Rating: 
Summary: Something Everyone Should Read
Review: I was assigned to read this book in a Russian History & Lit Class. I found it impossible to enjoy because I hated the class so much. However, this year in a World Lit class I've re-read it and discovered how wonderful it is. It tells of a story that very few people actually experience in a lifetime. If one is at all interested in history, psychology, literature, censorship, or the Russian way of life under Communism, I strongly recoment this novel
Rating:
Summary: How would you survive in a Stalinist Siberian prison camp?
Review: The era of the cold war may have ended in the 1990's, but
we must always remember what occured behind the iron
curtain. Solzhenitsyn tells of the conditions of a gulag
camp in Siberia based on his own experience in one by
detailing the events of one day of a prisoners life. Through
the first person, Solzhenitsyn allows the reader to climb into the mind of Ivan. The novel makes the reader think about what he has in a free nation and how he would
cope if he was in the same position as Ivan Denisovich.
Great for both the historian and the curious within each of us.
Rating:
Summary: A literary and historical landmark
Review:
This small work helped wake the West to the long oppression of the Soviet Gulag. It would be followed years later by the author's major work describing that Gulga Archipalego in great detail. This work tells the story of one day in the life of a prisoner. But that one day in its dreariness and monotony, in its small battles for survival, tells the story of a whole world. The cold, the hunger, the sickness, the pain all are parts of the struggle. But the struggle with the world without, the oppression of the world without are only part of the prisoner's struggle. The struggle within himself in which he finds a kind of freedom which no one outside can take from him, is another theme of the play. The person who others might think of as least free is free in his soul. This is one of the great themes of Russian prison literature from Dostoevsky to Solzhenitzyn. This work asks the question of what true freedom is , and what the real meaning of our life and struggle is. It also historically is a step in and toward the demise of that vast prison called the Soviet Union. This is both a work of true literature then and an important historical document.
Rating: 
Summary: A really great read...Light, Enlightening, Unique, Creative
Review: There are a couple of things about this book that stand out. First, its ability to give you a real sense of presence. You can really feel yourself in that prison camp with Ivan. You can really feel yourself AS Ivan. A great novel brings you into the mind of the main character...you become one with him while reading it.Second, its ability to throw you off. In more ways than one, this book strays from the usual, the expected, the standard way of writing. You often find yourself going back to the previous sentence, wondering how it managed to jump to the following sentence. The author takes you from one event to another down the road in an instant. It can get confusing, but it really is creative and keeps you on your toes. It also throws you off because it tricks you into believing that youre reading a novel when in fact you are following the mind of a man. The mind thinks much quicker and deeper than the common novel. The author has succeeded in bringing us through the mind of Ivan in a compelling way....he has managed to put into words how the common man thinks. You often find yourself thinking "hey, i was just taken through Ivan's thought process without even knowing it"...i dont know how to explain it any better than that. Just read it for yourself and get ready for a journey. A significant book, for sure. Oh...why not 5 stars? Because 5 stars are left for Dostoevsky and his counterparts that write beyond what is unthinkably possible.
Rating: 
Summary: Wouldn't really be worth your time, if it wasn't so short.
Review: I'd give this book 2 stars if it weren't for the historical and political significance it has accrued. Like a lot of "dissident" literature, Solzhenitsyn's work has become overrated. The narrative voice here changes abruptly from an erudite prose to "Shukhov" speaking colloquially, and back again. The political points made are as unsubtle as the characters themselves. And really, when you think about it, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov doesn't really have that bad of a day...just a dull one.
Rating:
Summary: Worth a read
Review: A novel relating a day in the life of a Siberian labor camp inmate. It lacks the gripping quality of books such as Journey Into the Whirlwind, but portrays well the details of an average prisoner's life and thoughts.
Rating:
Summary: Very enjoyable.
Review: This story gives you a overwhelming feeling of what it was like to be living in a socialist concentration camp and I thought it was a great read for people who are interested in history.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing.
Review: If you liked "Brave New World," or "1984," you'll like "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich." The main character, Ivan, is imprisoned in a Soviet Labor camp, where he works everyday. It shows how their lives are run in a totalitarian manner. It shows how they must survive under totalitarian rule. There are things in this camp that are accepted, where in normal society they would be morally rejected. People have no second thoughts towards stealing and bribery. They do what they must to survive. When near nothing is given to them, they do what they must in order to live. The Soviets place no value on their lives for they are expendable. Ivan's day of survival will move you and make you happy that you're not in a Soviet Labor camp on the steppe.
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