Friday, July 1, 2011

Cancer Ward by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn

'On top of everything, the cancer wing was number 13.'  This was the first sentence in Cancer Ward, my second-favorite Solzhenitsyn. I spent the day I finished it reflecting. The ending was surprising as well as. . . well, confusing, but it was, I admit, a fitting ending.
The book begins with a man who might be considered a main character, though not the protagonist, entering the cancer ward. He is an official in the Soviet government of 1955, and a thoroughly annoying, though lovable, character. The rest of the book is mainly the relationships between the people in the ward, as well as the deaths of patients and philosophical and political discussions.
I noticed marked similarities between Kostoglotov, the protagonist, and Vorotyntsev, the protagonist in August 1914, and I believe that these were both very similar characters to the writer himself, as Solzhenitsyn was in a cancer ward for a time.
This was a very deep and moving book, certainly one of my favorites.