Rating: 
Summary: A parable for our times.
Review: This thoughtful and loving tribute to the human spirit begins with the lines: "It is the industry of the soul, to love and to hate; to seek after the beautiful and to recognise the ugly; to honour friends and wreak vengeance upon enemies..." Here and elsewhere throughout the book, Booth uses Biblical parallels to advance his message about the human condition: "[There is] a time to love and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace [Ecclesiastes]..." In quiet, thoughtful tones, the main character, 80-year-old Alexander Bayliss, called Shurik, reflects on his life, a life which we would consider intolerable but in which he has found satisfaction and, remarkably, much joy. At eighty, he is a man completely at peace with his world, celebrating the love, endurance, and forgiveness which have made his life not only bearable, but ultimately, happy.Shurik was a 40-year-old Englishman doing business in the Soviet Union when he was summarily arrested for espionage and sentenced to hard labor in the gulag, spending the next twenty years in a coal mine. In the hellish darkness and depths of the mine, however, Shurik finds enlightenment. One of seven men in his labor group, he and his companions become a family, fiercely loyal to each other, accepting life moment by moment, with no thoughts wasted on a future they cannot afford to contemplate. Eventually released, Shurik lives a quiet life in a small Russian village, where he becomes much beloved. When Communism fails and the Soviet Union dissolves, Bayliss, at eighty, finds himself faced with his most difficult decision. This ambitious novel entertains at the same time that it conveys a strong message about man's enduring spirit and the need to forgive. The symbolism is clear and easily understood--the miners digging up a completely preserved wooly mammoth, then roasting and eating part of it, Shurik acting as teacher to the children of the village and sometimes speaking in aphorisms or proverbs, the story of the fox in the cage, the making of bread in the village, Shurik arguing for the historic preservation of the local church, etc. The language is simple, the images are unforgettable, the prose style is both musical and urgent, and the characters are admirable and sympathetic. A memorable and thoughtfully constructed novel, every detail of which advances Bayliss's message.
Rating: 
Summary: A Story of a Man who miraculously finds Freedom & Friendship
Review: This was an interesting book that I bought because it was clipped out of almost winning the coveted Booker Prize. It was an interesting story that I think would make a wonderful film. The whole idea of being wrongfully accused of being a British agent and arrested by the Russian KGB and sentenced to 25 years of hard labor is a painful thought. However, this British character grows on you as you feel his pain and suffering while he works around it via friendships with inmates. It's meaningful, but I wouldn't rave about it as a very BEST BOOK that one must read. There is a line in the book that goes, "So what wisdom have you learnt today? Or has it yet to come?" Well, I liked the book but I still feel the wisdom I wanted to get has yet to come. There were some remarkable lines that are worth remembering (that I will not deny). More men would appreciate the book than women. It's written by a man who is writing about a man's life. In the end, the main character chooses a small village to remain close to the family he promised to keep a watchful eye over. The writing style is unique.
Rating:
Summary: I don't think it's a masterpiece -- sorry!
Review: What is the matter with me that I don't "get" this book? I found it lacking emotion and sparse on the gulag/coal mine details. I had trouble seeing the gulag and mine in my mind; the Russian village in which he made a home after doing 25 years is described very clearly and closely. People write that the main character is a sort of bhodisattva (sp.?), but I don't think any being that let his mother worry and search for him until the day she died in England is a benign being; it's an extremely cruel thing to do. I do see how one could never turn back after such an experience, but at least let your mother know you're alive.
My book club (all women, all mothers) could only conclude that this is something a man could do and still feel sanguine about himself.
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