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The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom
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Review
An heroic tale desperately live and compellingly told, Rawicz carries us with each weakening step, sustained by his simple undying vision of the liberty that lies beyond the cruel emptiness of Siberia and the sterile gravles of the Gobi. The Long Walk is an odyssey through the wastelands of Asia and the vastness of the soul - a classic of triumph over despair, of beauty found in the Void --Benedict Allen
An inspring tale of human courage and endurance. --Cyril Conolly, The Times
An inspring tale of human courage and endurance. --Cyril Conolly, The Times
Product Description
One of the world s greatest stories of adventure, survival and escape. Slavomir Rawicz was a young Polish cavalry officer. On 9th November 1939 he was arrested by the Russians and after brutal interrogation in Moscow s infamous Lubyanka prison and a farce of a trial, he was sentenced to 25 years hard labour in the Gulags, for spying . After a three-month jounrey to Siberia in the depths of winter he escaped with six companions, realising that to stay in the camp meant almost certain death. In June 1941 they crossed the trans- Siberian railway and headed south, climbing into Tibet and, finally, freedom nine months later in March 1942 after travelling on foot for 4,000 miles through some of the harshest regions in the world, including the Gobi Desert. By the end he author weighed just five stone and three of the seven had died.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
142 of 147 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
From page one this is a gripping and absorbing read. We start off with the capture and imprisonment of Polish cavalry officer Slavomir Rawicz, an ordeal that Franz Kafka would have been proud to have written. Accused of spying on the Russians, Slavomir is brutually tortured and beaten before being given a farcical trail that ends up with him being given the sentence of 25 years in a Siberian forced labour camp, on the basis of no evidence and a forged confession. It is here that the action begins to kick in to a more gung-ho spirit. Loaded into freezing cold railway cars and then slowly "chugged" across Russia, almost four thousand miles, to what was thought to be the prison. More agony is piled onto the men as they are chained together and frog marched hundreds of miles through bitter winds and biting snow blizzards until many weeks and many deaths later, prisoners and guards alike, the men finally arrive at their destination. It is a tribute to the writer that while writing of his tribulations he never once seems to feel bitter outrage or acrimony against his Siberian jailers, rather he feels an apathy for them as it seems to be indicated that even the guards here are victims of some small fault against the Russian mother state. Once the prison camp is reached, fans of great escape stories will become gripped as allegiances are formed and slowly an escape plan is hatched. To write too much would be to give too much away, but surfice to say that the team of seven men escape with some help from a very unexpected source and the escape is well and truly underway. From the freezing savage Siberian snow plains to the complete opposite but perhaps more unbearable searing heat of the Gobi, with only a couple of sticks and a tin mug between them, the story will simultaneously make you cry, laugh and occasionally feel proud to be human as the better sides of a man's personality and being are brought to light in a truly touching way. The end of the book comes all too soon, and one feels saddened that we do not learn more of our heros, but perhaps the story needs to finish there as perhaps to learn too much of what happened later might take some of the power from the story; and although part of me would like to know for certain the eventual fate of our intrepid adventurers, I feel they are given a more mythical stature by only existing up to the point of thier journeys completion. Forget trashy, clever, oh so chic summer novels about marketing executives trying to find their Mister Right whilst obsessing about everything they possibly can and lose yourself in a good old fashioned ripping yarn that deserves to go down as one of the greatest stories ever told.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Every now and again one comes across a book which though is so clearly the experience of the author it nevertheless beggars belief. It is, though, almost impossible to believe that anyone could make up so many elements of this epic. The author is a man who writes compellingly; I truly found it hard to put down, almost led on by the horror and relentless suffering as by wanting to know what happened next. Please don't be put off by that statement, though. The horror was real, is real as you read it, but the dominating feeling is one of the towering human Spirit that overcomes the incredible adversity this man and his friends endured. This book inspired me and left me wondering how on Earth anyone could get through this, and how would I fare under those conditions? The truth is I don't know but I fear nowhere near as well. If you want a book that is inspiring and leaves you breathless, this is one to buy.
Some months later . .
Since writing the review above I have come across criticism and a heated debate over the possibility that this book was not written by the author but plagiarised from another's work and dressed up considerably.
The thought this may be so was disappointing but on examining the evidence I find myself still believing in the authenticity of this book and the author. There are too many questions of a fundamental nature that even the author's detractors do not address and some take on controversial elements in the book and use prejudice as part of the argument to undermine the whole thing.
The author is no longer around to defend himself - how many times does THAT happen! - and so it is ultimately left to the reader to decide and then it becomes a matter of opinion. I do, however, believe in the book, the story and the author and the more I consider it the more I find reasons to. Unfortunately detractors find the sounds of their own voices preferably to reasoned and considered thought.
Buy this book, be inspired and be moved.
Some months later . .
Since writing the review above I have come across criticism and a heated debate over the possibility that this book was not written by the author but plagiarised from another's work and dressed up considerably.
The thought this may be so was disappointing but on examining the evidence I find myself still believing in the authenticity of this book and the author. There are too many questions of a fundamental nature that even the author's detractors do not address and some take on controversial elements in the book and use prejudice as part of the argument to undermine the whole thing.
The author is no longer around to defend himself - how many times does THAT happen! - and so it is ultimately left to the reader to decide and then it becomes a matter of opinion. I do, however, believe in the book, the story and the author and the more I consider it the more I find reasons to. Unfortunately detractors find the sounds of their own voices preferably to reasoned and considered thought.
Buy this book, be inspired and be moved.
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
....I tend to re-read this book in its entirety every year or so. I also read random chapters much more often and I have probably read this book more times than any other book that I own (The Great Escape comes second).
It's a great story of the hardships endured by prisoners of the Russian system in the early years of world war 2 and covers the capture of Slavomir Rawics while an officer in the Polish cavalry, his interrogation in Russia (for the crime of being a Polish cavalry officer) and the train journey and forced march to the Siberian prison camp with many deaths along the way. With the co-operation of the commandant's wife he has the opportunity to escape and finally does so with a small group of like minded prisoners.
Then begins another long period of torment as they set out to walk south to freedom, which they finally achieve in India.
A great read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
An uplifting affirmation of humanity and endurance in the worst of...
Slavomir Rawicz was a Polish army officer, captured by the Soviets after their 1939 invasion of Poland and sentenced to 25 years labour in a Soviet Siberian gulag on trumped-up... Read more
Published 1 day ago by David Herdson
Dubious "factual" account
Although this book is mildly entertaining at times,it is impossible to accept it as a factual account of the alleged journey. Read more
Published 8 days ago by Colin Lukacs Winn
Awesome
Awesome book from start to finish. The courage and bravery of the walkers will stay with me a very long time.
Published 13 days ago by SmartSusan
Couldn't put it down!
I really enjoyed this book, not my usual sort of read but very exciting and such an insight into what we can deal with when we have to. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Happy Reader 8
Unforgettable!!
Would highly recommend this book to everyone. A must read and once you have, you will never forget it. Grabs you from the very first page and doesn't let you go. Read more
Published 2 months ago by F. C. Fletcher
Gruelling
A wonderful story which takes a while to get into it's stride. Harrowing in the extreme in places, but the wonderful people they met during their journey make you proud of the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Pughie
the long walk
this is not the book i had in mind(a book ihave read before)but a very good read,i was quite footsore at the end. Read more
Published 2 months ago by earlwood67
Story, or True Story, and does it matter?
In 1939 Slavomir Rawicz, a young Pole (like many Poles) had a chilling and brutal encounter with the USSR State machinery,at the time when Germany and Russia had a neutrality... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Lady Fancifull
A good read - just take your pinch of salt
As other reviewers have mentioned, the veracity of this story is doubtful. Whilst it is undoubtedly based on someone's true story, it is unlikely that it is the story of the person... Read more
Published 3 months ago by squirrel_pigeon
Fiction not fact
I too, like some others feel completely conned.
There is now a lot of evidence that (to my mind at least) proves this is a story and simply not true. Read more
There is now a lot of evidence that (to my mind at least) proves this is a story and simply not true. Read more
Published 3 months ago by John Bland
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