A review by brmstory
In the First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

4.0

Wow, this book was quite the undertaking. 741 pages isn't the longest I've read, but the longest Russian literature I've completed by a good margin. I've been good at liberating myself from the shackles of books that have lost my interest, but I never felt the need to put this one down. I never became engrossed to the point where I read for an hour longer than I should at night, I didn't have the itch to get back to it, and I frequently found myself nodding off after a few pages, but I never felt the desire to stop. The writing felt very contemporary. And even though the plot progresses over only a few days' time, so much happens! But I did feel like I was in the first act for about 85% of it. There are so many characters (nearly 60) that I was still learning about them, their histories and motivations nearly until the end. But by careful notes and frequent review, I had only a little trouble telling characters apart. And even though character intros went on so long, they were all just so interesting!

I picked this up after a podcast about Solzhenitsyn on the EconTalk podcast with Russ Roberts. He recommended this one for a first ever book club he's leading. I'm sure I'm very late to the game, but glad I decided to read this nonetheless.