Till My Tale Is Told: Women s Memoirs of the Gulag | 
| Creators: Catriona Kelly, Sally Laird, Simeon Vilensky, John Crowfoot, Zaiara Veselaia, Marjorie Farquharson, Cathy Porter
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Category: Book
Buy New: $59.11
New (2) Used (2) from $18.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 1128194
Media: Library Binding
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 376
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.2
ISBN: 0253334640
Dewey Decimal Number: 365.450820947
EAN: 9780253334640
ASIN: 0253334640
Publication Date: October 1, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
" . . . a fascinating, brave and in many ways heartening book . . . " --Times Literary Supplement " . . . some of the best of the enormous, mostly untranslated Gulag memoir literature." --Anne Applebaum, Literary Review (London) " . . . probably the most gripping and detailed addtion to the famous fundamental work by Solzhenitsyn. This book should be read by everybody . . . " --The Spectator "How extraordinary it is that compassion and tenderness may flourish in the cruellest conditions; how stubbornly and bravely people survive them. This is not a depressing book but an inspiriting and encouraging one." --Doris Lessing Arrest, interrogation, imprisonment, trial and sentencing, transport, labor camps, internal exile, sometimes release, often followed by re-arrest and re-imprisonment--and, for those who outlived Stalin, eventual reprieve and rehabilitation--these are the outlines of the experiences recorded by 16 courageous Russian women whose moving testimonies, most of them written in secret and at great personal risk, are presented here.
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| Customer Reviews:
Read it and weep December 29, 2005
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is, without doubt, shocking, shaming, horrifying and representative of the utter degradation of the Stalin regime but equally, it is filled with courage, strength of spirit, endurance and compassion for one's fellow human beings. A collection of memoirs of women imprisoned in Stalin's purges, reading this is like having a series of intimate conversations with women caught up in something so evil and wicked it defies imagination.
I found myself wondering about the Russian psyche, the nature of communism, the parameters of dictatorship and the increasing obsession today's governments have with political correctness. There are scarcely words to describe the future an ordinary, well-educated, Moscow career girl could face for telling a slight joke, having vengeful neighbours, marrying the wrong man, being the child of the wrong parents or, indeed, doing nothing wrong at all. This stuff makes Orwell's 1984 look like The Simpsons and Kafka like Harry Potter. So unjust and farcical were the bases on which these women were incarcerated in prisons and camps no different than those created by Hitler and the Nazis, that you feel the victims and, indeed, the whole of the USSR was caught up in an indescribable nightmare. Truly, I don't have words to describe how sick and devastated I felt on completing this book. Read it and weep. This truly was Armageddon.
A Fascinating, Gripping Look at Life in the Gulag March 31, 2004
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Full of interesting characters, cruel soldiers, vicious fellow prisoners. The physical desolation and emotional desperation these women experienced during their respective prison sentences is unforgettable! This book should be required reading for anyone interested in modern-day tragedies.
Till My Tale is Told January 25, 2000
17 out of 17 found this review helpful
I think everyone should read this book. It only serves to make us realise how lucky we are and how we, especially in the West, can have nothing to complain about. The sufferings of the various women who in some cases had to fell trees in -50 degrees centigrade for 600grms of bread a day is inspirational. At some points I felt that I was ready fictional accounts as I found it hard to believe that mans inhumanity to man, or in this case, woman could be so mind numbingly awful - and for what.....truly terrifying. Exceptional read you will not be able to put it down and the strength of character of the women will stay with you long after you have finished the book.
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