619. In the First Circle

In the First Circle
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

1968
Around 740 pages

Despite his depressing subject matter, Solzhenitsyn always manages to convey a slightly optimistic message. Which is exactly why I am going to miss ole Solz around here. Other authors are much more pessimistic. 

Like most of his novels, this one is highly autobiographical. This time, we are in a luxury gulag. Well, compared to other gulags that is. The sharashka is mostly made up of technicians or academics that complete projects for Stalin's regime, under threat of being sent to a much worse gulag, potentially in Siberia. 

I'm sure we all have our fantasies about how we would have behaved under Hitler or Stalin. Many of us believe we would be the Inglourious Basterds, but most people are going to behave in their best interests, and aren't the "bad guys" that we pretend have nothing to do with ordinary people. Solzhenitsyn did an excellent job capturing how decentralized evil was, although we do get glimpses of real Soviet leaders.

I appreciated Solzhenitsyn's honesty, courage, and story-telling ability. Even with everything he experienced, he still believed the world could get better. You will be missed sir.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Made into a TV movie in 1992, starring Victor Garber.

UP NEXT: A Void by Georges Perec

617. Cancer Ward

Cancer Ward
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
1966
Around 560 pages

A cancer ward in Soviet Russia is just about the most depressing place I can think of, so naturally, that's the next setting on the List. Despite its ominous title, I actually enjoyed this one, starting with the first sentence: "On top of everything, the cancer wing was Number 13." Not bad, Solz.

Kostoglotov is a former soldier and gulag prisoner in a hospital for cancer treatment. He has two romances in the story, one with a doctor and one with a nurse. Anyone has who spent time in the hospital will be able to relate to his account of the ward. Although none of the doctors or nurses fell in love with me during my stays. Or if they did, they played it pretty close to the chest.

The novel takes place one year after Stalin's death, and Solzhenitsyn does an excellent job exploring the corruption of the regime using the character of Pavel Nikolayevich, a cancer patient and personnel officer. But his exploration and observations of death and cancer are universal and timeless. 

Obviously, this is a relentlessly depressing novel, just like A Day in The Life of Ivan Ilyich. But still brilliant.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Distributed in Russia that year in samizdat, and banned there the following year.

UP NEXT: Myra Breckinridge by Gore Vidal

568. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
1962
Around 185 pages

This is a good novel to keep on hand when you are having a bad day, as a reminder that things could always be worse. It's like the adult version of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Day. 

The plot of this novel is pretty much explained in the title. We follow Ivan through a day in a Gulag, where he has been sentenced to serve for ten years. The prisoners are mostly just trying to get through the day, and there are small acts of kindness that make the experience slightly less nightmarish. Very slightly.

I always love stories that are confined to a single day. Solzhenitsyn had personal experience to draw from, so he does an excellent job portraying the brutal conditions of a Soviet labor camp. Obviously this is a pretty tough read, but it's worth it.

For a relatively short novel, he really captures how time would grind to a complete halt if you were stuck in this world. 

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

The labor camp featured in the book was one that Solzhenitsyn had served some time at, and was located in Karaganda in northern Kazakhstan.

Over 95,000 copies sold.

UP NEXT: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath