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Summary: A Multi-Layered and Uniquely Russian Account
Comment: This work of Russian literature -which is quite epic in scope-deals with many themes.
It is set in a clinic in Soviet ruled Uzbekistan for cancer patients ,in the mid 1950's ,shortly after the death of Joseph Stalin.
It deals with the personal stories and lives of many different characters
There are parallels between the cancer that ravages the bodies of the dying patients and the cancer of Communism that ravaged the once proud Russia.
The hero of the novel is Oleg Kostolgotov who has gone from being a soldier on the frontline of Russia's fight against the invading Nazi armies during world War II to a political prisoner doomed to destruction for falling foul of Stalin's psychopathic system to a cancer patient lingering in a rundown hospital
He lives life to the full however , even in this seemingly gloomy clinic.
His foil is the Communist Party hack Pavel Rusanov , a man who has no heart and soul at all other than the Communist Party itself , in whose name he has cold-bloodedly ruined countless lives.
Now he lies in the cancer ward layed low by a disease that even the mighty Party cannot save him from .
Kostoglotov lives life to the full in the ward and has an interesting relationship with two remarkable women -the dedicated and beautiful Dr Vera Gangart and the vibrant and attractive young nurse Zoya.
Through the stories of the many people in this book we learn of the type of society they lived in ,and there are profound observations on so many subjects in life that are extremely memorable.
Always in the classic Russian combination between hope and depression where neither completely triumph over the other , but rather vie in a dependant type of antagonism .
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Summary: Amazing
Comment: One of the best books I've read. Excellently defined and different characters, and in the last chapter the writing is almost trance-like.
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Summary: cure for cancer
Comment: With an outlook as bleak as a Russian winter, but a message like the faint hope of spring, a Communist Party member whose incarceration on the ward due to a huge growth on his neck is the catalyst for a story full of optimism and plans for the future, despite the evident strains placed on the other inmates and nurses by the political forces at work in the post-war Soviet Union. A graphic allegory of the corruption inherent in the state, this is also a superb celebration of the irrepressibility of the human spirit: Truly, a depiction of "Homo Sovieticus" at its most resilient.
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Summary: brilliant - life affirming.
Comment: Contrary to what might be assumed from the title this book is life affirming, particularly in the form of the main protagonist, Oleg Kostoglotov. If you want to be informed about the state of Russia in the immediate post-Stalin era or want to read a superbly written indictment of collectivism, or simply want a good old fashioned love story - this is for you! Has to be one of the top one hundred novels ever written.
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Summary: A work of substance
Comment: Whilst I cannot concur with the "greatest novel of the 20th century" and other such epithets, this is certainly a fine novel. (It may well be the greatest russion Novel as in my humble opinion most are way over-rated anyway :) )
Like many other good novels it has one great character, and a decent supporting cast. The central theme of cancer and death is not as foreboding as may be expected and the underlying allegorical theme of the political and social situation in post-Stalinist Soviet Union is well worked into the story.
However there is a lack of focus when the story goes outside the cancer ward and lacks the punch provided by the dialogue between the "inmates/patients".
That this book could be written when and where it was is a great testament to the courage of it's author, but that is not enough in itself to go overboard in acknowledging it's qualities.
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