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Eugenia Ginzburg's critically acclaimed memoir of the harrowing eighteen years she spent in prisons and labor camps under Stalin's rule
By the late 1930s, Eugenia Semyonovna Ginzburg had been a loyal and very active member of the Communist Party for many years. Yet like millions of others who suffered during Stalin's reign of terror, she was arrested—on trumped-up charges of being a Trotskyist terrorist and counter-revolutionary—and sentenced to prison. With an amazing eye for detail, profound strength, and an indefatigable spirit, Ginzburg recounts the years, days, and minutes she endured in prisons and labor camps, including two years of solitary confinement. A classic account of survival, Journey into the Whirlwind is considered one of the most important documents of Stalin's regime.
Anonymous
Posted July 8, 2009
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Mrs. Ginzburg writes of her years in the Soviet gulag system with depth of understanding, humility, and concern for her fellow man. I found Solzhenitsyn's more famous work to be self-serving and boring by comparison. "Journey" is a must-read, not only for history buffs, but for all seekers of truth and lovers of humanity.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I look forward to the re-release of the next volume. A fascinating insight into the Stalinist terror era and how it worked, plus amazement that Ginzburg stayed a communist through it all.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.VerityJames
Posted May 5, 2010
I recently read this book for an upper division History course at my university. The course was an in depth examination of the Soviet Union, and I can honestly say that this book was one of the most provocative, alarming and eye-opening pieces that I have ever read.
Ginzburg is arrested during the Stalinist Purges, and she spends the next two decades in Siberian prison camps. Her eye witness accounts of these terrible institutions is chilling, and her narrative is one of stark honesty paired with sharp observation skills. As a history student herself, Ginzburg provides many insights that a normal prisoner might not have had to offer. The frank examination of not only the events she suffered but the events occurring at large are invaluable.
That being said, the book is more effective if you have some working knowledge of Soviet Russia. As a story it is riveting, but as a social history this memoir is absolutely priceless. With personal touches and a wide historical lens, Ginzburg puts a face to some of most terrible conditions a human can be subjected to.
It might be readily apparent, but this story is not a happy one. It deals with destruction of families, the disillusionment that comes from being imprisoned and the straight out murder of normal people imprisoned for what seems to be ridiculous crimes. The story is also one of the indomitable human spirit, however, and of survival in the darkest of days.
Well, well worth a read.
Anonymous
Posted August 23, 2001
These days it is rare to find writing that forces you to sit down and think - what brilliance; sit down, take a deep breath and visualize being in the place where the author suffered; pondering what you would have said or done in her place. You shake your head and say: Is This Possible... A few have written and passed on the character of a survivor - like Wiesel's Night or a WWI trench soldier. Ginzburg gave us a gift of hope and knowledge about the reality of the Stalin regime. I was born in Georgia, Stalin's birthplace. Until now, to me, the truth about that time was in some ways unclear. My highest praises for opening my eyes.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted June 10, 2001
Read this book! It is a poem about the things wich stay with us when 'everything is lost'.
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Posted July 26, 2009
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Overview
Eugenia Ginzburg's critically acclaimed memoir of the harrowing eighteen years she spent in prisons and labor camps under Stalin's rule
By the late 1930s, Eugenia Semyonovna Ginzburg had been a loyal and very active member of the Communist Party for many years. Yet like millions of others who suffered during Stalin's reign of terror, she was arrested—on trumped-up charges of being a Trotskyist terrorist and counter-revolutionary—and sentenced to prison. With an amazing eye for ...