One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

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Summary: One day in the life of Ivan...a plot without action
Review: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich written by Alexander Solzhenitsyn is a story about life in a Siberian prison camp. It follows the main character, Ivan Denisovich through his day in the camp. It begins when he awakens and ends when he goes back to bed. Ivan is serving the eighth year of his ten year sentence for treason against the Soviet government. It follows Ivan to breakfast, work, lunch, work and dinner. It illustrates the how the life of a prisoner is filled with boredom and repetition.
The purpose of the novel, often difficult to conclude, is to show the importance of societies and how they can form a guaranteed safety net that helps people survive. Although, most people entered the camp alone, people within a squad become a"family." They are there to help each other survive the work they are expected to do. They take care of each other. But one must remember that all parts of a society are present in these families. They too are always having to deal with traitors, liars and thieves. The novel also serves to inform the reader of the harshness in the camp. Because the novel begs for sympathy, it is easy for the reader to forget that the residents of the camp are criminals. They, in a time of war, have done something wrong to a country and are being punished for it.
The novel does succeed in bringing the reader into the life of a prisoner of the camp. But it contains a plot that never climaxes which often results in feelings of boredom. There is no action in this story. The reader simply follows Ivan like a shadow unable to get into his head or any of the other prisoners. The story does not make the reader feel anything. They simply understand how people lived life in a prison camp. This novel could easily be read by anyone high school age or older. This book would be great for anyone interested in life in a prison camp. Otherwise there is not any other reason to read it. There is no action or stunning conclusions to be found in this book. It is even difficult to find the purpose of witting such a novel. If bookstores began informing possible readers of books by placing stickers of on them. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich's sticker would read, *WARNING* lack of action!

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Summary: Russian Read
Review: ... I hate to admit it, but I only read the book because I was desperate for reading material. As an avid reader, I usually have about 5 or 6 library books on my dresser, but not this time. I expected nothing...except maybe boredom. Maybe not.

This is a fantastic book, and I'm glad I did run out of reading material. Before school had been dismissed for the summer, we learned about the Holocaust and similiar genocides. One of these events was Joseph Stalin's concentration camps in the Ukraine. I knew that this book was foreign, but I didn't know that I was going to get a close up look at what I had just read in World History class and was interested about. As the title suggests, the story was about a winter-like day of prisoner Ivan Denisovich...but he is referred to as "Shukov", though it never says why. The beginning is an introduction to the day. A bleak, cold, and seemingly uneventful day for this prisoner who, like many others in the camp, had been imprisoned for bogus reasons. Ivan had been sentenced to 10 years for being a spy, when he had actually been captured by Germans and then escaped alone.

After waking, Ivan begins his normal routine of getting to the Mess Hall for something to eat. He gets stopped on the way, and has to mop the floor of a higher-up. Then he eats his mush and goes to the hospital to try to get out of the days work, to no avail. Thus, starting his workday. Him and the rest of the barracks file out to go to a job site. They trek two miles in the snow to work at laying bricks on an upperlevel building. After a good day of work, they walk back to the compound to try to beat out the other barracks for first group at the mess hall. Of course, everything is brought out in good details. It would be to make a book out of just one day! As Ivan Denisovich lives out this day, which he claims is a good day and you'll see why, he is also nearing the end of his sentence. He isn't confident that they will let him go, though. They could slap another sentence on him or forbid him from going home. Even though he won't be recieving packages or letters from home, he still can have an almost happy day. And he only has three thousand six hundred and fifty-three days left in his sentence...

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Summary: one day in the life of ivan denisovich
Review: This is the book that introduced me to Russian literature, and more importantly, to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, perhaps Russia's greatest living writer. This book is bleak, it is short, and it describes unimaginable cruelties and deprivations, but more than anything, it demonstrates the ability for suffering not to cripple a man, but make him stronger, as is evidenced by Shukhov's phenomenal strength of character, and life-affirming nature in the face soul-deadening routine. Moreover, this book is really symbolic of the prison in which all men reside, one escapable only through embracing the minute joys every day brings. How different, really, is Shukhov's happiness over receiving an extra bowl of gruel for dinner, versus my taking an extra 10 minutes on my break at work. I would also recommend Cancer Ward and The First Circle to anyone who finds this book at all interesting.

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Summary: Gripping and moving narrative of labor camp survival
Review: Solzhenitsyn's first published story, published after Kruscheav's denunciation of Stalin behind closed party doors. It became the story of suffering reflecting the experience's of thousands of survivor's- most of whom were released during the general amnesty's granted after Stalin's death.

"One Day" follow's Ivan through literally one day of his life in a labor camp. Small issues become life threatening- an extra bowl of soup, a boot repair- all of it effects his life in one way or other. A rather simple tale, it contains within itself a world of suffering and hope. To read this is to understand the genesis of Solzhenitsyn's later "Gulag Archipelago" trilogy.

An important and moving tale.

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Summary: Very sad, but educational
Review: Not many of us can say we have experienced anything as dramatic as what the characters in this book have to experience on a daily basis.

With that in mind, this book is highly educational, showing us one ordinary day in the life of one of the thousands of people who lived, and in some countries still live under terrible conditions.

The story is a sad one, not because of violence, which it has virtually none, but because the idea of living that life every single day is brutal, and it just tears your heart apart.

I am not sure I loved the way it was written, it seemed too simple, but it did make the reading go faster.

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Summary: Very interesting
Review: I enjoyed One Day very much. I chose to read it for a high school outside reading assignment (perhaps the length of the novel had something to do with my choice), not knowing what to expect, but in the end I found that, as my first introduction to the history of Russia regarding Stalin and his opporessive policies, it was an interesting story.

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Summary: Surprising reality of the Russian Gulag
Review: My grandmother, an avid reader and former English teacher, recommended this book to me with the words, "You'll feel guilty eating anything while you read this." Having read a multitude of books centered around various concentration camps, including Elie Wiesel's Night among others, I thought that there was little that could shock me or even make an impact on me in this book. I was wrong.

The novel is centered around one day in the life of a man named Ivan Denisovich who has been living in Soviet camps for years. It tells how his prized possession is a spoon he carries in his boot, and a good day includes an extra bowl of gruel with fish bones for lunch. It is winter in the heart of Russia, and the only thing that pushes him to work is the fact that his increasing circulation warms his hypothermic body.

This book opened my eyes to a world that I have never heard of, that of the Russian camps, where the objective was not to exterminate the prisoners. Instead, the prisoners were worked like animals until they dropped dead in the fields of hunger, exhaustion, sun stroke or hypothermia. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an easy read with a difficult reality.

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Summary: The Drudgery of the Gulag
Review: Ivan Denisovich Shukhov is a political prisoner in a Soviet gulag. He has been imprisoned for being a returning POW. The Germans captured him during their offensive in the Soviet Union during World War II. He escaped from German custody and was summarily imprisoned for being a spy upon his return.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn faced much the same situation as Shukhov. He was a war hero who was imprisoned in Josef Stalin's camps for having written something unfavorable about Stalin. He was turned in by the 'friend' whom he had written the letter to.

"One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" is Solzhenitsyn's account of an ordinary day in a Soviet prison camp. The story takes place during a Siberian winter. It follows Shukhov from the time he rises for reveille to the time when is rousted out of bed for a 'second count' just as he's about to fall asleep. Along the way Shukhov manages to get extra rations at both dinner and supper, builds a wall during his work detail, smuggles a hacksaw blade back into camp, and earns special favors from his fellow prisoner Tsezar Markovich for protecting the parcel of food he received from his family.

The amazing thing about "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" is that Solzhenitsyn captures the horror of the Soviet gulags by showing the prisoners during an ordinary day. Shukhov himself does not appear to be ill-treated at all during the day and he admits to himself that he has had much luck throughout the course of it. However, it is in what Shukhov considers to be lucky that we catch a glimpse of the unending drudgery that is the gulag.

Shukhov's one day may not be so horrible in and of itself; but, to live that one day over and over for ten years would be enough to beat down even the strongest man. Every prisoner's only goal is to survive. When a man's only goal is meer survival though, it drains the humanity from him and makes him an animal. Shukhov has spent eight years in the gulag system and the effects are telling. He doesn't become a rat or a thug; but, he recognizes the difference in himself now as opposed to when he was a boy back in his village.

While "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" brings to light the nature of the Soviet gulags, it should not be confused with high art. The story is readable but lacks the artistry of political works like "Les Miserables" and "1984". This may be because of the translation; but, other Russian works translate well into English. Whatever the reason, you will most likely come away feeling that the political side of the book holds up much better than the artistic aspect

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Summary: The Sickness of Communism
Review: "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich," by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, is one of those books that look deceptive. It isn't that long, and it's a little mass-market paperback that would blow away with the wind. Even the cover design really doesn't convey what lies inside. What we have with this book is a worthy contribution to the annals of Russian literature. Solzhenitsyn finds himself in the ranks of Tolstoy, Turgenev, and Gogol with this gripping tale of the Stalinist Gulag system. Solzhenitsyn went on to write a massive indictment of the Gulag system in a three-volume work called, "The Gulag Archipelago." Solzhenitsyn won a Nobel Prize for Literature and found himself exiled, forcibly, from the Soviet Union for his writings. He returned to Russia after the collapse of Communism.

As the title indicates, the story covers one day in Ivan Denisovich's ten-year prison sentence. Ivan is a peasant who runs afoul of the authorities when the Germans capture him during the war. When he finds his way back to the Soviet camp, the authorities charge him with treason and sentence him to the camps. Denisovich is luckier than many of his fellow convicts; they are serving 25-year sentences. This day is better for Ivan than most; he ends up getting a better work assignment, a member of his squad gets a parcel loaded with food, and Ivan manages to get extra food rations. He even scores some tobacco, his only weakness.

Ivan lives day by day; it is the only way he can survive the camps. What is most shocking about this book is the matter-of-fact way in which the story is told. All of life is reduced to acquiring food and staying warm. Following the rules and avoiding punishment is just as important. Woe to the man who ends up in the guardhouse cells for ten days. I was nauseated by how hard Ivan worked on the power plant. Here's a guy who is a prisoner, forced to lay bricks in the middle of winter, and he is busting his hump to do a good job. But in a way, this can be uplifting, too. Ivan refuses to give up to the brutality of his condition. Every day is a struggle, but Ivan never grouses or causes problems. He accepts everything camp life throws at him and triumphs. You get the impression that Ivan is going to make it out of the camp no matter what.

This is an excellent book that exposes the real face of Communism. No matter how brutal Communism is (or was) as a system of government, it failed to crush the spirit of humanity. I recommend reading this book in conjunction with Arthur Koestler's "Darkness at Noon," another book that exposes the sickness of Communism.

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Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I am a college student and had to read this book for my Russian Politics class. I was not looking forward to the prospect of reading it; I thought it was going to be another boring book by another dry author. I loved it! It was so good I couldn't put in down and read it in one afternoon (it helps that it's short too). Not only does Solzhenitsyn levy a stinging criticism of the Stalinist labor camps, but he weaves a good story to boot.