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A review by miq33l
Kolyma Tales by Varlam Shalamov
4.0
Between 1930s and mid 1950s Soviet Communist regime sent over 14million people to Gulag forced labour camps. Varlam Shalamov spent quite some time. Kolyma Tales is an anthology of short stories depicting life in Gulag.
This book is outstanding.
I have read Solzhenitsyn and Herling-Grudzinski. I also read quite a few memoirs of Aushwitz and Majdanek prisoners. Kolyma Tales stand among the best of those.
One thing that really separates this book from others is the clarity and beautiful simplicity of the prose. There is nothing indispensible written on the pages. Shalamov is very succinct with his writing, expressing his thoughts and memories with bare minimum of words, but conveying a wealth of meaning.
An Epitaph was the short story that made biggest impression on me. I recommend you read it, even if you dont finish the whole book.
In summary, Kolyma Tales is a beautifully written documentary of horrible times. It should be read so that we can become more aware of some of the experiences of people in the past and so that these experiences do not happen again.
This book is outstanding.
I have read Solzhenitsyn and Herling-Grudzinski. I also read quite a few memoirs of Aushwitz and Majdanek prisoners. Kolyma Tales stand among the best of those.
One thing that really separates this book from others is the clarity and beautiful simplicity of the prose. There is nothing indispensible written on the pages. Shalamov is very succinct with his writing, expressing his thoughts and memories with bare minimum of words, but conveying a wealth of meaning.
An Epitaph was the short story that made biggest impression on me. I recommend you read it, even if you dont finish the whole book.
In summary, Kolyma Tales is a beautifully written documentary of horrible times. It should be read so that we can become more aware of some of the experiences of people in the past and so that these experiences do not happen again.