One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

“It’s the small things that get you through the day”

The story is set in a Soviet labor camp in the 1950s and describes a single day in the life of ordinary prisoner, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov.

This was a super easy to read novel where I felt like I was imagining exactly what the author was describing. It wasn’t as dark or depressing as I expected it to be, especially since it’s about the day of a man in a Soviet work camp. However, I still have a hard time understanding how so many people continued to live and not let their living conditions break their spirit.

My friend gave me this book and I finish it in just a few days. Solzhenitsyn has some other novels that I think I’ll likely check out due to the style and flow of this one. It’s not that the book was simple, but it was easy to understand and it really brought me into the perspective of the main character. Sure, he only got 6 ounces of extra bread rations, but even I was celebrating that victory with him.

Overall, this offered really interesting insight into the conditions of a Soviet work camp that I don’t think many people know even existed.