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980 ratings, 4.36 average rating, 304 reviews
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published
April 1st 2006
by The Lyons Press
binding
Paperback, 256 pages
isbn
1592289444
(isbn13: 9781592289448)
description
Cavalry officer Slavomir Rawicz was captured by the Red Army in 1939 during the German-Soviet partition of Poland and was sent to the Siberian Gulag ...more
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| Fact or Fiction? | 4 | 17 | 09/14/2008 12:04AM |
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1339)
Read in July, 2008
recommended to Ed by:
Warren B. Jonesrecommends it for: Anyone interested in what humans can endure and still survive
There is much controversy as to whether this account is fact or fiction. I googled the author's name and the book title and after reading dozens of articles and opinions, I'm still not sure, though I lean towards thinking that the narrative is actually a composite of a number of experiences including Rawicz's.
As was said in an account on the web entitled "#18 Anderson's Long Walk Expedition", in which a group of people retraced Rawicz's journey, although on camels not on foot: ...more
As was said in an account on the web entitled "#18 Anderson's Long Walk Expedition", in which a group of people retraced Rawicz's journey, although on camels not on foot: ...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone interested in reading
I found this book truly inspirational and gripping. I read it in 2 nights. There is some banter about whether or not it is true. I'm still not decided on what I think about this debate. What I do know, from having lived in Russia for a number of years and having toured an obscure KGB "prison" in Lithuania 3 times, that the author's description of his torture in Minsk and in Moscow were especially haunting. From what I saw in Vilnius, he was actually given light treatment. Some of the r...more
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Read in March, 2008
An amazing true story of the human spirit's will to live. Russia invaded Poland in 1939 and took hundreds of thousands of Polish soldiers prisoner...
One man, the author of this book, not only survived torture in Russian hands, and an inhumane train ride and walk to a Siberian labor camp... but after all that, he decided to escape. He recruited 6 other prisoners to join him and the 7 of them walked to India. Through Siberian blizzards, the Gobi desert's deadly heat, the treacherous landscape...more
One man, the author of this book, not only survived torture in Russian hands, and an inhumane train ride and walk to a Siberian labor camp... but after all that, he decided to escape. He recruited 6 other prisoners to join him and the 7 of them walked to India. Through Siberian blizzards, the Gobi desert's deadly heat, the treacherous landscape...more
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The Long Walk, by Slavomir Rawicz, purports to be the true story of an heroic flight to freedom. He claims to have been a Polish officer grabbed by the Russians in 1939, imprisoned and marched to "camp 303" in Siberia. From there he and six companions escape, with the help of the commandants wife. THey begin a year long trek south, past Lake Baikal, through Mongolia, across the Gobi, over Tibet and to India and freedom. Hurray! What a triumph of the human spirit. The book had the...more
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This has been on my shelf for years and I've no clue what took me so long to read it. Epic true story of prisoners escaping from a Siberian work camp and WALKING to India...yeah, look at a map on that folks. Through Siberia, Russia, Mongolia, China, the Gobi Desert, Tibet, the Himalayas...that's a lot of geography and all on foot. Mind boggling.
One thing that struck me early on as he was talking about his initial capture and how they tried to torture him into confessing...next generation rea...more
One thing that struck me early on as he was talking about his initial capture and how they tried to torture him into confessing...next generation rea...more
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Read in January, 2000
Cavalry officer Slavomir Rawicz was captured by the Red Army in 1939 during the German-Soviet partition of Poland and was sent to the Siberian Gulag ...more. This book has had a huge influence in my life. It is the book that I read when I need to be reminded of how much the human heart and body can endure. It is the story I think of when I feel that my life is out of my control. When I need to be reminded that my life is not that bad that I really don't have it as tough as I think I do. What ...more
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Read in December, 2007
Slavomir Rawicz was a 25-year-old cavalry officer in the Polish army when he was captured by the Russians in 1939. He was brutally tortured in attempts to make him confess to being a spy. Eventually he was sentenced to 25 years of hard labor in Siberia. He describes a miserable cattle-car train transport across Russia and then a hundred-mile forced winter march to the gulag.
Within a year, facing the prospects of miserable suffering and likely death, he found six willing companions (from a vari...more
Within a year, facing the prospects of miserable suffering and likely death, he found six willing companions (from a vari...more
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recommends it for:
Lynne
An amazing story of how much humans are able to endure. Yes, there are many doubters as to the veracity of both the author and the story. Even if it is only partially true, or a compilation of several people's experience, The Long Walk is truly a remarkable read.
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Read in July, 2006
recommends it for:
Anyone
Nazis, Soviet labor camps, and some of the harshest climatic conditions on the planet were no match for this man's will to survive. This story is absolutely gripping, and is a must read for anyone who's ever wondered how much one can endure.
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Read in November, 2007
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in August, 2006
This book is truly inspirational! Contains all the essential elements of an epic, and it is a true story. A must read to grasp the "will to live" and the means one will undertake to attain it.
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Read in January, 2004
In the past few years I haven't read many books mostly due to school but this one I think I read in 2004 and stands out as a pretty neat story of survival....
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Read in August, 2008
This is one of those books that I don't think anyone can really critique being that it is a true story of escape and survival from a Soviet labor camp. What this man and his group went through is beyond amazing.
The author, a Polish lieutenant, makes his escape along with six other men and they are later joined by another escapee, 17 year old Kristina. They traveled approximately 4,000 miles on foot down to India through the Siberian tundra, the Gobi desert and the Himalayas with hardly a...more
The author, a Polish lieutenant, makes his escape along with six other men and they are later joined by another escapee, 17 year old Kristina. They traveled approximately 4,000 miles on foot down to India through the Siberian tundra, the Gobi desert and the Himalayas with hardly a...more
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Read in July, 2008
This book was an interesting contrast to "Into the Wild". In this book, Slavomir Rawicz, the author, escapes from a Soviet labor camp in Siberia in 1941. Six other prisoners escape with him, they are joined by a courageous young 17 year old Polish girl, and their journey to freedom is an incredible story
The have no map and no compass, yet they navigate from Siberia across Mongolia and the Gobi desert, through China and into Tibet and on into India. Much of the journey was done...more
The have no map and no compass, yet they navigate from Siberia across Mongolia and the Gobi desert, through China and into Tibet and on into India. Much of the journey was done...more
I finished this book, pumped up and ready to search more about the author. I loved the easy reading style (thanks to the ghost writer), and the matter-of-fact story telling. I had some questions (i.e. how do you survive eight days in the Gobi desert without water???), and I was ready to research.
How depressing to realize something you really appreciated is not even worth believing. Even if this guy's story is partly valid, it bothers me that he had to fictionalize it to any extent, and th...more
How depressing to realize something you really appreciated is not even worth believing. Even if this guy's story is partly valid, it bothers me that he had to fictionalize it to any extent, and th...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
everyone
This is an amazing story of a group of people who escaped from a Russian labor camp and trekked across a continent. The story takes place during WWII. These people have been put in labor camps because they were fighting against the Russians & were caught. The people involved are very good people and easily likable. The thing that amazed me the most was how they were able to survive. I'm sure I would not have survived the journey myself. They go days without food or water and still mana...more
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Read in September, 2008
recommended to Amber by:
Brittarecommends it for: historians, adventurists, WWII buffs
What an amazing story of a quest for freedom. I read this book for book club and was only 1/2 expecting to like it but I couldn't put it down! The story is about several men and their escape from a Russian prison after being accused wrongly of crimes and abused. It made me think of Guantanamo Bay and wonder what happens there and hope that we are not committing the same atrocities.
The way these men, and eventually a girl too, pushed through every imaginable obstacle of survival to have ...more
The way these men, and eventually a girl too, pushed through every imaginable obstacle of survival to have ...more
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If this wasn't true, it would be an incredible novel, but it is true so all those novel-only people will never read it. My history friend Susan loaned it to me about 2 years ago and I'm sorry to say I just read it a few weeks ago. I need to give it back.
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2 comments
If this wasn't true, it would be an incredible novel, but it is true so all those novel-only people will never read it. My history friend Susan loaned it to me about 2 years ago and I'm sorry to say I just read it a few weeks ago. I need to give it back.
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Read in April, 2005
A very entertaining book about a man's escape and long trek to freedom from a Siberian Gulag. Could have been a 5 star book except for some craziness at the end that throws the rest of the story into doubt.
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