One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

This book was recommended to me by a dear friend, let's call him Mr. Reckless. Normally our conversations are about the ironies and idiocies of our lives or about sports, so naturally I listen when he talks. I did not read a synopsis about this book beforehand but knowing Mr. Reckless I was expecting scandal and mob activities. Though there was none of this, I still found myself wanting to read the book nonstop. It isn't your typical page-turner but it keeps you drawn into the life of Ivan Denisovich (the main character of course).

Ivan is locked up in a Russian prison camp for espionage. The reader learns about this nearly halfway through Ivan's day in the 1950's. Time is measured by the placement of the sun in the sky, and the prisoners are to work at building walls (and other forms of manual labor) with malfunctioning machines and not enough manual tools. I believe the book was so captivating because it seemed so true. You can believe that Ivan aka Shukhov had to manipulate for an extra serving of oats, that you chose who your friends were depending on what parcels they receive, that you stopped counting the days until "freedom" because under Stalin there was no such thing. Yes it's apparent that the book is a translation but the content and visualization are rich enough to not interrupt the continuity much.