Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Darkness at Noon
Book Review: Great book that incites thought
Summary: 5 Stars
The standout point of Darkness at Noon is the political discussion of Communism and the Russian Revolution. What makes the book great is that it takes a subject that has a good possibility of becoming boring and unreadable and is able to hold your attention. If you find political discussion interesting, this is a definate read, if not, it helps to understand a big part of history, Russia and communism.Book Review: Gripping from start to finish
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the first work by Koestler that I have read and if this work is an indication of the quality of his other novels, I wonder why he is not better known.
The whole book deals with a few days in the life of a prisoner from arrest to interrogation and then to his final fate. Koestler writes so well that he creates, and what is more difficult maintains, tension throughout the 200 or so pages of the book.
It is through works like this, about the depths to which humanity can sink, that you begin to appreciate anew the preciousness of life. This work also set me thinking about who I am, no not `existential angst', just what I would do in such a situation. Is this veneer of respectability that we present to the world the real us, will it wash off when we are faced with extreme situations that test our character?
Don't get me wrong, this work is not a sloppy moralizing tale about the evils of communism, but it does get you thinking.
I'd recommend it.
Book Review: Guilty of Political Divergencies - Penalty is Death
Summary: 5 Stars
A faded photograph reveals the bearded, solemn, serious men that were the delegates to the first Congress of the Party. It is decades later and only a few like Comrade Nicolas Salmanovitch Rubashov have survived. Late one night Rubashov is awakened, arrested, and taken to cell number 404. Like so many others, he now expects to be interrogated, tortured, and shot. Harsh steps echo down the prison corridor; this time it is only the guard bringing soup.
Darkness at Noon is an authentic and chilling look at Stalin's Russia in the late 1930s. Arthur Koestler completed this superb historical fiction in Paris as WWII was just beginning. In a short forward he says that the characters in this book are fictitious, but that the historical circumstances which determined their actions are real. The life of the man N. S. Rubashov is the synthesis of the lives of a number of men that were victims of the so-called Moscow Trials. Several of them were personally known to the author. He dedicates this book to their memory.
Suffering from a toothache, subjected to endless interrogation, deprived of sleep, Rubashov struggles to delay his inevitable final confession. He questions his own past and motivations. Was he unconsciously disloyal? Is he guilty? Does it matter whether he is guilty? Should he remain silent, argue, or simply capitulate?
Rubashov finds meaning in politics, history, and philosophy. We see him wrestling with the meaning of suffering, senseless suffering versus meaningful suffering. We sympathize with him as he questions the morality of betraying his life long beliefs, despite his recognition that he himself has been betrayed. He clearly knows that he is guilty of betraying others. In his exhausted and muddled state, his motivation for living seems driven by a desire to explore more fully a new idea, the law of the relative maturity of the masses. He only needs time to sort out his questions and to resolve his doubts.
Koestler reveals much about Rubashov through flashbacks. We recognize that his own ethics and morality became victims as he participated in the destruction of well-meaning, loyal party members that unintentionally became guilty of political divergencies. He allows his lover to be imprisoned, and even joins the chorus that condemns her. Nonetheless, Koestler persuades us to have sympathy for Rubashov, now a victim of his own ideology.
I was unfamiliar with Arthur Koestler and I was unprepared when I opened this little book. I was captivated as Rubashov gradually awoke from a disturbing dream of betrayal, only to discover that he was being awakened by the secret police. I carried Darkness at Noon to work and shared it with a colleague. His teenage son was the next reader. Darkness at Noon is a classic that you will share with others.
Book Review: Have some understanding of russian society before you read
Summary: 1 Stars
As i read this book i was confused about the plot every chapter. To let you know i am not a good reader in the sense that i do not comprehend much of what i read. The book jumped back and forth between one mans flashbacks. They were confusing to me because i do not know much about russian society. Arthur Koestler is a very talented writer, yet, did not intrigue me. If you like books about other cultures and what they were like before the present day, Darkness at Noon gives a very good example of a russian society. Arthur Koestler writes about a man named rubashov who was taken in because he had government indiferences. This book is very dark and repetitive in nature but it has a feel to it like you are there with him in that prison. Read it and like it. Its only 200 pages!Book Review: Historical insight necessary
Summary: 4 Stars
I jumped into this book knowing nothing of the Moscow trials and found myself historically negligent. The book was good the first time, but after i did some research on the trials the book was even better. From the point of view of a man condemned, I found Rubashov to be excellently written and far superior to one character we can compare him to, Cinncinnatus C. from Nabokov's "Invitation to a Beheading."