov waking up late because he was sick; as a consequence, he was forced to face a minor punishment. The novel ends with Shukov providing a special service to an intellectual who was able to get out of manual labor and do office work instead.
alvin r. c. wrote this review Tuesday, November 3 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
This is one of my most satisfying reads.”
“A book that every person should read...even if you don't like it because of subject matter....you owe it to these people to read this book....”
chris j wrote this review Monday, October 26 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“This book was extremely dark and I found that it filled me with appreciation for how good we have it now.”
Kaitlin L wrote this review Saturday, October 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Probably my favorite russian novel so far.”
Bryan G wrote this review Monday, October 5 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Love this book! Another book which all high school students should be required to read. A short book with a huge impact.”
Heather L wrote this review Sunday, October 4 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“reminder that attitude is king, ivan makes the best he has in the worst of circumstances”
Siok wrote this review Sunday, September 27 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Dear Reader,
Elias N wrote this review Thursday, September 24 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I recently read the book One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. It was an interesting book that literally follows one day in the life of a prisoner named Ivan Denisovich, in a soviet labor camp, and it shows the everyday hardships that the soviet prisoners went through. “They didn’t want very big holes-only a few feet deep. But the ground there was like stone, even in the summer, and now it was frozen stiff and it was impossible to dg. Hit it with a pick, and it just skidded off. All you got was sparks, no earth at all… If our bosses had any sense, would they send people to hack the ground with picks in cold weather like this” (45). This quote explains how extreme the soviet labor camps were; forcing the prisoners to do labor that had no reason behind it, and this is the reason the book was banned from being sold in the Soviet Union.
The main storyline of the book is about how Ivan Denisovich is living in the camp, and how he does his best to stay out of trouble in the camp, because the disciplinary system in these camps is extremely unfair, one small error could cause him to end up in the “cooler,” a concrete prison cell with no heating system, and most of the men who end up in the “cooler” also end up dying of tuberculosis which they contract in the “cooler.”
The major themes in this book are communism, punishment, and fairness, and they all interconnect throughout the storyline of the book. The theme of communism is the main reason behind the plot, and because of Soviet communism, many innocent people were unfairly imprisoned, including Ivan Denisovich. Another main theme of the book is the theme of punishment, because that is why Ivan is in the prison camp to begin with, and also it is part of the plot, because it is what he is trying to avoid at all costs, in order to be able to return home safely. Finally the theme of fairness plays a large role in the storyline, because of how Ivan is in the prison camp unfairly, and he is internally striving to bring fairness to the labor camp.
The author kept this story interesting by choosing an interesting day to document, and by explaining every minor detail, I was able to understand the story more than I would of without the details. Also, the author avoids using too many long conversations and too much description. However, the book got boring at some points when scenes that had little or no importance in the story were explicitly described.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in soviet history, or anyone interested in the study of Russian communism. It was very descriptive and explained a lot about how the soviet prisoners were treated. So, I would highly recommend this book.
- Elias ”“Collin Schutte
Collin S wrote this review Thursday, September 24 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
9/24/09
English 2 Section 4
LER # 3
Dear Reader,
I have just finished reading a book called One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The book shows how hard it was for people in labor camps in Soviet Russia. The focus is on one character who was wrongly accused, and goes through one day of his life in a labor camp.
I found the whole book to be very confusing. It was hard to tell the difference of narration and the thoughts of characters, which were very important in understanding the book. The thought process of the characters was possibly the strongest part of the book, but with them being so hard to understand, it made the book much worse than it should be. Ivan has a lot of thoughts that are important for every kind of person. He thinks a lot about things like willingness, toughness, leadership, loyalty, and how to survive. Ivan wakes up feeling very sick, and he contemplates going to the doctor, but he knows he must press on because he owes it to his squad that he has to lead. Ivan is the guy that the squad could be lost without, and he realizes this, and he knows what he has to do. The camp is divided into squadrons that have been through the most physically demanding part of their lives together, and most of them are loyal to each other.
Although Ivan shows his loyalty to his squadron, he has also learned what he must do in order to survive. Someone’s squadron is the only place where someone can be loyal to someone, and receive loyalty back, so most people have learned that they can not symphonize with people outside of their squadron. Ivan does things that may not be considered good, but it is what he must do to survive. Ivan is willing to do those kinds of things even if he will not get all of the benefit out of loyalty to his squadron. The members of the camp have not only learned to be tough physically, but also mentally. “Writing letters now was like throwing stones into a bottomless pool. They sank without a trace. No point in telling the family which gang you worked in and what your foreman, Andrei Prokofyevich Tyurin, was like. Nowadays you had more to say to Kildigs, the Lativan, than to the folks at home” (60). The camp members know that they will most likely never see their family members, or anything outside the camp, ever again.
Although the thoughts were very good topics, that still did not make up for how confusing they were, and the thoughts were not the only confusing part. Knowing where the characters were, and what they were doing was also very confusing. Those are very important parts of a story, and if they are unclear, it does not make a book very good. Every character had a lot of background information, and it seemed like they were going to be important, and some of them did not show up much more.
The idea of making a book out of only one day is hard to do, and it has to be close to flawless for it to be good. This book had a lot of boring parts that should have been escalated. If it was easier to understand, and it had more action, it would have not been as bad as it is.
Sincerely,
Collin Schutte
”
“Townsend Jones
Townsend J wrote this review Thursday, September 24 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Mr. Rich
English II-2
24 September 2009
LER#4_ Jones
Dear Reader,
This summer for my third book, I read One Day in The life of Ivan Denisovich, by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The book was based on the Soviet Union work camp that Stalin created. Ivan, the lead character, faced challenges everyday of his life in the camp. This book takes you through his remaining days.
“Here, men, we live by the law of the taiga. But even her people manage to live. The ones that don’t make it are those who lick other men’s leftovers, those who count on the doctors to pull them through, and those who squeal on their buddies” (18). The author seemed to center the book on this one quote that one of the squad leaders had told the prisoners. This was a huge meaning to the life of Ivan. It developed his character very well through out the story. He seemed to always do the right thing and become strong. The quote may also raise the idea of the theme. To me the theme was about the strength and wisdom that was needed to go through such a rough life.
If I were to have one question to ask the main character, Ivan, I would ask him this, “What gave you the strength and will power to make it through this horrible terrain of a life?” I found that Ivan’s devotion towards getting out of the camp was phenomenal. Even though the author writes about only a few of his days, he has more than a year left in the camp, and he will struggle through it everyday.
This read was not too difficult, but there is definitely some vocabulary that was used that not all of us understand. Other than the somewhat difficult vocabulary the book was interesting. At first I thought it would have been a dreadful read by judging the book by its cover, which you should never do, but it fortunately wasn’t. Since the book was somewhat factual I grew fond of reading it. The author didn’t include horrific scenes like gore very much, so if you interested in an action packed book, this may not be the book for you. I enjoyed this book, and it was not too long, I would suggest this to people who like to read war related books of World War II to get a sense of the Soviet side of Hitler. I hope I have given you enough information that you will read this book and enjoy it.
Sincerely,
Townsend Jones
”
