Solzhenitsyn writes simply, there’s no need for technique to add to the terrible conditions he suffers during a day in the labour camp, or to explain the snatches of optimism he steals.
My favourite quotes include:
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‘Work is what horses die of’, talking of an overseer urging the gang to continue
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‘The belly of is an ungrateful wretch, it never remembers past favours, it always wants more tomorrow’.
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‘If everybody in the world was like him, I’d be the same.’ On Alyoshka the baptist, who helps others without looking for reward.