This is a long book of 700 pages that covers just a few days. Solzhenitsyn's genius is to make it both grim and sad and also see the humour in the everyday lives of prisoners and in the nonsense of the Soviet system. Each character is rounded and has a back story, which is one reason why the novel is so long despite only covering a few days. Solzhenitsyn shows his humanity time and again, as he draws the characters and the reader understands them. His observation is also outstanding and the detail of everything from the feel of a blanket, the action of chopping of wood and the warmth of friendship brings alive the prisoners and members of staff in the special prison. ( )

Reason read: 2023 Quarterly 1001 read.
This book is a must read and plainly explains why progressive ideology does not work. Semi biographical.

From wikipedia; The novel depicts the lives of the occupants of a sharashka (a research and development bureau made of Gulag inmates) located in the Moscow suburbs. This novel is highly autobiographical. Many of the prisoners (zeks) are technicians or academics who have been arrested under Article 58 of the RSFSR Penal Code in Joseph Stalin's purges following the Second World War. Unlike inhabitants of other Gulag labor camps, the sharashka zeks were adequately fed and enjoyed good working conditions; however, if they found disfavor with the authorities, they could be instantly shipped to Siberia.

The title is an allusion to Dante's first circle, or limbo of Hell in The Divine Comedy, wherein the philosophers of Greece, and other virtuous pagans, live in a walled green garden. They are unable to enter Heaven, as they were born before Christ, but enjoy a small space of relative freedom in the heart of Hell.

The novel is about friendship, complicity and conscience. Themes include stoic integrity and humanism. The author shares how hard it is to maintain dignity while in a system designed to rob you of dignity. ( )

This is one of the few books I read I consider life changing. It captures and explains people and society better than any sociology or psychology book I have ever read. Take advantage of this, there is a life's worth of observations by a sharp mind distilled in a book.. ( )

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