Book Review: The Long Walk – Slavomir Rawicz

Blimey! Without doubt this is the best book I’ve read this year so far. It is an epic book covering the (probably fictional) struggle of a group of prisoners who escape from a Siberian prison camp, and set out to walk thousands of miles in search of their freedom. The story is both heart breaking and demonstrates the levels of human endurance.

I had heard about this book on the radio, as interest was gathering in the run up to a Hollywood movie adaption.

The book starts out covering Slavomir’s imprisonment in Russia during the late 1930s, which included maltreatment and torture, then his subsequent journey to Siberia via cattle train cart and then on foot to the camp through the harsh conditions.

All through this book you are amazed at Slavomir’s spirit and willpower, especially when faced with often what most would consider insurmountable odds.

The book primarily covers Slavomir with a group of men and a female who are imprisoned in Siberia, a cold and inhospitable region of Russia.  They escape and the plan is to walk to their freedom. The journey this takes them on is nothing short of remarkable.

The settings are epic in scale, the landscape diverse and the people they meet were fascinating. One can’t but wonder if the way of life has changed much for many in those regions they walked. They covered harsh snow covered lands, rivers, lakes, the Gobi desert and mountain ranges whilst crossing borders.

I don’t want to give too much away to spoil the book, but I highly recommend this book. I literally couldn’t put the book down at times and completed the 240 page in a few days.

After some research, it appears that those who have researched the accuracy and also some who have retraced the routes taken, have good grounding to claim the journey as fictional. Though perhaps the beginning imprisonment before the journey to Siberia is true. I do not know and have decided not to ponder the facts versus fiction debate any longer regarding this book, but to just appreciate the story contained within. This book is well written and it is the best book I’ve read so far this year.

The book was ghost written by Ronald Downing whom Slavomir acknowledges at the beginning.  The book was originally published in 1956 and I’ve just read a 1956 version of the book. Turning the old pages I was gripped by what would next occur. This book stirs emotion and gave me much to consider about humanity as well as enjoying the book.