THE BOOK FAIR

Review:

Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, was born in Russia, in 1918.  The author served in the Red Army and later wrote of atrocities he witnessed.  Solzhenitsyn spent time in the prison for his political views.  The author published “Cancer Ward” and “The First Circle”, among other novels, for which he received wide acclaim.  Solzhenitsyn was exiled from Russia for a time, after he claimed the Nobel Prize, but later returned to his beloved country where he died in 2008.

 

Ivan Denisovich, a prisoner in one of Stalin’s work camps in the 1950’s, endures the daily life of the prison camp in the uninhabitable, Siberian, Gulag.  The prison camp is constructed, from the top ranking officer, to the lowliest prisoner, on the survival of the fittest.

 

Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, a Russian soldier, was captured in WW II by the Germans.  Shukhov escaped and made his way back to the Russian lines.  Summarily accused of spying for the Germans, Ivan Denisovich was sent to the Gulag.  The novel encompasses one full day in Ivan’s prison life.

 

Ivan awakens sick with chills and a fever.  He decides to try his luck at the infirmary before breakfast, but has no luck to stay as his fever is only 99 degrees.  He quickly runs to rejoin his group.  Ivan checks his bread ration and is happy his loaf is almost the full size.  Though he is hungry, he halves the bread, putting half in his jacket, to save for later.

A prisoner for eight years, Ivan has learned how to survive pitiable food rations, lengthy daily roll calls, work details, brutal guards and the unrelenting icy weather.  The weather must be below minus 40 degrees for the prisoners to be exempt from outside work details.

Ivan befriends a wealthier prisoner and does favors for him.  He thus receives extra rations which he shares with others.  Ivan, always careful with his food, which is always in short supply, also does extra work for fellow prisoners like patching coats, or mending gloves for extra food, or money.

Ivan learned early on that his life depends on his direct boss, Tyurin, who leads his group, 104.  Tyurin is strong and successful, securing the group the best work and the best conditions that he is able.  Ivan works hard and takes pride in his work.

Ivan appreciates the smallest pleasures:  a bowl of hot watery gruel in the morning or hot soup with a vegetable or piece of fish for dinner, his almost full loaf of bread, a cookie or a pinch of sausage from a luckier prisoner who receives packages, or a cigarette of which he always leaves the butt for a friend who has less.

Ivan is proud that he already served eight of his ten years, and although he knows of no one released from the prison camp, even when his term ended, Ivan remains hopeful.

 

Note:

The novel is a commentary on the years Solzhenitsyn spent in the Gulag.