Gulag Archipelago [Volume 2]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation

It's a classic. What more can I say? Books are very nice. Try turning off your phone/tv and reading. You will be surprised how nostalgic it is.

Brutal slavery into the 50’s. Do we still think it can’t happen “here”, “now” ?

Such a shame the horrors of the "Soviet experiment" is barely taught in schools across the Western world. Mr Solzhenitsyn tells the story in a very unique way. Dark and harrowing yet witty and humorous. A must read for any serious scholar of the Bolshevik revolution, the institutions it created and for the millions who suffered. Some of their stories live on through this work.

The second volume of Solzhenitsyn's masterpiece revolves around his life in the Gulag. Volume 2, as with the preceding and succeeding volumes, is a beautifully written epic that transcends genre descriptions such as fiction, memoir, history, existential novel. Some of the best quotes from Volume 2 are as follows:"The decades go by. We do not manage to sort things out and understand ourselves even on one plane before the next one is deposited in a new layer of ash." (p. 135 fn. 7)."A stone is not a human being, and even stones get crushed." (p. 356)."To pardon a thief is to kill a good man." (p. 431)."Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty." (p. 546).

Incredible account of what life was like.