Features:
- ISBN13: 9780140186956
- Condition: New
- Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
- Author : Varlam Shalamov
- Binding : Paperback
- Creator : John Glad
- Dewey Decimal Number : 813
- EAN : 9780140186956
- ISBN : 0140186956
- Is Eligible For Trade In? : Yes
- Label : Penguin Classics
- List Price : $17.00 (USD)
- Manufacturer : Penguin Classics
- Number Of Items : 1
- Number Of Pages : 528
- Package Dimensions : 0.94 inches (Height) x 7.72 inches (Length) x 0.75 pounds (Weight) x 5.04 inches (Width)
- Publication Date : 1995-02-01
- Publisher : Penguin Classics
- Studio : Penguin Classics
It is estimated that some three million people died in the Soviet forced-labour camps of Kolyma, in the northeastern area of Siberia. Shalamov himself spent seventeen years there, and in these stories he vividly captures the lives of ordinary people caught up in terrible circumstances, whose hopes and plans extended to further than a few hours. This new enlarged edition combines two collections previously published in the United States as Kolyma Tales and Graphite.
- Product Description
Customer Reviews:
Customers rated Kolyma Tales (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) 4.5 stars out of 5.0 based on 33 reviews:Kolyma Tales
by - 2010-05-28
In this book titles Kolyma Tales, a collection of short stories narrating life in a labor camp, Shalamov, who is a former laborer in a camp himself, tells of all the horrible experiences he was forced to face when working. There were all sorts of problems from starvation, horrible diseases, awful work quotas, etc., that he goes into thorough detail about. He really relates to the reader in the sense that the book is written in an easy to read sort of way while including a lot of emotion that really captivates the audience. I really recommend this book because it provides an extremely informative recollection of events while not putting you to sleep and you stumble upon those kind of books reporting history too often. It is written in a fiction sort of way while still telling truthful, historical events which allows this book to apply to all different types of readers. If you want to read a book that won't put you to sleep, but still help teach you, this is the one.Great Advertisement for bread
by Brian Bunce (Mount Holly, New Jersey United States) - 2010-05-03
Definitly a good read however it seems every story has a reference to bread and how much they need it. Life is a roullette wheel anyone of us could have the misfortune of being born at the wrong time and at the wrong place like 1930's russia. I feel blessed that I can go to wawa right now and buy ten loaves of bread if i needed to and not have to kill myself for just a half a pound of it.A truth about Communism that must be told
by Berit O. Landeg (Mentor, Ohio USA) - 2010-03-07
Kolyma Tales is a brilliant author's way of telling the world what actually happened to him and his fellow slave laborers in the Gulag during Stalin's reign in the Soviet Union. It is a testimony to the total failure of Communism and the evils of a totaliltarianism bent on finding enemies among its own people. The stories tell of the misfortune and injustice Shalamov and countless other innocent people endured in the labor camps of arctic Siberia. He uses his 17 years there to give us heartwrenching insight into a part of history unknown to most of us. Solshenitsyn might be more famous in the West, but Shalamov's literary talent is in my opinion equally good. The fact that each story is independent from the rest makes for an easy read.survival the fittest?
by simone Orwell (Berkeley, Ca) - 2009-07-23
I read this book out of the recommendation of my russian friend. I hold very high regards for Solzhenitsyn, and was totally blown away by his works such as " the cancer ward", however, solzhenitsyn tends to be too emotional and in a very forced manner when it comes to the accounts of livng and surviving in the Gulag. In contrast, shalamov's work is like the film by some great european director; it effortlessly conveys his experience without forcing his point of view on the readers, it merely presents readers the facts and leaving them to feel whatever emotion those facts should evoke. Prior to this book, I often wondered what drove those prisoners to survive under such extreme condition, neither will power nor religious belief seemed to be the answer. After having read the book, it leads me to beleive that it must just be the very primitive desire to survive and nothing else, since these people have no idea whether they would still be alive within the next 24 hours......Book, Russian Gulags
by J. C. Baxter (Rhode Island) - 2009-03-23
So you think life is tough? the weather is cold? the government is bothering you?? Think again brother and sister- read these short tales from Russia's frozen steppes and enter a new world of thinking. Helps understand some of the past that shapes Russian thought. I would class this as a "must read"; it is history, that if not remembered, could always be repeated.
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