Reviews for Cancer Ward

The average rating for Cancer Ward based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-06-25 00:00:00 Bret Applegate Pain in its purest form! At the time when I first read this, I didn't know much of the Soviet Union, or of writers' fate within that state, or of cancer and its silent, treacherous spread in secret weak spots of the body. I was a young teenager, and had been told that this might be a bit too difficult for me to take from my parents' bookshelf - which constituted a natural invitation to do exactly that of course. The ensuing problem - nightmares I could not talk about, as I had read the book in secret - made me try to forget it for the time being. Now, some twenty-five years later, I know so much more about all those topics that frightened me back then - and they scare me even more today, knowing their true impact. Some childhood fears disappear, or turn into nostalgic feelings or humorous memories. But some fears grow with knowledge - and the Cancer Ward plays on exactly that kind of human terror. Although it is meant to be a metaphorical story, indicating the macrocosm of the state in the microcosm of the ward, there is no real need for symbolism in the frustratingly hopeless cancer ward, where people with desperate diagnoses gather without any previous connection or anything in common except for the silent killer they have discovered within their bodies. There is true equality in misery, but other than that, the representatives of different social layers in the state have a collection of very diverse stories to tell. Of course the disease is supposed to symbolise how the Soviet Union breaks down from within its own structure, not through force from the outside, and the characters are carefully chosen to illustrate the complete disaster, among party faithful, successful career politicians or dissenters, among carefree or conscientious, young or old people. The disease affects all, and there is no protection. Now that the state described in the novel does not exist anymore, the book could be seen as obsolete, or as a historical document. But it isn't obsolete. It can now be read in a more universal sense - and be appreciated as a work of art with characters suffering from the human condition beyond specific local circumstances. Cancer still strikes silently, disrupting everyday lives of families, leaving them pending between hope and fear, and ultimately waiting for the slow inevitable progress towards the end. Even symbolically, the Cancer Ward can transcend the peculiar oppression of the Soviet State and symbolise any country in the process of self-destruction. There is never just one single occurrence that weakens a political structure beyond hope: only when many vital organs of the state are simultaneously struck, the political body falls hopelessly ill. To end a glum review of a dark book on a positive note: since Solzhenitsyn wrote his novel, science and history have gained more knowledge, and might have better cures than those that were available in the 1970s, literally and metaphorically speaking. I still sometimes have nightmares, though.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-03-21 00:00:00 Garland Smith Jr. 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.