When we meet him, Ivan Denisovich Shukov has served eight years in a Siberian labour camp and is a veteran at the art of survival. From the first clang of reveille on a bitter January morning to lights out that same evening, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich chronicles a single day in the life of Shukov.
This is a short little book that only took a day to read, but will linger with me for much longer. With its stark descriptions of the hunger, cold, and fatigue faced by Shukov, Solzhenitsyn depicts the harshness of life in the gulag and how it changes those who are imprisoned there. Honest, cunning, selfish, and compassionate, Shukov hides bread in his mattress, cheats the cook, runs small errands for his superiors, smuggles a scrap of metal into the camp, and steals building supplies. All of this for a few extra scraps of food which, in the Siberian winter, can make the difference between life and death.
But what really struck me was that in the face of such deprivations, Shukov refuses to let the gulag turn him into anything less than human. He always puts himself first but helps others if he can. He's loyal to his workmates and takes a quiet pride in a well-built wall. He also manages to wring tiny moments of joy and humour whenever he can. An unexpected bit of fish in his soup, a successfully cadged cigarette, a mouthful of sausage - Shukov's happiness at such tiny pleasures is his way of holding on to his humanity and self-respect in a place designed to strip him of every dignity.
Quiet, understated and very, very human, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is a short and powerful depiction of the fate of thousands of Russians caught up in the Stalinist purges of the USSR. A book that truly deserves its place in James Mustich's 1000 Books To Read Before You Die.
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