The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz

Blogs,The Long Walk,Books,Hexham,war,Vercelli's,endurance

  

'DOOMED FROM THE START BUT A TRIUMPHANT END WITH A FEW INCREDULOUS DEVIATIONS'

                                       

 ....   Controversy ensued at the last meeting regarding reading books some people have already read or re-reading books already blogged!  The debate continues.  This resulted in a last minute decision to read The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz.  

....   The Long Walk was a long struggle for some but, finally, all of the hussies completed the book.  

This is a, supposedly, true story about a Polish Officer named Slavomir Rawicz, who, like many others living on the Polish Border, was wrongly arrested, convicted and sent to the Gulags for a life sentence along with many an 'out of line'  Prison Officer,  all imprisioned in the hostile world of Syberia.  Stay and die or escape and die were the only two options available.  This book takes the reader on Slavomir's incredible journey, along with 6 other escaped prisoners, trekking for 9 months through the most treacherous conditions known to man from Syberia to Tibet, and, ultimately ....  Freedom!  I say, 'supposedly', because after being drawn into a relatively enjoyable, easy page-turner of a book, following their incredible journey, questions began to arise.  After a quick Google!  The bubble of enjoyment had burst and doubt ensued.  However,  as one hussies remarked, 'even if he didn't actually do the walk, someone did'.

....   The hussies thoughts regarding the book were rather mixed.  They all did agree it was a good page turner covering an epic journey.  However, one hussie felt that the arrest, trial and torture at the beginning of the book was unnecessary and did not enhance the story or do the book any justice.  It did put her off continuing, but with perseverance it proved worthwhile.  Also, certain parts made for an incredulous story, namely, the sighting of a, not so plausible, 'abominable snowman'.  That apart, it was still a good read showing tenacity and endurance, with an interesting geography lesson thrown in for good measure.  Another hussie felt it was a little contrived.  Always finding food or water at the 11th hour, surviving the Gobi Desert in their condition and never intentionally harming anyone or stealing from anyone on their journey.  The writing may have lacked a little substance which could have been due to translation and also the fact that it was an account rather than expressive or creative novel.  That said, we did feel an empathy for the individual characters even though pronouncing the Russian names proved bothersome.  Another hussie,  likewise, felt some of the extreme conditions were insurmountable, ie.  Surviving the winter night standing huddled together in the Himalayers.  Questioning what the other two died of in the desert and maybe giving a bit more insight into the politics and societies of the countries they were passing through.  Also, the book did finish rather abruptly leaving you wondering what happened to the men and why only one ended up telling the story.

....   Once the authenticity was questioned, it did raise a lot of unanswered questions which made for an interesting discussion.  Maybe because our generation has never experienced war or such hardship in travelling on foot in such adverse conditions, we could never contemplate such a story to be true!  As pointed out, there would have been many debriefings and, maybe, some more exaggerated than others, but, one thing is for sure .... Someone walked it and it was a good read!!

Image from http://www.vercelli.co.uk/css/images/location.png.

....   Vercelli's was chosen for our discussion night, firstly, because last time one of the hussies couldn't make it and, secondly, the food was previously good and we thought it deserved another try.  It is a larger than usual Italian so ambience and coziness are not words that come to mind.  However,  in general the food, service and portion sizes were very good, albeit, a touch expensive in some hussies eyes.  King Prawns and Scallops do come at a price..

....   Staying with the theme of true stories and non-creative writing!  No disrespect!  We are dipping into the medical world to investigate .....

                                       'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot'

                                              

Join us for, what should be, an interesting discussion !