Awesome
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A humbling and gripping piece of writing. I think "Booker" might best set to one side his 21st century cynicism about the likely veracity of Forell's story. It was plausible enough for West German TV to have turned it into a major mini series in the 1950's (and it was re-made into a feature film recently too.) Forell himself died in the 1980's in anonymity, and if you will read his story it is not hard to see why he might have withdrawn from public life after three years of desperate survival in the wilderness. Having read inummerable tales of people in dire straights in concentration camps or on expeditions or escaping from captivity, this remains the most inspiring tale of all.
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A great disappointment
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Afraid this book is a con. There is no way the story could possibly have taken place in reality - from the small details (a man who's just spent 3 years living underground in a lead mine, running for his life thro the Siberian winter recoils at the fetid odours of a warm tent full of welcoming people!) to the major actions in the story : a Soviet official freely accedes to a request for a mountain of euqipment and supplies to 3 escaped convicts without even checking their identity papers, one of the convicts pushes our hero over a cliff and then shoots a sheep next to his unconscious body so he'll have something to eat!! The nonsense goes on and on. I am astonished anyone took this book seriously. The escape plan and equipment are handed to our man on a plate. One deus ex machina after another pops up to extricate him from each impossible situation. The authorities never spot him and yet selfless people approach him in the street wirh spontaneous offers of help and when the author runs out of outrageous ideas he conjures up a mysterious escape network which magics him out of the country. Note that we are not given the man's real name, and no detail whatever of the "corroboration" claimed in the author's note. This book was much more likely written with Hollywood in mind. And typical, poor quality, predictable Hollywood at that.
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Gripping.
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This is a truely gripping book. Describing the sheer hell that was the Gulag in Eastern Kamchatka, Forel realises that NOT to escape was a death sentence - he was being slowly poisoned by the lead mine he was working, living and sleeping in.
His story of his long trek to freedom is a gripping tale of human resolve, and is also a terrible tale of man's inhumanity to man.
Highly recommended - and very humbling to read.
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The great but unhappy escape
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Remarkable story, with both inspiring and unfortunate insights into the human spirit. As much as there is the struggle to survive, the epic haul to freedom, hanging over the whole story is a questioning of the ideas of defeat and victory, hatred and forgiveness, damage to the soul. I also advise you to check out the excellent IN THE GHOST COUNTRY which is about a famous man walking to the bottom of the world in the company of his dead mother. Reflective and quite a hallucinogenic experience.
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Unbelievable Story ! A must to read.
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You will not be able to put this book down! It is completely absorbing, at times you feel unbelievable, will make you cry and will make you smile. The story of a man taking 3 years to escape a siberian labour camp is just incredible. Some of the people he meets along the journey gives you faith in the human race and some sadly turns you the other way. However, it is a great read and the only bit that lets it down, is that at the end you do not get to find out how he integrated back into German society (but then that's not what the story is about!). Recommended.
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