One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Title: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Author: Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Pages: 139

Genre: Historical Fiction

Letter Grade: B+

Synopsis: As the title so simply states, this book chronicles one cold, January day in the life of Ivan Denisovich Shukhov. Shukhov is in a Stalinist work camp in Siberia. He was sent there because he escaped from the Germans as a prisoner of war and returned to the Russians (i.e. no concrete reason, just like most of the people in the camp). The book is a single narrative and has no chapters. Although this book clearly chronicles one of the "good days", it still makes you shudder that people were forced into such awful conditions. In many ways, this book is a satire of "Socialist Realism", which is the concept of what Soviet art (including literature) should be. This book shows how Shukhov is a model prisoner, yet still receives no special treatment. He is generally kind to others, while still looking out for his own good.

My Review: I quite enjoyed this book. It was a quick read and realatively easy to understand. Most of us know very little about the forced labor camps and the purges under Stalin. While this book does not deal with the purges, it shows very effectively how men were placed in these camps without reason. It is a vivid depiction of humanity under extreme duress. Disclaimer: This book had quite a bit of foul language, supposedly included as a knock against Socialist Realism.

From the Book: "(p. 134 - Shokhov talking to a Baptist prisoner, Alyosha) But, Ivan Deisovich it's because you pray too rarely, and badly at that.Without really trying. That's why your prayers stay unanswered. One must never stop praying. If you have real faith you tell a mountain to move and it will move..."

"(p. 101 - Walking back to the camp after a hard day's work) Now we could take things easy. Everyone was elated. As elated as a rabbit when it finds it can still terrify a frog."

Sofia Petrovna

Title: Sofia Petrovna

Author: Lydia Chukovskaya

Pages: 120

Genre: Historical Fiction

Letter Grade: A-

Synopsis: This book is a fictional account of the Stalin's great purge. The main character of the book is Sofia Petrovna, a workingwoman trying to be the best Communist that she could be. Her son, Kolya was a great Communist. He was a member of the Young Komsomols and an ingenious inventor. Regardless of all this, he was arrested because somebody had fingered him as a terrorist or something (he wasn't of course). This book chronicles how Sofia Petrovna would wait in line day after day after day trying to learn more about the whereabouts of her son and trying to find out why he was arrested. Eventually he was sentenced to 10 years in a labor camp. Sofia Petrovna never believes that her son is guilty, she also never believes that anybody else who has been arrested is innocent.This is a story of a mother's naivety.

Review: This was a good book. It was a quick read and easy to understand. It is a testimonial to just how messed up the Soviet Union was at the time of these purges. It can be compared to the McCarthy scares of the 1950's but on a much much greater level. Nobody knows exactly how many people dies during the purges. Most believe that more than 6 million were killed. This book is a reminder of the cruelty of those times and the lives that it destroyed.

From the Book: "(p. 72 Spoken by Kolya's friend Alik to Sofia Petrovna) "We've been put on the blacklist, as I understand it. Scoundrels! Where the hell did so many swine come from all of the sudden?" said Alik."