Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Darkness at Noon
Book Review: An anti- Communist classic
Summary: 5 Stars
This is by far the best book Koestler ever wrote. It is one of the best books ever written about the Soviet mind. The imprisonment of the former high official Rubashov, and his meditation on what he has done in his life, and what is happening to him is convincing and frightening. He has betrayed friends and those loyal to him for the society that is now betraying him. Through a long process of reasoning he comes to the conclusion that his life and the truth too must be sacrificed for the Good of the Society. Koestler thus shows how the total enslavement to the Collective Ideal leads to the loss of the individual's humanity. In telling this story he was criticizing Stalin's Soviet Union the largest prison Mankind has ever known. It would take a far greater writer than Koestler Solzhenitzyn to flesh out the details, and give in a more powerful and painful the story of that Gulag Archipelag that vast planet of Collective Subjugation of the individual which Koestler has convincingly condemned here.Book Review: An intriguing anti-totalitarian manifesto
Summary: 5 Stars
Arthur Koestler's "Darkness at Noon" is a manifesto decrying the totalitarian tactics of the Soviet Union during the 1930's. A political prisoner himself, Koestler had a lot to say about the treatment of those who were considered threats to the Communist ideal. Although Koestler does not name the Party or the associated countries, the implications are obvious, including the identity of the Party's leader, who is known simply by the name "No. 1."The novel concerns a fifty-ish man named Rubashov, a high-ranking Party official, who is imprisoned for suspected acts of dissension against the Party. Placed in a lonely cell, he communicates with the occupant of the neighboring cell by tapping on the interposing wall. He finds that his anonymous neighbor holds a grudge against him for reasons he refuses to reveal. The prison is filled with people considered "enemies" of the Party, victims of snitching and backstabbing from various levels of bureaucracy.
An old friend and battalion commander of Rubashov's, named Ivanov, turns out to be his primary inquisitor. Rubashov and Ivanov have long discussions about the ideals of the Party and how Rubashov is losing faith in a system he once fought so vehemently to establish. The Party's ideals were noble in the beginning, but it gradually became inefficient and underhanded. During his imprisonment, Rubashov recalls Arlova, a secretary with whom he had an affair, who was fired from her job and sentenced to death for suspected political dissension. Rubashov had the chance to save her by testifying in her defense, but doing so could have damaged his own career.
When Ivanov shows some sympathy for Rubashov, he is "removed" and replaced with a stricter interrogator named Gletkin, who uses draconian tactics to wear Rubashov down to the point of confession. Rubashov is accused of various attempted acts of governmental sabotage, including a planned assassination of No. 1. The reader sees that it is not relevant to his "trial" whether or not he actually committed these crimes; they are merely trying to get rid of those who threaten the stability of the Party.
Koestler demonstrates how the creation of the Soviet Union formed a nation of political prisoners. These are the problems of a government that is concerned more with theory than with practice; that is concerned more with ideals than with individuals.
Book Review: Anguish in the early years of the SOviet Union
Summary: 5 Stars
Arthur Koestler does a great job in this novel portraying the hell that was living under the imprisonment of a very real totalitarian communist state. The story is about a woman professor who is arrested by the Russian secret police for conspiracy. She is sent to the Siberian GULAG and learns to survive the horrible ordeal with the help of other prisoners. The story graphically illustrates the methods used by the Soviet Union to interrogate, intimidate and flat-out torture (mentally, pshychologically and physical) those who they felt were a threat to the state. This is a must-read for any history buffs, as the setting is just before the beginning of WW2.Book Review: At par with Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment"
Summary: 5 Stars
Only someone who has seen the grim reality himself, can write the cold truth with such intensity. A little knowledge of Russian revolution will make this book 10 times more gripping.The story of Rubashov, the old Bolshevik, who awaits his death in a prison cell,interrogated by his own comrades."He who will be proved right in the end appears to be wrong and harmful before it" And this is Rubashov's crime. This novel creates so much tension that one can actually feel being inside the cell with him.
This book leaves you exhausted in the end and in a way relieved that the agony of Rubashov is over. Truly a masterpiece.
Book Review: Awesome Service
Summary: 5 Stars
The book I ordered came at a great price and was delivered in perfect condition.