Rating: 
Summary: Facts, Facts, Facts
Review: I read this book eagerly, given the fact that the book jacket described Rawicz's journey as "Homeric." Though he may have travelled as far as Odysseus, he certainly doesn't possess the literary skills of a Homer, even with the help of a ghost writer. The Long Walk was a plainly told tale of extraordinary endurance. In fact, I agree with one reviewer who found the tale so extraordinary as to be unbelievable. I might be willing to accept the truth of Rawicz's story had there been some introduction or some verifiable historical facts within the tale itself. Unfortunately, my edition had none of this and the result was fairly implausible. I could easily catalogue the story's absurdities: the fact that the Polish officers all died along the way, leaving only Rawicz and a few untraceable companions at the end; the claims that the party walked for days with no food or no water (read _In the Heart of the Sea_ or _Endurance_ for a more plausible survival tales, and you'll realize how difficult this is); the idea that the party traversed some of the most daunting territory on the earth in handmade fur garments (?!). Even if his story is true, Rawicz never bothers to analyze his experience, or mull over what it might mean. He and his companions managed to reach the relatively hospitable Mongolia and encountered dozens of boats heading for China, yet still chose to walk not only through the Gobi desert but over the Himalayas, with tragic consequences. Without some thoughts about the meaning of the experience and about his post-war life, Rawicz's tale is hardly more interesting than the map that marks his party's estimated route through the wilds of Asia.
Rating: 
Summary: i assume this is a true story, but don't care if it's not
Review: you should read this in the same timeframe that you read "a day in the life of ivan denisovich". it's a remarkable story of personal suffering in the name of freedom - or at least getting by.
if the idea of what it would be like to suffer in a prison camp appeals to you, read this.
Rating: 
Summary: nobody should believe this book
Review: This book is a fake. Its been known to be a fake for decades
but for unknown reasons many people would rather read a fake
book about the USSR than read real accounts of people who
suffered horribly under stalinism and communism.
Why is it a fake? There is nothing in it (including the
identity of the author) that can be proved out.
No such person as "Slavomir Rawicz" was an officer in the
polish army or the polish army in exile. No such person
appears in the soviet records and neither does the camp
he claims he was at. There is no evidence of his ever having
been in India. It would be different if some parts of his
story at least could be confirmed by others, but not one
single part of it can be proved by anything but his word to
have happened.
Those who promote this FRAUD are doing a terrible injustice
to the real victims of the soviet system. Why anyone would
choose to ignore true stories of poles and others supported
by facts in favor of a ghost written book full of nonsense up
to and including an encounter with a snowman is beyond reason.
If you want to learn about polish officers in the USSR, a
fact to start with is that tens of thousands of them were
executed and thrown into mass graves. Others were put into
real camps in the gulag and then found there way out either
by escape or through the releases that were arranged by
strong men who did not forget them and forced the soviet union
to release many of the remaining survivors.
Those stories are real and the brave actions of those involved
is real. Those who promote this work of fiction and fraud
are doing a disgrace to the memory of a great many victims
of stalinism.
Rating:
Summary: A good book
Review: This is the second book im reading about the WWII period (although this book doesnt take place specifically during WWII) and its truly amazing what people can do. Sure, people think that he might be making things up because a. how does he remember all these things specifically? and b. how can a person really go that long without water? Well, answering question a, if you go through something so life changing, its not going to just escape your memory. Yeah, I agree that maybe he might be exaggerating the number of days he went without water in the Gobi, but a majority of this story really does have to be true. As for the spotting of the Yeti, we just might never know....
Rating: 
Summary: EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK
Review: .
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I'm 90% through reading THE LONG WALK by Slavomir Rawicz. My sister-in-law Pricilla, passed this book on to me, and I'm grateful. It's the best book I've read this year, and hard to put down.
This story tells a scary society that is not free. Something to think about.
**********************************************
Slavomir Rawicz was a Polish Cavalry Officer in 1941 when Germany and Russia steamrolled over Poland. Guilty of nothing, Rawicz details how he was brain washed, tortured, beaten, drugged by the Russians, and finally sentenced to 25 years of hard labor in Siberia. I was stunned by the brutality of the Russians, and the Nazi-like world they created. The fatality rate due to the hardships encountered, I found, horrifying.
Rawicz is young, 25, and toughed by the thousand mile winter march from the Trans-Siberian Railroad to the labor camp, and by the people dying around him. He survives, builds his strength, and later escapes with a group of men who dared to walk 3000 miles at 20 miles a day. The whole journey from Poland to Siberia including the 1000 mile winter march, and the 3000 mile walk from Siberia to India are compelling example, of grit, spirit, determination, and will-power.
I'm compelled to search for still more information on these dark days. This book shows a narrow slice, albeit in great detail, of the atrocities committed by the USSR in its formative years. This is a period of history that needs much wider dissemination, and discussion.
Rawicz is still alive; living in England. God bless him.
Conrad Senior
Rating:
Summary: Simply Amazing!
Review: This is the most amazing story I've ever read. It's an incredible journey that displays the furthest boundaries of the human spirit to achieve freedom. It makes the "Great Escape" look like a walk in the park.
Rating:
Summary: I Doubt This Story Is True....
Review: I spent two and a half years living in Mongolia, including time in the Gobi desert. I read the book while I was there. There are no large black snakes in the Gobi (Yes, this is documented; there are very few snake species in Mongolia....), and all of the information about Mongolia and the Gobi is inaccurate to a greater or lesser degree. I have severe doubts about the whole story. Still, if you take it as a work of fantasy, it's an okay way to spend a few hours' free time.
Rating:
Summary: Great adventure; great suffering!
Review: I've noticed some sceptical reviews of this adventure.Boy, there are some cynical people in the world! Are there huge black snakes in the Gobi? has any snake expert confirmed this as a fact or fiction? I presumed that this actually happened. What an incredible journey with such suffering! It's a great testament to what the human body can endure. Read it for that!
Rating:
Summary: not believable
Review: This book purports to describe the travels of a polish
officer in 1942 escaping from Siberia across China and
into freedom in India. As a travel book, it doesn't
hold up. As anyone who has travelled to these areas can
tell you, no small unsupported group of people is going
to just walk across those deserts without water or cross through
Tibet north to south during the coldest months of the year.
There are no landmarks to speak of presented in the book that
in any way line up to the geography of where he claims to have
gone. Beyond that, his story of escape from the russian camp is pure unbelievable melodrama. And for good measure, it contains
a bigfoot (or snowman) sighting near the end.I suppose a few people will believe that some of the worst
deserts in the world are just there to walk across or that
you can just kind of find your way over the Himalayas during
the coldest part of the year to India. I also couldn't help but wonder where his companions ended up
after. Did they all just fall off the face of the earth
after arriving in India? And on a journey like this, why would
you only know one of your companions as "Mr. Smith". Most people
would learn the entire life stories of the others on a trip like
this supposedly was. Or at the very least learn the names of
those your moving with. If you want to read real survival stories, try something
about Shakelton or the book Great Heart.
Rating:
Summary: When freedom calls
Review: This book is the story about a young Polish officer who is imprisoned and tortured by the Soviets. In a mockery of a trial he is sentanced to twenty-five years in a Soviet prison camp. It is here the real story begins. In the middle of Siberia, this Polish officer plans the unthinkable: escape! He selects six other companions to attept this act of deparation with him. In planning his escape, another reviewer indicates that he receives help from an unexpected source. You will not believe who assists him in his quest for freedom! The balance of the work deals in the trek across Siberia, Mogolia, the Gobi desert, and finally the Himalayas. In the annuals of human history you would be hard pressed to indentify a person whose sigle mindedness approaches Slavomir Rawicz. This is a terrific book!
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