One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich 

HMW Book Review (c) 2008

Grade Level: This book is suggested for Level IV students (Grades 9-12)

Contains brief strong language and intense situations

Book Review

While reading Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s biographical novel, One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, I felt as though my real life were only a dream, and I was truly Denisovich, a Soviet labor camp prisoner. I awoke to the harsh clanging of metal, as camp guards seemed to strike the words of the page together with jarring force. “At five o’clock that morning reveille was sounded, as usual, by the blows of a hammer on a length of rail hanging up near the staff quarters. The intermittent sounds barely penetrated the windowpanes on which the frost lay two fingers thick, and they ended almost as soon as they’d begun. It was so cold outside, and the camp guard was reluctant to go on beating out the reveille for long” (Solzhenitsyn, 1).

From the first lines I had been transported to another world. I hungered and thirsted when commanded to by Solzhenitsyn’s skilled pen. His words made me shiver in the Soviet winters, and my muscles ached after a long day’s work with little nourishment. One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich tells the story of Ivan Denisovich Shukhov. The 158 page novel is truly only one day long. We wake with the prisoners of a Soviet labor camp. Most of the prisoners have been sentenced 25 years for speaking against the Communist government. We get to know not only Shukhov but also his fellow squad members.

Their days are hard. In the morning they have little more than just a piece of bread which they set aside for themselves the night before. When Ivan awakes on the morning of the novel, it is -30 F°. He and his squad are sent to a work sight where they must erect a brick wall. However, it is so cold that if they do not lay the bricks fast enough the mortar will freeze solid. At 12:00 the prisoners are given a small serving of watery oatmeal for dinner (lunch). They will not eat again until around 7:00 pm when they will be given nothing put watery soup.

The novel gives us a vivid look into Soviet camp life. We see the complex relationships between men who are struggling to survive and their oppressors. The punishments in the camp are severe, including solitary confinement in a wet, unheated, cell with no windows and nothing but soup for ten days. Anyone sentenced to this punishment was being sent to their death (most contracted T.B. while in solitary confinement, while others died before their sentence was even up).

The camps are a complex mixture of every man for himself, yet selfless sacrifice for your fellow inmates. Survival depends on each member of the squad pulling their weight, since the squad is either punished or rewarded based on their effort as a group. Harsh laws, terrible living conditions, and constant brushes with death fill there every day. Yet, Shukhov still finds something to be thankful for, and he somehow musters the courage to live another day. The novel ends as Shukhov drifts to sleep in his bunk. “Shukhov went to sleep fully content. He’d had many strokes of luck that day…almost a happy day…There were three thousand six hundred and fifty-three days like that in his stretch. From the first clang of the rail to the last clang of the rail. Three thousand six hundred and fifty-three days” (Solzhenitsyn, 158).

About the Author

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was written by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The book was inspired by his experience in a Soviet labor camp where he spent eight years of his life. The book was written in 1962, nine years after the death of Stalin (the Communist leader who had imprisoned Solzhenitsyn). The years following his imprisonment, Solzhenitsyn was continually persecuted. He was exiled to Asia for three years and lived in the United States for twenty. In 1970, Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in literature, however, he had to accept the honor absentee (for fear that if he left Russia he would not be allowed to return). The Soviet Union is no longer under Communist control since the Cold War ended in the early 1990s; however audiences around the world still appreciate Solzhenitsyn's classic autobiographical novel.

Historical Note

At the start of WWII, Soviet Union leader, Stalin, and Germany Fuhrer, Hitler, seemed to be the best of friends. They each were ambitious, ruthless, and embraced similar policies (including the use of concentration camps as a way of controlling enemies), however, there was one major difference...Hitler hated communism, while Stalin wholeheartedly embraced it.

 Political Cartoon featuring Hitler and Stalin

Based on what you have learned so far, what do you think the guns behind Stalin's and Hitler's backs say about their relationship?

In June 1941, long after a peace agreement (the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact) had been signed by the two leaders, Hitler suddenly attacked the Soviet Union. Stalin joined the Allied forces out of necessity; however, he did not give up his murderous ways - a fact that led to the continued imprisonment and murder of his own citizens and eventually the Cold War. 

Read more about Hitler and Stalin

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