Rating: 
Summary: Reader requirement
Review: There are classics and then there are _classics_. This memoir is in the second group, the kind of book that stands apart from those that would claim to be its peers by virtue of its singular vision. The opening pages are right out of Solzhenitsyn, in fact take place in the same prison that he almost lovingly calls the "Big Lubyanka" in The Gulag Archipeligo. But this is not Solzhenitsyn with his grace and humor and satire and righteous anger recollecting the soul-altering experiences that ironically made him into the great poet of the dismal 20th century. Instead, Rawicz is more of an Everyman, the ordinary Polish cavalry officer trapped without cause within the Soviet penal system. His is not the desire to write the history of the Soviet Union (something Solzhenitsyn eventually does indirectly with the Gulag), but rather the more basic impulse just to be free. Even if that means the travails of a year-long journey on foot through one hardship after another, freedom will not be denied him.There are mysteries aplenty in this book. How can Rawicz recall the details and dialog that he does years after the fact? Who is the unnamed American who accompanies Rawicz and the others on the walk and what was he really doing in the Soviet Union? Why did Rawicz lose contact with all his boon companions after the war? The reader can be forgiven for suspecting that there are other things at work here below the text, that something was lost or altered in the transformation from memory to an English that he learned only later when living in England. But still, this is a magnificent book. I've given numerous copies to friends and strangers. Walkers and hikers in particular should enjoy this story, for beneath the horrors of starvation and death there lies the secret joy of a truly open-ended walk, epic in length, outside and alive and free. One other happy point about this book: No movie was ever made out of this story. Rawicz has somehow been able to keep his book alive and free and unmuddied as well.
Rating: 
Summary: I don't know what to think
Review: I wouldn't like to be disrespectful towards Mr. Rawiz, but I have to admit that there are a lot of suspicious things in this otherwise interesting book. I have read quite a few books on the gulag, and on "real adventure" "endurance" and the like, and it is a constant in all of them that the author takes good care to give sufficient explanations as to render fully credible any description of tools, devices, plans or simple behaviours that allowed him to achieve his goals (whether obtaining the appropriate gear, climbing a mountain, fording a river or scaping from a prison or camp). Certainly, none of this is to be found in this book. I can suppose that Mr. Rawicz simply did not have the clue to real distances travelled and so on, but there is an overall feeling of awkward vagueness throughout the whole story. Even though Mr. Rawicz and his mates deserve all of my admiration for what they did (if indeed they did it) the book is much too simple to create an atractive atmosphere (it is sort of "this lady helped me, we escaped at night, and we walked and walked until we made it to India"). Don't get me wrong, it is quite entertaining and not badly written, but...
Rating: 
Summary: A Patent Fabrication
Review: I am an avid outdoorsman with experience in long distance hiking and backcountry winter travel. I love TRUE survival stories, but this one is not only false but obviously so. It is simply not possible to bushwhack 20-30 miles a day through deep snow with almost no food and no water as recounted in the Northern part of the trek - and to make that distance in actual forward progress with no map. He also claims to have gone 8 and then 12 days with no water in the Gobi desert in the heat of summer while walking miles and miles each day. This also is impossible as survival without water in these conditions is limited to a very few days at best. It's also full of all kinds of "little" howlers like the idea that when they got to the Gobi desert between the eight of them they only pot or pan they had was a single mug they'd taken from the prison camp. They hadn't even managed to scavenge a tin can. Right. I love the American, "Mr. Smith", who doesn't reveal his first name throughout the entire epic. Maybe he was really Agent K. Or was it J. In the end, it's ever so convienient that he loses track of all of his fellow survivors so "coincidentally" there is no one to corroborate this absurd story. I've really only scratched the surface. If you want some incredible survival stories you can believe try "Endurance" - an account of the Shackleton Expedition, Touching The Void by Joe Simpson, or Adrift by Steven Callahan. =Steve Dunn=
Rating:
Summary: Great Story of Endurance and Quest for Liberty
Review: The story in a nutshell: A Polish Army officer is captured by the Soviets after they have joined Hitler in dismembering his country. Rawicz (the officer) is tortured in the Soviet prison system and sent to the Gulags. Faced with misery in Siberia and probable death, he and a band of others escape and undertake a two thousand-mile long journey from the snows of Siberia through Mongolia, the Gobi Desert, and across the Himalayas toward British India and freedom. This is a great story. The author describes the mindless torture under the Soviet system in a manner that should persuade any reader of the evil of totalitarianism. The description of his train journey, hundred-mile winter hike through a Siberian winter to his gulag and life in the camp is fascinating. His will to survive amidst degradation, the elements and overwhelming odds are a testament to the human thirst for freedom and liberty. As other reviewers have stated, there are some parts of the book that invite skepticism. His befriending by the camp commandant's wife seems as improbable as it is crucial to his ability to escape. The escapees journey across the Gobi Desert where his group went for many days without water beyond what I understood a person could tolerate. Without any climbing tools, his party went across the Himalayas to India -- a feat that seems fantastic. Also his brief description of spotting what could only be described as the elusive Yetti in the Himalayas stretches credibility (unless it does actually exist). That being said, this story is exhilarating and I found it believable and enthralling. It is a wonderful adventure story and describes the limits of what the human spirit and mind can endure to survive in freedom. This book has been around for almost fifty years and was given wide play when first introduced. I'm going to assume the lack of anything debunking this widely told tale (or, anything that I could find) argues for the author's veracity -- certainly that frame of mind allows one to enjoy a stirring story.
Rating:
Summary: I'm a believer!
Review: Not knowing that this book had its skeptics, I plunged in head first, never doubting a word. After reading it and running the entire gamut of human emotions in the process, I decided to write a glowing review to praise Slav's incredible book. It was here that I first saw the skeptic's reviews, and after giving it some thought I've decided that I believe his story wholeheartedly. I cannot imagine the depth, detail or emotion conveyed in this book was fabricated, or even embellished for that matter. What could possibly be the reason for doing such a thing? He's not in it for the money, for he gives his money to the orphanages. If Slav were in it for fame, his agents would have had him doing the talk show circuit worldwide, and there would already be and A&E Hallmark sponsored mini-series. No, I think this was actually written by a man who endured an incredible hardship, and this book was his therapy. I've always considered myself pretty skeptical, so for me to have no doubts, throughout the whole reading of the tale, tells me that this is the genuine article. To reiterate what another reviewer said, even if I'm wrong, and this were a work of fiction, it's an incredible story, a great lesson in man's will to live, and his desire to be free. Buy it. You won't be sorry.
Rating: 
Summary: Skeptics aside...
Review: I began reading this book with a keen sense of cynicism from the observations of skeptics who had critiqued The Long Walk. The story grabbed me after a few pages and I couldn't put it down. It didn't matter if it was true or not, even if he we lying it would be a classic fiction adventure novel. So dont worry about the truth, enjoy reading a captivating struggle for freedom and the triumph of the human will.
Rating:
Summary: Good yarn but hard to believe
Review: This was an intriguing story, but I had a little trouble with some of the events. If this is basically a true story, then the man was suffering from delusions, disorientation, and distorted memory. His escape from the Gulag was unusually easy, and as well as he was treated, difficult to justify. He could not have survived without water as long as he said he did when crossing the Gobi Desert. His crossing the Himalayas without proper clothing or gear is equally difficult to believe. The sighting of the Yeti was a nice touch. I wondered what the hurry was once the group was out of Russia. Should they not have considered holing up for the winter in a friendly village? And once they were out of the hospital, why did the narrator feel compelled to rejoin the army? Surely he could have made other arrangements. Why did he not keep in touch with his fellow travelers? These questions persisted as I read about this amazing journey. The writing is obviously ghost-written and has an English flavor to it. The details recounted concerning birds, flowers, sounds, smells, etc., can be put down to poetic license, but the basic question remains: did this really happen and was their suffering and deprivation really necessary? There is no documentation to verify it. One is reminded of the old joke: I know that it is true, because he told me so himself.
Rating:
Summary: Incrediable tale, and probably true.
Review: First I really liked this book. Second there have been a lot of reviews about whether anyone could have made this trip, well without giving the story away, some didn't make it. But it never ceases to amaze me what the human body can endure if the mind pushes it hard enough. I suspect that the distances mentioned in the book are too long. "How far did we walk today Bob? Well we walked all day, my legs hurt, probably 20 to 30 miles!" So much for estimating distances when you don't have a map or any clear idea where you are. Third, crossing the Himlalaya Mts, I suspect that they lost track of time and crossed just as winter was ending. Rather than in Feburary. This would explain their meeting sheep herders up high in a cave. Hardpack snow would be difficult to cross in just moccosins but drifting snow up to a foot or so it could be done. This is the footware of the Native Americans in the Northeast. Fourth, the desert part, this is hard to believe lasting 2 weeks without water, as the lack of water should have finished them off after 4 days. But part of water loss is tempeture related and they may have been more on the edge of the desert than the map in the front of the book makes out. Plus these people's bodies were well hardened to abuse by their previous time in the camps and the journey to the desert. Fifth, the stay in the Soviet Stalinst justice system sure reads like all the other books. Now either Slavomir still bears the scars of this visit or he doesn't and from his tale I can't imagine anyone makeing this up. It's not a pretty site and not one where he's anyone's idea of a hero. So all in all I'm inclined to give Mr. Rawicz the benefit of the doubt and to ask any other doubters why lie? And if he did, well how did he manage to get from Poland to India? Anyway its a great read.
Rating:
Summary: Yes, it CAN happen--and Slavomir Rawicz WAS a real person
Review: For those of you who doubt whether a person can walk out of Siberia, I had a Polish great-uncle who was captured by the Russians at the end of WWI. He was sent to a work camp in Siberia, managed to escape, and worked his way across Russia...through Western Europe...across the Atlantic...and finally to Wisconsin, where he showed up at my great-grandmother's farm in the mid-1930s. For those who doubt the existence of Slavomir Rawicz, I quote from a letter tipped-in to a signed first British edition of the book in my posession. At that time, Slavomir and Marjorie (his wife) were living on Bondgate Street in Castle Donington (between Sheffield and Nottingham). My volume was presented to Reverend Father Grasaw--their parish priest on March 26, 1956: "Dear Father Grasaw, My husband would be very pleased if you would accept the enclosed copy of his story. You have always been a good friend to those who are exiled and lonely, and a good friend to him. I hope that you are well, I often think and pray for you and the work you are doing. My family and myself send you our very best wishes. God Bless You. Yours Sincerely, Marjorie M. R. Rawicz" I wish that my great-uncle were alive today, so that I could document his own story in the tradition of THE LONG WALK. I'd bet that he and Slav would have some interesting stories to swap.
Rating:
Summary: I though it would be boring.
Review: I got this book (on tape) from the library. I was having some trouble sleeping and thought that a boring book on tape would do me some good. It didn't. I every night I found myself staying up to hear what happens next. It turned out to be one of the best books I ever read. (I ended up actually read the book and getting "The Odessy" on tape to sleep to.)
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