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Summary: Interesting....
Review: I found "One Day" to be a rather fascinating book. By modern standards, this book may not measure up to what many would call a "classic", but taken in it's historical context, one can understand it's importance. This book was written and published at a time when doing so would have been extremely dangerous. In fact, Solzhenitsyn was actually exiled for it, and was lucky to receive only that punishment for it. He offers what was at the time, a rare and frightening look behind the iron curtain. This book is still important today, as it reminds us of what tyranny can and frequently does accomplish, and why we still fight against it. On a lighter note, I found it rather interesting that this book brought back many fond memories of being in the Army. The two experiences seem to be somewhat similar, although it is difficult to make an accurate comparison without having gone through the Soviet prison camp system. It seems the biggest difference, though, is that people actually CHOOSE to be in the Army and they are well-fed and clothed while there. It was also interesting to note that most of the prisoners took a certain pride in their work, even though they were not paid for it, and they were forced to do it. This is something of a rarity in today's free society where laziness and incompetence are usually greatly encouraged and rewarded.
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Summary: Read Dostoevsky--forget Solzhenitsyn.
Review: Read "Crime & Punnishment". Read "The Brothers Karmazov". Read "Night", by Elie Wiesel if you want a better look at prison/labor camps, but for heavensake...forget Ivan Desinovich!
Rating: 
Summary: One day in the life of. . . . .(snore)
Review: OK, I'm going to expose a harsh reality that seems to be going unspoken up until now. The only reason that this book is considered a classic is because it is based on a true story. This doesn't make sense. The point of writing, to me, is that you have a story to tell and you want to convey that story to readers using the typical litereary tools (description, plot, charachter development, etc). As a piece of literature this book is a failure. The charachters are flat. The plot doesn't "move" - it just kind of loops over and over in a Groundhog Day-like fashion with it's irrelevant descriptions of manual labor and prison apparel. And the descriptions were very dry - you could count the number of adjectives used in the book on one hand. Just because the prisoiners were lifeless doesn't mean the writing has to be too. Not only did he pick the wrong story to tell, he doesn't even tell his ill-picked story very well. I keep reading reviews about how this book exposes the "horrors" of the prison camp. It's kind of funny because if you actually broke this book up into 20-page random sections and gave them to people to read and then asked each of them what the book was about based on what they read they probably wouldn't even be able to tell you that he was in a prison camp. Based on the benign descriptions of the activities that went on there, you could think he was a construction worker for all you know. I don't need the excrutiatingly boring detail of the mundane tasks he had to do. The writer was obviously trying to get some point accross by doing that. But what was that point? that the real tragedy was that these prisoners were forced to do boring work and because of this their lives had no meaning? Well, shoot, neither does mine. The bottom line complaint about this book is that it has no emotion. Now, that would have been fine if it were actually done on purpose - if the moral of the story was I-was-in-a-prison-camp-and-it-sucked-the-life-out-of-me but it wasn't done on purpose, at least not successfully. You were in a prison camp and the best you could come up with was "My feet were really cold" and "My boots don't fit". There was no emotional or physical torture (not caused by mother nature)? We never (literally not once) found out how he felt. Using the third person perspective in this book was a major tactical error. Alot of the readers undoubtedly are basing their opinions about this book based on Solzhenitsyn's other works (which I assume are better). This book seems like some rough draft that he wrote as a warm-up for a better story but someone with bad taste actually submitted it for publication. The book also got attention for the fact that it was banned and therefore attained acclaim for reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the literature itself. Because readers are basing their opinion of this book on the sympathetic real-life story underlying the book (which is politically and historically relevant), the readers who gave this book more than a couple of stars are basing their opinion on what the book COULD have been and not on what it was.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book about the triumph of the individual.
Review: What an incredible book! It is a short one day read with no chapters and literally details one day in the life of a prisoner of the Gulag from waking up until giving thanks at night. If you ever wanted to know what it would be like to take each day one hour at a time this is the book for you. We are given just a brief insight into what life was like for the prisoners but I imagine that no book could truly tell their tale and have any of us truly understand. That said, this book does as good a job as could be done. The bitter cold, the cruelness of the guards, and the cruelness of the other prisoners are all detailed here. It is hard to imagine anyone living that way for 8 or more years and for that reason it is truly a testament to how we are able to survive and cope. I didn't want to put it down once in fear that I would miss what would happen next. By just concentrating on one day we are given insight without being overwhelmed and we are given just enough information to make us horrified and curious but still wanting more. I would recommend this book to anyone and not just an history buff as the story runs very well. I just purchased "The Gulag Archipelego" and cannot wait to read it too!
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Summary: Review of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Review: This book is an excellent example of the horrors of the Stalinist work camps (Gulag) that were in existence for most of Russia's modern history. Alexander Solzhenitsyn masterfully weaves descriptions of minute details, which, surprisingly, do not become tedious, but provide a better understanding of the task or action that the main character performs, with a universal theme that all people can relate to - survival. The title accurately describes the setting of the book; its entirety occurs in one day of the life of Ivan Denisovich, a prisoner. This may confuse some in that everyday tasks and unique events around this main character provoke flashbacks more often than not, and provide a complete picture of this man's life before he was imprisoned and since he has been serving his ten-year sentence. All in all, this book has a superior edge to most other books on this same subject in that its author, ALexander Solzhenitsyn, went through the same struggles as the main character of the novel, providing valuable insights, thoughts, and emotions that tie the novel together. An excellent read - one that I would recommend to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but overrated
Review: This is certainly a good book. However, the minute descriptions of the work in the camp become tedious. Dostoevsky's House of the Dead is far, far superior in every way. Still, this book is definitely worth the read.
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Summary: Experience the life of a Russian prisoner
Review: Solzhenitsyn takes the reader into the world of Ivan Denisovich. The description of daily activities and reactions to others in the prison bring the reality to a level unprecidented. A great classic and must read for any lover of literature, Russian or other.
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Summary: Rude awakening
Review: I've used Solzhenitsyn's novel in the classroom to teach college students in the U.S. how to write a research paper; and this book has been also part of a literature course for 13-16 year old high school students in the Caribbean. It's a small book and is relatively easy for students to read, and they generally like it. Solzhenitsyn's One Day is a survival manual which exposes the horrors of the Soviet gulag system and presents human suffering under an oppressive system. One empathizes with Shukov and his fellow prisoners and is horrified by a system of government in which rule of man trumped rule of law. One Day can be read from a Christian perspective and ought to be discussed in conjunction with the U. S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Quite often, I've taken both approaches to it as a way of impressing how fortunate Americans are to live in a society of rule of law. This novel is good reading for kids from 12+, and adults will also find it enjoyable.
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Summary: You can tell which prisoners are going to die soon...
Review: ..they're the ones who lick other prisoners' bowls after the others have finished eating. No understanding of the 20th century is complete without knowledge of the Soviet labor camps. This book provides that in a couple of hours.
Rating:
Summary: one day in the life of Ivan Denisovich
Review: One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich, by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, is a story about a man, Ivan Denisovich, who lives in a Russian concentration camp. Presenting what is described as a typical "good" day at the camp, the book portrays the incredible pain and constant struggle interwoven in the daily experience at the camp.
The story begins with a wake up call, harshly delivered against the still-black sky. Ivan, who is freezing, tired, and aching, does not want to wake up. The warder informs Ivan that he will be punished for this decision with time in the "can"-a cold place of isolation in which prisoners are given even smaller portions of food than normal. The can is tolerable, according to Ivan, as long as you can work to keep warm. But as he follows the warder Ivan realizes that the warder is planning on having him mop the floor rather than having him stay in the can.
After Ivan finishes mopping he goes to the mess hall to get a warm bowl of gruel. Feeling very sick he decides to go to the hospital, but is sent back unassisted and unimproved. They tell him that they can only take two people out of work and those people have already been taken. He goes through morning call and his gang (the group that he sleeps, eats and works with) goes to the designated work site. They are working at building a power point. While their captain is trying to bargain for rates the gang finds different things to block off the windows and doors and to make a fire. Even though they sit by the fire, they cannot get warm. They go off to lunch and fight for trays to carry the gang's bowls on. Ivan also guards the bowls so no one can take the little food that his gang gets. The meal times and sleep are what they live for in the camp. Ivan eats his gruel slowly and manages to get an extra bowl by tricking the cook. After lunch the captain commands the gang to return immediately to work. They are laying bricks for the building. Ivan works hard to lay them perfectly, acknowledging the importance of making them straight the first time because the mortar freezes so fast. Ivan works at an amazing speed without making a mistake, while also watching everyone else's work to make sure the wall is being built straight. His work keeps him warm and he is aware that his portion size is contingent upon the amount of work that he does. Even after the sound rings to summon them to come in from their work Ivan does not let the mortar they made go to waste. He quickly lays more bricks and finds a spot where he can pour the rest of the mortar. After a long day of work they have the rest of the evening as free time. Ivan tells his friend Caesar that he will get in the line for packages while Caesar checks if he got a package. Caesar did get a package so he thanks Ivan and tells him that he can have his supper. Ivan is excited and knows that his wait in line was worthwhile. Ivan then goes to a friend who is selling tobacco and he buys some. Ivan returns to the barracks and he thinks about his day. He knows it has been a good day. He remembers about the extra food he got and his successful day at work. His pain is gone and he is able to have a cigarette. This is what camp life is all about, the simple things.
This book does not have a wide reaching plot and is more about the personal experience of characters then an action book. Yet, I think this book shows you a lot about how hard it was in a concentration camp. It therefore helps you appreciate your current circumstances.
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