false 30672 26 This splendid novel is set in the tumultuous Soviet Union of the 1930s during the treason trials. Rubashov, the protagonist and a hero of the revolution, is arrested and jailed for things he has not done, though there is much about the current Soviet state that veered from his ideals as a revolutionary. His investigators, Ivanov and Gletkin, seek a public confession and interrogate him using a number of methods. Through the ordeal, Rubashov reaches an epiphany or two while his interrogators suffer the cruel fate of the Soviet machine. <i>Darkness at Noon</i> succeeds as political/historical novel, but even more so as a refreshing tale of the human spirit. 881601 1940 Darkness at Noon total:1486|5:488|4:594|3:316|2:74|1:14| 1486 5926 2206 163 3 8 false false Wed Nov 26 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 21 06:19:00 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 21 21:07:49 -0800 2008
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I've got a lot of work to do tonight, and somehow I thou...more...]]> 5 2 false false Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Sun Feb 03 11:48:39 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 03 11:49:10 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 2 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 02 10:34:14 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 02 10:39:06 -0700 2007
On one level, this is an absorbing study of a man whose political principles are tested as he's i...more...]]> 1 2 false false Wed Apr 16 20:24:42 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 16 20:32:43 -0700 2008 There i...more...]]> 4 2 false false Fri Apr 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 20 16:09:05 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 11 13:31:44 -0700 2009 1984 Winston Smith asks O'Brien why the party acts the way it does. His answer always pissed me off: "Power for power's sake." That's not an explanation. That's a tautological cop out. It's like Orwell was content to warn us about what a totalitarian state would look like...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 16 22:13:05 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 20 17:46:36 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Feb 19 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 28 18:32:36 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 20 08:40:26 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Dec 06 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 15 11:59:18 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 15 11:59:41 -0800 2008 Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler is another attempt to balance out my literary diet with something from the classics buffet, and while I think it fits that bill I wish I had enjoyed it a bit more. Set in the late 1930s it's Yet Another Book About How Communism Sucks, featuring a retired (mostly b...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Oct 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 08:13:50 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 08:36:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 30 08:19:33 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 30 08:20:02 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jun 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 20 12:22:27 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 20 13:02:02 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Dec 03 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 12 14:16:58 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 12 14:18:06 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jun 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri May 29 22:28:46 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 26 13:02:13 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Mar 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Feb 26 08:05:32 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 18 10:36:42 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Dec 25 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat May 17 20:43:51 -0700 2008 Thu Dec 25 15:55:17 -0800 2008 1 just finished this like 5 minutes ago. I wrote "ASSHOLES" a lot in my reading journal.]]> 3 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 08:05:05 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 08:22:48 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Nov 02 12:20:31 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 02 12:40:18 -0800 2008 Darkness at Noon may be lumped into the the likes of Orwell's Animal Farm for some of the finest anti-communist fiction ever created. The main character Rubashov is likened to one of the West's darling historical figures, Nikolai Bukharin. The story presents Rubashov struggling with int...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun May 25 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon May 05 15:00:06 -0700 2008 Tue May 27 15:47:11 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Apr 18 16:08:19 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 19 09:13:49 -0700 2008
The story follows a modernist, stream-of-consciousness...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Feb 23 13:56:31 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 23 13:56:31 -0800 2008
A first person narrative told from the point-of view of a highly important Bolshevik leader who is in prison getting ready to play his part ...more...]]>