Status
Available
Collection
Publication
Guilford, Conn. : Lyons Press, c1997.
Description
History. Nonfiction. HTML: The film The Way Back, starring Colin Farrell and Ed Harris, is based on this amazing true story. Twenty-six-year-old cavalry officer Slavomir Rawicz was captured by the Red Army in 1939 during the German-Soviet partition of Poland and sent to the Siberian Gulag. In the spring of 1941, he escaped with six of his fellow prisoners, including one American. Thus began their astonishing trek to freedom. With no map or compass but only an ax head, a homemade knife, and a week's supply of food, the compatriots spent a year making their way on foot to British India, through four thousand miles of the most forbidding terrain on earth. They braved the Himalayas, the desolate Siberian tundra, icy rivers, and the great Gobi Desert, always a hair's breadth from death. Finally returning home, Rawicz reenlisted in the Polish army to fight the Germans. This is his story..… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member bespen
A classic adventure story, a tale of endurance and survival, The Long Walk is the story of a Polish officer who escaped from a Siberian Gulag and walked to India.
Whilst doing research for this review, I discovered that another man claimed that Rawicz had stolen his story. Witold Glinski says that
Accusations had been leveled against Rawicz from the moment the book was published, but the BBC discovered evidence that Rawicz was in fact serving with the Polish Army after being released from the gulag during the time the events in the book occurred.
Despite all that, I liked this book. Given that it does seem to be based upon true events, it is still worth a read, even if it wasn't Rawicz who actually walked to India. There are a couple interesting things in the book that I noted. One thing that came to mind only because I am reading The Science of Conjecture by James Franklin, is the Soviets had a strange insistence upon obtaining confessions. Rawicz/Glinsky spent several months in the Lubyanka prison while the NKVD was attempting to obtain his confession. In retrospect, this seems strange. Why bother? There was not really any danger of a popular uprising in the WWII period, they did not need to obtain confessions.
However, going back to the 10th century in Continental Law, there was a preference for confession above all other forms of proof in legal cases, due to the difficulty of interpretation of other kinds of evidence. Confession was felt to be unambiguous in ways that other kinds of testimony were not, primarily for religious reasons. This struck me as funny, in a perverse way, that the Soviets insisted on confessions for their show trials when the ultimate reason for doing so traces back to the Torah.
This book is also excellent for the sense of the vast emptiness it effectively creates. Central Asia has a whole lotta nothing going on, and this book will make that impression stick in your mind.
Whilst doing research for this review, I discovered that another man claimed that Rawicz had stolen his story. Witold Glinski says that
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the events in The Long Walk actually happened to him. Glinski claims Rawicz read an account of his voyage in the Polish embassy in London, and based the book on that recollection. In retrospect, this explains the curious character of the book. The book is incredible, but too incredible to be fake. There is just something about the book that rings true. But nonetheless, the book has a dreamy character, with strange bits that probably are the result of Rawicz making things up that he didn't really know. Reading Glinski's account makes much more sense of the things that happened, the flow is better, and nothing seems out of place.Accusations had been leveled against Rawicz from the moment the book was published, but the BBC discovered evidence that Rawicz was in fact serving with the Polish Army after being released from the gulag during the time the events in the book occurred.
Despite all that, I liked this book. Given that it does seem to be based upon true events, it is still worth a read, even if it wasn't Rawicz who actually walked to India. There are a couple interesting things in the book that I noted. One thing that came to mind only because I am reading The Science of Conjecture by James Franklin, is the Soviets had a strange insistence upon obtaining confessions. Rawicz/Glinsky spent several months in the Lubyanka prison while the NKVD was attempting to obtain his confession. In retrospect, this seems strange. Why bother? There was not really any danger of a popular uprising in the WWII period, they did not need to obtain confessions.
However, going back to the 10th century in Continental Law, there was a preference for confession above all other forms of proof in legal cases, due to the difficulty of interpretation of other kinds of evidence. Confession was felt to be unambiguous in ways that other kinds of testimony were not, primarily for religious reasons. This struck me as funny, in a perverse way, that the Soviets insisted on confessions for their show trials when the ultimate reason for doing so traces back to the Torah.
This book is also excellent for the sense of the vast emptiness it effectively creates. Central Asia has a whole lotta nothing going on, and this book will make that impression stick in your mind.
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LibraryThing member Nirmala-books
A sensational book that the reader would not want to put down until the end. One of the best true stories of human endurance I have read. The most fascinating is the description of the changing climate, weather and nature encountered as the author traveled from north to south through the vast Asian
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continent in this remarkable trek. It is exciting to envision vivid sceneries of harsh stormy winter of the Siberian dessert, the rugged Mongolian country and occasional inhabitants, the harsh merciless Gobi dessert, the Tibetans with compassion towards passing strangers, and the great Himalayas as narrated by living through it. In the story puzzling to me was that only a few types of wildlife were described as encountered throughout the episode over the large continent and faced much less danger than I would have expected from the wild. At one point however the author reasoned this to traveling in a large group that kept animals away. After enjoying this book I came across an old BBC Radio 4 news item from 2006 that indicated some evidence that this story could be a fake and that the author could have taken the story from another person named Witold Glinski whose genuine account of a trek from Siberian dessert to north of India was in official papers kept in the Polish Embassy in London. If this information is true then the author’s feat in this book is disappointing although the story still remains based on a true story. Show Less
LibraryThing member CarolynSchroeder
This is a great story of the human spirit, in many different ways ~ one that lingers. Ronald Downing did an amazing job of putting Slavomir Rawicz's words into both simple English prose and poetry. There is nothing fancy about the writing, but it is spare, beautiful and captures the lands of
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Siberia, Mongolia, Tibet and not often written about areas during WWII. "Slav" is an understated amazing person. He escapes, along with 6 other prisoners, from a Russian "work camp" where he is unjustly held for 25 years on suspicion of being a spy (he never was). I was humbled by the group's devotion to each other. I was waiting for the inevitable implosion of the group, splintering off, etc., but it never happened. These folks hung together until the end, or their untimely demise(s) ... each person contributing his/her strength to the journey and for the common good. The instant kindness and sacrifice they showed to Kristina (a young Polish fugitive they pick up along the way) was amazing. This book is a quick read and I highly recommend it, especially if you like stories about seemingly "common/normal" people doing heroic things (a favorite subject of mine). Know that it is quite sad though, as one would expect. Show Less
LibraryThing member cacky
Really disappointed that this "true" story can't be verified. It was a great adventure and could have been a great novel. Don't like to be fooled, hence the low rating
LibraryThing member outside-jane
This is an amazing story... if it's true! But sadly I am not sure that it is - my credulity was stretched a number of times, not least at the sighting of 2 yetis in the Himalayas - a truly Baudolino-esque moment!
LibraryThing member npl
First published in England in 1956, this book tells the story of how the author, a 25 year old Polish cavalry officer, escaped from a Soviet labor camp during WW II. With 6 companions, he trekked 4000 excruciating miles through Siberia, Mongolia, China and Tibet before reaching freedom in British
Narrative Context: High
Subject: Personal narrative, survival, epic adventure, imprisonment, escape, freedom, torture, labor camp, war, World War II, 20th century, Poland, Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, Central Asia, Tibet
Type: Memoir
Pacing: Fast-paced. The plot moves the story along.
Tone: Direct and understated.
Similar Titles or Authors: As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me: the Extraordinary True Story of One Man’s Escape from a Siberian Labor Camp and His Three Year Trek to Freedom by Josef Bauer; Rescued by Mao: World War II, Wake Island, and My Remarkable Escape to Freedom Across Mainland China by William L. Taylor; The Man the Nazis Couldn’t Catch by John Laffin; Love and War in the Apennines by Eric Newby; Escape from Archangel: an American Merchant Seaman at War by Thomas E. Simmons; The Flame Keepers: the True Story of an American Soldier’s Survival at War by Edward A. Handy; The Last Escape: the Untold Story of Allied Prisoners of War In Germany, 1944-45 by John Nichol; We Die Alone by David Armine Howarth; The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III: the Full Story of How 76 Allied Officers Carried Out World War II’s Most Remarkable Mass Escape by Tim Carroll; We Refused to Die: My Time as a Prisoner of War in Bataan and Japan, 1942-1945 by Gene Samuel Jacobsen
Whole Collection Context: Empire of the Sun by J. G.
Special Features: Map of journeys to and away from gulag.
Learning/Experiencing: Exciting and unbelievable survival experience; learning about Russian labor camps during WW II.
Characterizations: Story told from narrators point of view, but there are a small number of sympathetic secondary characters.
Story Line: Escape from enemies to freedom, but also survival in extremes of weather and hunger/thirst and psychological endurance. Pretty incredible.
Language: Clear, straightforward, unembellished.
Setting: Setting is extremely important to the story. The escapees crossed 4000 miles of Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, and Tibet in extremes of cold and snow, heat, hunger and thirst, and difficult terrain.
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India. Despite incredible hardships in the tundra, Gobi desert, and Himalayan mountains, the fugitives struggle southward month after month, surviving on solidarity, the kindness of local inhabitants, snake meat, and pure guts.Narrative Context: High
Subject: Personal narrative, survival, epic adventure, imprisonment, escape, freedom, torture, labor camp, war, World War II, 20th century, Poland, Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, Central Asia, Tibet
Type: Memoir
Pacing: Fast-paced. The plot moves the story along.
Tone: Direct and understated.
Similar Titles or Authors: As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me: the Extraordinary True Story of One Man’s Escape from a Siberian Labor Camp and His Three Year Trek to Freedom by Josef Bauer; Rescued by Mao: World War II, Wake Island, and My Remarkable Escape to Freedom Across Mainland China by William L. Taylor; The Man the Nazis Couldn’t Catch by John Laffin; Love and War in the Apennines by Eric Newby; Escape from Archangel: an American Merchant Seaman at War by Thomas E. Simmons; The Flame Keepers: the True Story of an American Soldier’s Survival at War by Edward A. Handy; The Last Escape: the Untold Story of Allied Prisoners of War In Germany, 1944-45 by John Nichol; We Die Alone by David Armine Howarth; The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III: the Full Story of How 76 Allied Officers Carried Out World War II’s Most Remarkable Mass Escape by Tim Carroll; We Refused to Die: My Time as a Prisoner of War in Bataan and Japan, 1942-1945 by Gene Samuel Jacobsen
Whole Collection Context: Empire of the Sun by J. G.
Special Features: Map of journeys to and away from gulag.
Learning/Experiencing: Exciting and unbelievable survival experience; learning about Russian labor camps during WW II.
Characterizations: Story told from narrators point of view, but there are a small number of sympathetic secondary characters.
Story Line: Escape from enemies to freedom, but also survival in extremes of weather and hunger/thirst and psychological endurance. Pretty incredible.
Language: Clear, straightforward, unembellished.
Setting: Setting is extremely important to the story. The escapees crossed 4000 miles of Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, and Tibet in extremes of cold and snow, heat, hunger and thirst, and difficult terrain.
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LibraryThing member HarryMacDonald
Many, many years ago a history-teacher in my then high-school was fond of the phrase “machine-gun history” by which he meant the popularized histories, often couched in supposed firsthand accounts, of the battles of World War Two, the kind of stuff which appeared in paperback by the thousand
One such volume – at-least in its paperback incarnation -- was The Long walk, by Slavomir Rawicz, a work which has stayed in-print more or less continually, including audio-book format, more-or-less continually since its first appearance ages ago. And there is good reason for it. In short, the eponymous long walk was the desperate trek made by Rawicz and a few others from a Russian prison-camp, across Siberia and Central Asia, and over the great mountain-ramparts of the Subcontinent. The tale is told with a reticence that is as appalling for its silent suggestiveness as almost any detailed narrative could possibly be. From time to time I read about or meet so-called “survivalists” and just turn the other way. Of a certain TV show, I will not even sully this page by writing the name. Anyway, all these so-called “survivalists”, at-least in my experience, have never had to face the worst peril or all, the power of concerted, organized, implacable evil, or – close behind it – not any idea with five-hundred miles – of where they were, where they could go, or what they might there or along the way. And that is putting quite aside extreme heat and cold, starvation, and disease. Not so incidentally, it is my observation that it is pretty dam’ easy to be a survivalist when you know there’s a hot shower waiting for you sooner or later, -- and then a computer on which you can blog your so-called adventures to a bunch of other yahoos who really do need to get out more. Compared to the march of Rawicz’s little band, Scott’s expedition to the Pole was a carol-sing, and Bligh’s trip in the open boat just so much punting on the Thames.
I don’t know whether that old high-school teacher ever actually saw that treasured paperback of The Long walk. If he had, I fear that the cover-art would have led him to consign it to that conceptual Inferno of “machine-gun history”. But if he did so, he was wrong.
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and were devoured by boys like me with a ferocity quite easily come-by in the comparative serenity of suburban life in the post-War period. The books all had lurid, memorable covers, and most of those had at-least one male looking outward at the reader with a face meant to express the idea that the person depicted had seen, survived, and quite possibly committed the inexpressible. One such volume – at-least in its paperback incarnation -- was The Long walk, by Slavomir Rawicz, a work which has stayed in-print more or less continually, including audio-book format, more-or-less continually since its first appearance ages ago. And there is good reason for it. In short, the eponymous long walk was the desperate trek made by Rawicz and a few others from a Russian prison-camp, across Siberia and Central Asia, and over the great mountain-ramparts of the Subcontinent. The tale is told with a reticence that is as appalling for its silent suggestiveness as almost any detailed narrative could possibly be. From time to time I read about or meet so-called “survivalists” and just turn the other way. Of a certain TV show, I will not even sully this page by writing the name. Anyway, all these so-called “survivalists”, at-least in my experience, have never had to face the worst peril or all, the power of concerted, organized, implacable evil, or – close behind it – not any idea with five-hundred miles – of where they were, where they could go, or what they might there or along the way. And that is putting quite aside extreme heat and cold, starvation, and disease. Not so incidentally, it is my observation that it is pretty dam’ easy to be a survivalist when you know there’s a hot shower waiting for you sooner or later, -- and then a computer on which you can blog your so-called adventures to a bunch of other yahoos who really do need to get out more. Compared to the march of Rawicz’s little band, Scott’s expedition to the Pole was a carol-sing, and Bligh’s trip in the open boat just so much punting on the Thames.
I don’t know whether that old high-school teacher ever actually saw that treasured paperback of The Long walk. If he had, I fear that the cover-art would have led him to consign it to that conceptual Inferno of “machine-gun history”. But if he did so, he was wrong.
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LibraryThing member jenkimar
The interrogation and prison camp I found believable ,partly because I have met someone who was sent to a Siberian work camp and the conditions the author describes agrees with that unfortunate person. However,as far as the Long Walk goes I think that is one fascinating fabrication. An excellent
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read though. Show Less
LibraryThing member marshapetry
An incredible story. It's a great read, but it got to the point where I got skeptical and, sorry, but can't really believe some of the stories. And, actually, I wouldn't knock someone who lived through that journey to have maybe not remembered it quite 100% right. Even if it's not 100% absolutely
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true, it still was an incredible journey. I would love to learn more about this event but I suppose it is lost to history. Show Less
LibraryThing member JeremyMeeks
Quite possibly the most inspiring book I've ever read. This thing is awesome from start to finish.
LibraryThing member bnbookgirl
Parts of this book have been questioned and after reading it I question it as well. I love a well written memoir, but, I don't want to be fooled by one that is embellished with misinformation. (Lets not forget James Frey). I would like more research done on this if possible. I had no problem with
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the time in Yakutsk, that part seemed accurate, it was after that where the problems begin. If anyone has found out further info on this book, I am willing to listen. Show Less
LibraryThing member technodiabla
This memoir was unbelievable! I mean, if it wasn't a true story it would seem ridiculous. The hardships those survivors endured is really unimaginable to me. I found the writing to be pretty good for a memoir (not written by a professional writer), unfortunately this edition seemed poorly edited
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(the U.S. 1997 edition). I would definitely recommend this book though-- to most people. It says so much about what man can do, if he has to, and about the importance of freedom and camaraderie. 3.75 stars Show Less
LibraryThing member buzzwords
This was my form 3 English novel, way way back. It blew me away as a 13 year old, and it blows me away still. The Eastern European names are hard to master, but this incredible true account of stoic survival and an awe-inspiring journey will move you.
LibraryThing member cmbohn
Slavomir Rawicz was a Polish cavalry officer in World War II. He came home on leave and found himself arrested by the Russians for the crime of, well, being Polish. He was kept in prison, but refused to confess. After a few months, he was tricked into signing a confession and shipped off to Siberia
He decides he's not about to spend 25 years there, and makes plans to escape. He enlists six other men, a Latvian, an American, other Poles, and they sneak out in the night. Their escape plan will take them through Mongolia, across the Gobi Desert, up and down the Himalayas, and through India.
It's an incredible story. I couldn't put it down once I got started. Sometimes there were gaps in the story, but it was absolutely gripping. Really worth reading.
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for 25 years hard labor. After a horrible trek up into the northern wilderness, he finds himself in a Siberian work camp.He decides he's not about to spend 25 years there, and makes plans to escape. He enlists six other men, a Latvian, an American, other Poles, and they sneak out in the night. Their escape plan will take them through Mongolia, across the Gobi Desert, up and down the Himalayas, and through India.
It's an incredible story. I couldn't put it down once I got started. Sometimes there were gaps in the story, but it was absolutely gripping. Really worth reading.
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LibraryThing member deck
Fascinating, well-written, matter-of-fact style that rings true. Can't help but doubt its authenticity, though. Yetis? Was he hallucinating, or did he make this up? Come to find out there is no little controversy - a BBC article details some of the research done to check veracity. Dubious, as I
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suspected. Show Less
LibraryThing member Schmerguls
Ever since I read, on 26 Aug 1999, We Die Alone, I have wanted to read this book. It tells a story of a Pole sent to Siberia to a Stalinist labor camp, who escapes with six other prisoners and walks into Mongolia, acoss the Gobi desert, through Tibet, and finally reaches India and safety. The
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account of the gruelling walk and the horrendous suffering they went hrough is riveting--and, one must admit, hard to believe. And apparently there is substantial evidence that it is not true. But it makes a terrific story and and I am glad I finally was able to read it. It is not as good a story as We Die Alone but is still an absorbing book. Show Less
LibraryThing member pjlueck
Somewhere, buried deep in the depths of my brain...is a kernel of information that casts doubt on Rawicz's journey. (not the gulag/escape part, but the long journey SOUTH to India...) I recall reading a mild criticism based on some observable facts, and some historical research. Don't remember
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source, date, etc. Any help??? Show Less
LibraryThing member BudaBaby
Memoir of a Polish soldier captured by the Russians, tortured, forced to sign a false confession while drugged, and sent to a labor camp in Siberia. From there he escaped with others and set off on foot to India. Tale of survival and human limits.
LibraryThing member jcovington
Interesting and dramatic tale of a successful escape from a Soviet Gulag. The Abominalbe Snowman makes a cameo.
LibraryThing member ten_floors_up
In a way, this book is unrateable (maybe another reason for my instinctive dislike of star ratings). Is it a wholly true story (which in the light of the assembled evidence seems very unlikely), fiction, fantasy, or just a rollicking good read of a kind peculiar to a particular time? Perhaps the
In the period after World war 2, there were many accounts by individuals (particularly combatants) which make a gripping rip-roaring read. They don't always stand up to close historical scrutiny, but should they be treated as self-aggrandisement, monuments to the fallibility and unreliability of human memory, or as examples of the skills of the authors and ghost writers to spice things up and create a good story?
Here are a few examples:
Roald Dahl's accounts of wartime experience in the RAF. They are crisply written, but I sometimes can't get over the suspicion that Dahl never let anything get in the way of a neat and dramatic sentence, or a good story-telling device.
Herbert Werner's "Iron Coffins" is a German submariner's memoir, some parts of which can be more easily verified then others. Pierre Clostermann's "The Big Show" is an account of a Free French officer in the RAF full of striking images and accounts. Others, and offical records too, may describe things differently. However, I'll never forget his comparison of a glimpse of the underbelly of an enemy aircraft to the underbelly of a pike seen in the Mayenne river in his earlier life.
"Official records" may be equally suspect. To return to "The Long Walk", did the NKVD keep precise and completely unbiased records of all their prisoners? This was the Stalinist era, after all, one infamous for bending official accounts to political or face-saving ends. From another aspect, would Rawicz have willingly subjected a Russian officer's wife who helped him to the risk of the gulag experience herself? This would be the logical consequence of identifying her in the story as having materially aided his escape.
Personal accounts of wartime or personal events sometimes contain things that just can't have happened (sightings of aircraft that just didn't exist except in a propagandist's mind), but they may reflect the way that individual "saw" them at the time, codifed them in memory or rationalised their experiences in retrieving them.
My take on "The Long Walk" is that it's probably best to treat it in a similar (but somewhat less artistic) way to Guy Sajer's "The Unknown Soldier". It doesn't stand up to scrutiny as a true-life account, but within the patchwork there are there are many parts which could reflect or evoke the real-life experiences of various individuals living through very strange and harsh times and events. I'm leaving certain mythical creatures well outside the scope of this view, however.
Incidentally, if you like a touch of the absurd, read the footnote in Wikipedia about the man who claimed that "The Long Walk" was in fact "his story" - there's a beautifully deadpan comment here. Unless of course it's been superseded or edited by the time you go to read it....
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most interesting thing about this book is the way you react to it as a reader.In the period after World war 2, there were many accounts by individuals (particularly combatants) which make a gripping rip-roaring read. They don't always stand up to close historical scrutiny, but should they be treated as self-aggrandisement, monuments to the fallibility and unreliability of human memory, or as examples of the skills of the authors and ghost writers to spice things up and create a good story?
Here are a few examples:
Roald Dahl's accounts of wartime experience in the RAF. They are crisply written, but I sometimes can't get over the suspicion that Dahl never let anything get in the way of a neat and dramatic sentence, or a good story-telling device.
Herbert Werner's "Iron Coffins" is a German submariner's memoir, some parts of which can be more easily verified then others. Pierre Clostermann's "The Big Show" is an account of a Free French officer in the RAF full of striking images and accounts. Others, and offical records too, may describe things differently. However, I'll never forget his comparison of a glimpse of the underbelly of an enemy aircraft to the underbelly of a pike seen in the Mayenne river in his earlier life.
"Official records" may be equally suspect. To return to "The Long Walk", did the NKVD keep precise and completely unbiased records of all their prisoners? This was the Stalinist era, after all, one infamous for bending official accounts to political or face-saving ends. From another aspect, would Rawicz have willingly subjected a Russian officer's wife who helped him to the risk of the gulag experience herself? This would be the logical consequence of identifying her in the story as having materially aided his escape.
Personal accounts of wartime or personal events sometimes contain things that just can't have happened (sightings of aircraft that just didn't exist except in a propagandist's mind), but they may reflect the way that individual "saw" them at the time, codifed them in memory or rationalised their experiences in retrieving them.
My take on "The Long Walk" is that it's probably best to treat it in a similar (but somewhat less artistic) way to Guy Sajer's "The Unknown Soldier". It doesn't stand up to scrutiny as a true-life account, but within the patchwork there are there are many parts which could reflect or evoke the real-life experiences of various individuals living through very strange and harsh times and events. I'm leaving certain mythical creatures well outside the scope of this view, however.
Incidentally, if you like a touch of the absurd, read the footnote in Wikipedia about the man who claimed that "The Long Walk" was in fact "his story" - there's a beautifully deadpan comment here. Unless of course it's been superseded or edited by the time you go to read it....
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LibraryThing member gbelik
This is the amazing true story of a journey on foot from a Soviet prison camp in Siberia to India, thorough Russia, Mongolia, the Gobi Desert, Tibet, the Himalayas. It is a tale of unbelievable endurance and of the bond between the men who made the trip. It was made into a movie The Way Back, which
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I saw a couple of years ago. Show Less
LibraryThing member nkmunn
more than a survival story.
LibraryThing member mlake
I was worried that it would be too much history, or that Slavomir would be self pitying, but neither was true. This read like an action/adventure story.
LibraryThing member PickledOnion42
After recruiting six of his fellow prisoners, Slavomir Rawicz makes his escape from the Siberian Gulag in which he has been sentenced to spend the next 25 years; successfully breaking through the outer perimeter undetected the group of fugitives embark on what will ultimately become a 4000 mile
I do not doubt the authenticity of the 'pre-escape' experiences of interrogation and torture, farcical trial, transportation to the Gulag, and prison life (although whether such experiences belong to the author is another matter entirely), but I most certainly do doubt the authenticity of some of the fugitives' experiences. For example, if one is to read this story as a true historical account one must believe that a man can survive a 12 day trek across the Gobi Desert without water. I am unconvinced. Further, one must believe that after such an ordeal a man could then survive a crossing of the Himalayas, scaling mountain after mountain, with no real mountaineering equipment and very few basic provisions. This must surely stretch one's credulity.
Yet even if one were to accept The Long Walk as an accurate account, one must still confront the most bizarre passage of the book – the Abominable Snowman. Yes, Sasquatch does indeed make an appearance. I am not here claiming that Bigfoot doesn't exist, but to believe that after all they have experienced throughout their journey, the escapees are also fortunate enough to stumble across such an elusive creature... No; I just cannot believe it.
It is this reviewer's opinion that The Long Walk is essentially (though not completely) a work of fiction, or at the very least a greatly exaggerated and contorted version of the truth. Yet this does not mean it should be avoided; as a story it is wonderfully inspirational – had it been published as such I am sure it would have become a modern classic. Would I have read it had I known of its contents beforehand? Probably not, but I'm glad I did.
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trek to freedom. The Long Walk is Rawicz's account of that journey. A story crammed with inspirational endeavour, phenomenal moments of courage, and episodes of abject sadness, it is a truly wonderful story; yet whilst reading I began to experience a faint sense of doubt about some of the claims it makes, and this scepticism only grew as I progressed through its pages.I do not doubt the authenticity of the 'pre-escape' experiences of interrogation and torture, farcical trial, transportation to the Gulag, and prison life (although whether such experiences belong to the author is another matter entirely), but I most certainly do doubt the authenticity of some of the fugitives' experiences. For example, if one is to read this story as a true historical account one must believe that a man can survive a 12 day trek across the Gobi Desert without water. I am unconvinced. Further, one must believe that after such an ordeal a man could then survive a crossing of the Himalayas, scaling mountain after mountain, with no real mountaineering equipment and very few basic provisions. This must surely stretch one's credulity.
Yet even if one were to accept The Long Walk as an accurate account, one must still confront the most bizarre passage of the book – the Abominable Snowman. Yes, Sasquatch does indeed make an appearance. I am not here claiming that Bigfoot doesn't exist, but to believe that after all they have experienced throughout their journey, the escapees are also fortunate enough to stumble across such an elusive creature... No; I just cannot believe it.
It is this reviewer's opinion that The Long Walk is essentially (though not completely) a work of fiction, or at the very least a greatly exaggerated and contorted version of the truth. Yet this does not mean it should be avoided; as a story it is wonderfully inspirational – had it been published as such I am sure it would have become a modern classic. Would I have read it had I known of its contents beforehand? Probably not, but I'm glad I did.
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LibraryThing member Helenliz
One of those books that make you wonder if you'd be able to do even half as much. After being arrested by the Russians for being Polish (and that's pretty much the sum of evidence we're presented with) the author is tortured and sentenced to 25 years hard labour in a work camp in Siberia. The
It's told in a very matter of fact way, with the hardships described in quite spare detail. And it does get a little emotional at several stages along the way. At times you wonder can it be real, as they manage to survive thngs that seem to be quite unendurable. And it makes you wonder what you'd do when put in that situation - is the faint sniff of the chance of liberty worth risking everything for when all you have to look forward to is a long hard death? Maybe.
There is debate as to how true this is, or if the author actually experienced any of it. There are reports of other prisoners walking to freedom, in which case, this can easily stand a a memorial to all that tried, regardless of if they suceeded or not.
The only thing that I found was that the book ends quite abruptly, and you are left wanting to know more about how these men survived in society thereafter. Was the hardship the endured in the search for freedom worthwhile? If given the chance to go back, would they do the same thing agan?
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prisoners are treated very harshly on their journey to the camp, and the conditions barely improve once at the camp. There a sequence of events leads him and 6 comrades to attempt an escape. They set out in winter and head south. A long way south. To India, in fact. It's told in a very matter of fact way, with the hardships described in quite spare detail. And it does get a little emotional at several stages along the way. At times you wonder can it be real, as they manage to survive thngs that seem to be quite unendurable. And it makes you wonder what you'd do when put in that situation - is the faint sniff of the chance of liberty worth risking everything for when all you have to look forward to is a long hard death? Maybe.
There is debate as to how true this is, or if the author actually experienced any of it. There are reports of other prisoners walking to freedom, in which case, this can easily stand a a memorial to all that tried, regardless of if they suceeded or not.
The only thing that I found was that the book ends quite abruptly, and you are left wanting to know more about how these men survived in society thereafter. Was the hardship the endured in the search for freedom worthwhile? If given the chance to go back, would they do the same thing agan?
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