THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO
Book Review by: Christine
Rating: *****
Genre: Literary Non-Fiction
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment In Literary Investigation is the kind of book every human being should read in their lifetime. A three-volume gut-wrenching, giant of a book, The Gulag Archipelago, won a Nobel Prize, not without controversy. Gulag Archipelago is a true account of humanity and human nature at its most base and most magnificent. During the unfolding of this book, readers will experience every emotion from sadness to fear to confusion to grief and inspiration. Don’t be deterred by the page count. Whether one reads a chapter, a volume, or all three volumes, Solzhenitsyn is a trustworthy guide into the Gulag. When you come out the other side, your understanding of the world will have deepened.
From 1918-1956, in Lenin/Stalinist Russia, an Archipelago of Gulags, populated by people of all stations and walks of life, united by injustice and abject misery, is created. Solzhenitsyn dedicates this book as follows:
“I dedicate this
to all those who did not live
to tell it.
And may they please forgive me
for not having seen it all
nor remembered it all,
for not having divined all of it.”
Perhaps the best reason to read this book is so that you, too, can see and remember, however vicariously, and hopefully, in experiencing, there could be a divining of a future in which no such place can exist. Hope springs eternal.
Readers of Gulag Archipelago might also enjoy:
- Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor E. Frankl
- 1984. George Orwell
- Between Shades of Grey. Ruta Sepetys (Now a Major Motion Picture: Ashes in the Snow)
- Shogun. James Clavell