Life, work, family, society, politics, illness, death. It's all here. - Rated 
Another wonderful book by Solzhenitsyn - truly one of the greatest writers of all time. There's so much to say about this book and so much in it that I thnk it would be foolhardy of me to start - I'd never finish! So thought-provoking on so many vitally important subjects e.g. human relationships, emotional needs, facing illness and death, medical practice, frustration and bureaucracy, politics, betrayal, social structures and tension, Soviet history and society, even what constitutes happiness. A meaty, stimulating and evocative read to be revelled in. What a talent! Impressive.
Superbly observed! - Rated
I love this book. It is superbly well observed and written and shows the many different angles of the human experience of cancer as well as giving a very strong and interesting historical perspective and political analogy. Reading this book has got me through quite a dark phase of my own experience of advanced cancer.
A Multi-Layered and Uniquely Russian Account - Rated
This work of Russian literature -which is quite epic in scope-deals with many themes.
It is set in a clinic in Soviet ruled Uzbekistan for cancer patients ,in the mid 1950's ,shortly after the death of Joseph Stalin.
It deals with the personal stories and lives of many different characters
There are parallels between the cancer that ravages the bodies of the dying patients and the cancer of Communism that ravaged the once proud Russia.
The hero of the novel is Oleg Kostolgotov who has gone from being a soldier on the frontline of Russia's fight against the invading Nazi armies during world War II to a political prisoner doomed to destruction for falling foul of Stalin's psychopathic system to a cancer patient lingering in a rundown hospital
He lives life to the full however , even in this seemingly gloomy clinic.
His foil is the Communist Party hack Pavel Rusanov , a man who has no heart and soul at all other than the Communist Party itself , in whose name he has cold-bloodedly ruined countless lives.
Now he lies in the cancer ward layed low by a disease that even the mighty Party cannot save him from .
Kostoglotov lives life to the full in the ward and has an interesting relationship with two remarkable women -the dedicated and beautiful Dr Vera Gangart and the vibrant and attractive young nurse Zoya.
Through the stories of the many people in this book we learn of the type of society they lived in ,and there are profound observations on so many subjects in life that are extremely memorable.
Always in the classic Russian combination between hope and depression where neither completely triumph over the other , but rather vie in a dependant type of antagonism .
Amazing - Rated
One of the best books I've read. Excellently defined and different characters, and in the last chapter the writing is almost trance-like.
cure for cancer - Rated
With an outlook as bleak as a Russian winter, but a message like the faint hope of spring, a Communist Party member whose incarceration on the ward due to a huge growth on his neck is the catalyst for a story full of optimism and plans for the future, despite the evident strains placed on the other inmates and nurses by the political forces at work in the post-war Soviet Union. A graphic allegory of the corruption inherent in the state, this is also a superb celebration of the irrepressibility of the human spirit: Truly, a depiction of "Homo Sovieticus" at its most resilient.
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