Publiée dès 1951 en traduction anglaise, cette oeuvre littéraire parfaitement maîtrisée, remarquée par Albert Camus, Bertrand Russel et Jorge Semprun, constitue un remarquable témoignage sur le goulag soviétique des années quarante (1940-1942).

I can't believe that there aren't any reviews on this title. It is a powerful book. This author paints an honest and clear picture of his time in a Russian labour camp. It does go into detail the treachery of the various methods of punishment of his captors. What drew me in the most was the description of the psychological transformation of the inmates. To read this without digesting the mental impact is to do a great disservice to yourself. It is one of those works that really adjusts your perspective on life and society. I plan to read, of course, Dostoevsky's "House of the Dead" and Alexander Solzhenitsyn's work on the subject of Russian labor camps. It's such a shame that the world appears to have forgotten this aspect of history and lumped it with the rest of the horrors of World War II. ( )