Folks, I hope you’re enjoying A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It is more complex than it first appears and is much more than a simple coming of age story. I look forward to discussing the different layers of this novel. Despite its complexity, I’m going to bet you’re moving through it quickly. You may even have finished.
That is why I suggest you start reading One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn — right now. This request is all to do with timing. It is the “dead of winter,” the perfect time to read this short book. You will walk with Ivan through one day of his incarceration. The conditions are appalling; it is not clear to me what is worse — the 30+ below zero weather or the near starvation levels of food.
Remember the two minus-ten-degree days we had near the end of December? That is 30 degrees warmer than what Ivan experienced daily during winter at the prison camp. This is your opportunity to get yourself more deeply into this book than if you read it during the beginning of Spring. (We discuss it on March 21.) I will be curious to know if you think about this book when you are eating. I can’t stop thinking about it when I do.
Read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Now. Feedback is always welcome!
