Reviews

Darkness at Noon by Pınar Kür, Arthur Koestler, Daphne Hardy

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cmp162's review against another edition

dark reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is a masterpiece to behold. I cannot recommend Darkness at Noon enough. I rant about it in my daily life. What koestler is able to do cannot be over emphasized. He reaches into the depths of our social collective humanity, or lack there of, and extracts the individual. The grammatical fiction. This is an important book.

mj470's review against another edition

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4.5

4.5 ⭐

This is such a relentless story portraying the dehumanization of becoming a cog in the political machine

cjvphd's review against another edition

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3.0

An important, intelligently written novel with some beautiful passages that, on the whole, often felt too lightweight for the subject matter and period. I perhaps had the misconception that the tone would match the subject in seriousness, but I often felt a vibe of ineffectual resignation or watered down Le Carre intrigue that masked the real-life events that inspire novels such as this.

savaging's review against another edition

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5.0

"The old disease, though Rubashov. Revolutionaries should not think through other people’s minds.
Or, perhaps they should? Or even ought to?
How can one change the world if one identifies oneself with everybody?
How else can one change it?
He who understands and forgives -- where would he find a motive to act?
Where would he not?
They will shoot me, though Rubashov. My motives will be of no interest to them."

Koestler was himself a former communist. And even if this book is anti-communist, it isn't anti-communist in the facile, jingoistic way of a lot of western literature. Koestler hates Stalin but is drawn all the same by the vision of the revolutionaries.