Cancer Ward Book

Scene: Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Central Asia in the old Soviet Union, two years after the death of the brutal dictator, Stalin ( now 1955). Oleg Kostoglotov is lying on the floor of a provincial hospital, at the entrance to the cancer ward, which is unpromising named the 13th wing looking up at the cold ceiling, his dead eyes stare. He can't get admitted until a space is available, but a vacancy will arrive soon, he feels death near. Meanwhile stoic Kostoglotov, a survivor of the infamous Gulag and a permanent exile can wait, the very sick Russian has little hope for recovery. Finally Oleg gets in, nine beds in two rows , separated by an aisle in the middle of the room , all the men are dispirited and quiet, except a youth who is moaning by the corner, unheeded slowly dying. Pavel Nikolayevich Rusanov has no problem getting a coveted bed , he is an important bureaucrat, but cancer has no favorites he will discover shortly. The pitiless Yefrem the dark joker of the ward, and a much hated man greets Pavel with these words, " Well, what have we here? Another nice little cancer! " Rusanov the great man is not amused he has connections, a famous Moscow clinic Rusanov expects soon to be going to looks down on these people, dirty peasants. Pavel shouldn't be with such riffraff, he has sent many of them lowlifes, to the labor camps most never return however rumors that the survivors are "returning" makes him feel uneasy, things are changing but not for the better Rusanov thinks. To the inmates of the cancer ward reading, is enjoyable their only entertainment to pass the dreary time, boredom makes them lethargic. Passing read books to each other in the ward, some of these like flies are seen and quickly float away, others stick to you like molasses on hair. Still Oleg Kostoglotov even has time to romance two women Vera, a pretty, friendly doctor in the hospital and Zoya even more beautiful and younger nurse, studying to become a physician also. Most of the doctors in the clinic are women here, a low -paying profession then, the head physician is of course a man still does Oleg have the right, because of his serious illness to dream about his future with a family of his own to love? One by one all Oleg's friends leave the room and go home, to die? This mystery is never explained, strangers now occupy the beds as a character in the novel says you can't know everything in the world, whatever happens you'll die a fool... An especially well written autobiographical novel, Solzhenitsyn is showing through Oleg Kostoglotov, based on his own life how dehumanizing the old Soviet system was, nobody but the high party members were treated well everyone supposedly equal, yet in reality, some "more equal than others"... And the bleakness of life, the lack of freedom and hope, the ennui that stifles the spirit of mankind. A magnificent novel which details the struggle of the fearless to breathe free.