The Gulag Archipelago, Volume l: The Prison Industry and Perpetual Motion

It was not enjoyable, but informative and consoling in the fact that this tragedy and suffering has been documented.

Yes, he persents a realistic story of certin aspects of the human condition.

No, I haven't listened to him before.

Felt a real compasion for what the people had to endure.

I wish I could say that this book ended mankinds's inhumanity to mankind. But we
know it hasn't and need to do what we can to correct this contiued calamity.

This is the latest in a string of books I’ve read about the early years of Soviet communism. I continue to be dumb struck with the cruelty and inhumanity of Lenin and Stalin. I just can’t get my mind around how many millions Stalin killed. Between his purges, his Gulags and the starvation of the Ukraine he killed more innocent people than Hitler, yet the world chose to ignore his crimes and in this century there are those who still hold him up as an example of a great leader.

Solzhenitsyn catalogs the gulag experience. He talks about how efficient the machine was in consuming human life in Russia. Even when the Soviets were about to lose WWII to the Germans he continued to kill and purge, destroy and starve his people. Cruelty without bounds in the name of an economic theory is outlined by Solzhenitsyn. Simply putting the day to day life of a “Polital” caught in the machine designed to chew them up and destroy them was his objective. I think he achieved this end. This is a powerful account of a man’s surviving a trip through hell in all of its vivid detail. Dante missed this level of hell.

There are no possible ends that could be perversely rationalized that would justify this cruelty. One would have a more simple time explaining the ethnic cleansing of the American Indians from the United States than you will justifying Lenin’s or Stalin’s purges and activities.

“The Gulag Archipelago” is an important literary work. This is a powerful part of world history and we are lucky that Solzhenitsyn risked his life to bring it to us. We are lucky that his friends were also willing to risk their lives to contribute to and to protect the work. Solzhenitsyn compiled stories of many of his fellow “58s” and he weaves those into what seems to give the reader a complete picture of Soviet Gulag History. Most importantly, Solzhenitsyn reminds us of what can happen when good people remain silent, when we allow tyrants to reign, when the citizens allow the government to run their lives.

This is an important work, but the writing style takes some getting used to. I am amazed that the Soviet Union lasted as long as it did when the powers treated the citizens so brutally.

Frederick Davidson's sing-song narration gets on my last nerve, but that didn't stop me from getting Volume 2 of this work.

The book is a classic - very dense and painful, but a masterpiece of reporting.

This book is read in a monotone with no variance for material or situation. Mr. Davidson sounds like he has a foul taste in his mouth that he is trying to get rid of as he reads. A particularly poor choice for an already difficult work.

I am listening slowly, due both to the difficult material and the terrible narration.

Nothing personal, but Mr. Davidson should retire, or to stick to light fiction. His sour voice is a terrible choice for history, philosophy, or classic literature - anything someone might want to linger over. I can't imagine who would enjoy listening to this voice.

I find this book to be much like like life itself. It is difficult. It is a slog. There is much that is tedious (It is even exhaustive to passively listen to while one does other things like drive across country or the dishes). But it is also many other things. It can be oddly beautiful. At times there are moments when Solzhenistsyn stops, breaks from the narrative history that he is relaying, and gives exquisite moments to the reader. They are beautiful and heartbreaking and make it all worthwhile. I know no other work like it. Like anything that is worthwhile, it takes work. It is not easy. But it is highly rewarding. I did not always enjoy the book while i was listening to it, but I was very happy I did listen to it, when I was finished with the work

The current political climate, and the political climate in this book, are frighteningly similar.This book should be MANDATORY READING for every American school - PERIOD.

Not possible. Too depressing, too tedious.

Peter the Great

Reading lists is no ones forte I presume.

Sadness, boredom.

Narrator was monotone, but I suppose there wasn't much he could do with the subject matter, which involved reading lists of atrocities committed by the Russians. The story jumped around to different years and events, but the result was the same. An overwhelming feeling of horror for the victims, but the method of delivery by A.S. is nonlinear and hard to follow.