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Cancer Ward
Cancer Ward | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
17 posts | 22 read | 22 to read
The Russian Nobelist's semiautobiographical novel set in a Soviet cancer ward shortly after Stalin's deathOne of the great allegorical masterpieces of world literature, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's "Cancer Ward" is both a deeply compassionate study of people facing terminal illness and a brilliant dissection of the cancerous Soviet police state."""Cancer Ward," which has been compared to the masterpiece of another Nobel Prize winner, "The Magic Mountain "by Thomas Mann, examines the relationship of a group of people in the cancer ward of a provincial Soviet hospital in 1955, two years after Stalin's death. While the experiences of the central character, Oleg Kostoglotov, closely reflect the author's own Solzhenitsyn became a patient in a cancer ward in the mid-1950s, on his release from a labor camp, and later recovered the patients, as a group, represent a remarkable cross section of contemporary Russian characters and attitudes, both under normal circumstances and then reexamined at the eleventh hour of illness. A seminal work from one of the most powerful voices in twentieth century literature, "Cancer Ward "offers an extraordinary portrait of life in the Soviet Union."
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Hestapleton
Cancer Ward | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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So excited for #fabulousfebrurary this week, despite my late start! Looking at a massive winter storm and cold temps this week which = reading weather!
1️⃣Finish the tagged (why is Russian lit so boring)
2️⃣ Get a #bookspin bingo!
3️⃣ Start THE DEAD WANDER IN THE DESERT
4️⃣ Track my pages for fun. :)

Thanks @Andrew65 for hosting this each month!

Andrew65 Great goals. Good luck, and great to have you with us 😊👍 3y
51 likes1 comment
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Hestapleton
Cancer Ward | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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Feeling a little bit meh about my #weeklyforecast picks, but hoping it‘s just that time of the month where I get excited about February‘s TBR. Wish me luck!

Ruthiella Good luck 🍀!!! You have a nice little Russian sub-theme going there! 😀 3y
Hestapleton @Ruthiella totally inadvertent, but learning a lot about the USSR/socialism! 3y
Cinfhen Ohhhh, you finished so many books ♥️♥️♥️and I totally get that end of the month feeling #Relatable 3y
43 likes3 comments
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Tineke
Cancer Ward | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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Pickpick

Finally finished my #Bookspin for May. This was easy to read, yet sometimes frustrating. Because how can you think like that?! I admired the spirit people had while they were exiled, called non-citizens and having been robbed of their rights. Astonished how patients weren't allowed to know of their disease. But insightful too. I am so glad I was born here.
616 pages TBR since ?

@TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Great review! Sounds like a tough read! 4y
10 likes1 comment
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Mirazzles
Cancer Ward | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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A little light reading tonight... #bibliophile #mustread

review
clairemaire34
Cancer Ward | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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Pickpick

Having recently lost a loved one to cancer, this may seem like a punishing choice of reading material. But the insight into the mind of a people with cancer (albeit in a 1950s Russian cancer ward) was something I welcomed. For all its focus on living with and dying from cancer and allusions to the difficulties of life under Stalin, Solzhenitsyn has a light touch and the humanity of all his characters is at the heart of this extraordinary novel.

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hel-the-gell
Cancer Ward | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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Halfway through my mini eggs with a book and a lump of a dog next to me. It's the perfect evening

review
balletbookworm
Cancer Ward | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Pickpick

A big, slow book about one cancer treatment ward in a provincial Soviet hospital in 1955. The ward itself is a microcosm of Soviet society - the bureaucrat, the exile, the hopeful kid, the worker, the intellectual - mixed with the hope and despair of serious illness. The book opens with Rusanov (the bureaucrat) and closes with Kostoglotov (the exile) and follows these men's ideologies at the exact point Stalin's policies are becoming unfavorable.

balletbookworm In addition, there is an interesting debate about how much or how little a patient should know about his condition. 7y
balletbookworm (Forgot to take a picture this morning, guess I'll do that later ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) 7y
20 likes2 comments
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balletbookworm
Cancer Ward | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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Rusanov got interesting all of a sudden.

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balletbookworm
Cancer Ward | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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Ta-da!!! I have finished the #24in48 Readathon! Four books finished, one audio book mostly finished (Radium Girls), and one book started (Cancer Ward). Thanks to all the @24in48 admins and helpers for organizing and running this shindig again!! It's always a blast 😽😽

Varshitha 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 7y
Megabooks 👍🏻👍🏻🎊🎊🎊🎉🎉🎉📚📚🍾🏆 7y
Graciouswarriorprincess Congratulations!! 7y
Soubhiville Yay! Congrats! 7y
Laalaleighh 💃🏼💃🏼💃🏼💃🏼💃🏼 7y
52 likes5 comments
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Book_Gnome
Cancer Ward | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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Opening line: "On top of it all, the cancer wing was 'number thirteen'." #cancerward #alexandersolzhenitsyn #penguinclassics #readmore #instabook #bookstagram #bookgnome #firstline #bookcover #bookish

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Moray_Reads
Cancer Ward | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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I studied Russian history at school and was One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. I went on to read everything written by Solzhenitsyn but Cancer Ward is my favourite. It's a masterpiece of satirical allegory and a cornerstone in my love of Russian and eastern European lit 😊
#photoadaynov16 #day6 #readinschool

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tricours
Cancer Ward | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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Monthly #stats seem to be popular on Litsy, so I'll try as well! Favorite of the month is Cancer Ward by Solzhenitsyn. #statistics (Did I forget some important thing to count?) #tricoursstats

saguarosally Out of curiosity in how many languages can you read books? I can muddle my way through two and I wonder if it's enough. 8y
tricours @saguarosally I can read in Swedish (native)/Norwegian/Danish, English, French and Russian, very slowly in Polish & Ukrainian, working on German and I've gotten through some books in Bulgarian. Two isn't bad, the problem with many slow languages is that it really slows you down 😛 8y
7 likes2 comments
review
tricours
Cancer Ward | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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Pickpick

Finally, a Russian book that I REALLY liked! This is an extremely well written, slow paced story of the daily life of patients and employees at a cancer ward somewhere in an Asian Soviet republic in 1954, with the soviet mindset, customs, oppression and resignation, coupled with fear of death. Wonderfully interesting!

8 likes1 stack add
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tricours
Cancer Ward | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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"Dying 'one day' isn't frightening, it's dying right now that is frightening."

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tricours
Cancer Ward | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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Yep, still loving this!

MrBook Nice view!! 8y
BookBabe 😍 Gorgeous! 8y
5 likes2 comments
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tricours
Cancer Ward | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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127 pages in and I constantly want to continue reading this, even though it's a bit slow for me due to the not all that trivial Russian. The structure is great (jumping from character to character, providing variation), the setting with both the Soviet anxiety+secrecy and the hospital ward with imminent death hanging over half the characters make this a perfect read.

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tricours
Cancer Ward | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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I read 190 pages in this like 4 years ago. Now I have to start from page 1 and I'm struck by how much time each page takes 😳

ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled I keep looking at my copy thinking "some day"! 8y
tricours @ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled.com Give it a try! It's probably an easy read if you read it in your native language. 8y
2 likes2 comments