Good Book Review On The Long Walk: The True Story Of A Trek To Freedom By Slavomir Rawicz

Slavomir Rawicz’s “The Long Walk” is set during the Second World War, revolving around seven men who manage to escape a Soviet labor camp, one of them being Rawicz himself. As the leader of the group, Rawicz chose to escape with men who were determined and strong enough to endure the harshness of the treat. Rawicz was a patriotic man, and the Russians had to drug him in order to make him “confess” to crimes he had not committed. Rawicz escapes with the hope and intention of rejoining his troops and reuniting with his wife.
The group that escapes also includes the commandant from the camp and his wife, and after escaping, they head incessantly southward, aiming to make it to India, which is under decent English rule, and seek refuge there. However, there is the expansive Gobi desert followed by the Himalayas that they must pass in order to get there. While they are moving toward India, a teenage Polish, who has also escaped from a labor camp, joins the group. The group is faced with a much greater danger when they run out of food and water. The Polish girl is not able to bear the desert heat, which results in her slow death. For the next couple of weeks, the group begins eating snakes, and eventually, another member dies.
When the remaining members of the group arrive in Mongolia in the Himalayan foothills, nearly everyone there treats them benevolently and warm-heartedly. However, keeping in mind that they escaped from a labor camp and have no papers, they steer clear of towns and villages. The native Mongolians guide them along the way and shepherds provide them with supplies. The mountains are as dangerous as the desert and their survival depends on being able to light a fire. In fact, they almost end up dying when they are not able to light a fire one night. This leaves them with no choice but to use items that do not belong to them, including firewood, which they find in a shepherd's cave.
Ultimately, the group manages to reach Calcutta, India. Even for those who are fond of reading true stories, Rawicz’s “The Long Walk” will not disappoint and is worth reading. Rawicz makes the reader want to keep reading because of the picture it the author paints of what it is like to have to travel across a desert and mountains, while labeled as prisoners, without any food and water, and what a situation like this can do to a human being.
That “The Long Walk” details those seventeen years of Rawicz’s from when he was sentenced to serve at a labor camp in Siberia to when he returned to his peaceful life with his wife in England. So, it is quite natural that the tale has been told from a composed and relaxed point of view, because Rawicz was indeed quite detached from the rest of the world for nearly a decade. The good thing is that Rawicz’s disengaged approach makes the story all the more powerful.
Those who have not read this book may think that it would be boring and dull to read a story that nothing more than about trekking for miles and miles, but Rawicz’s “The Long Walk” is far from that. As summarized above, it is a story about human beings, who are left with no choice but to endure harsh conditions, including ice, severe temperatures and snow, with barely any food and water, if they wish to achieve freedom. Frequently it appears that they are on the brink of death, but their resilience and their will, along with some little miracles, enables them to keep fighting and going. Even then, only three out of the group of seven make it through to India.
I see Rawicz’s book as a comprehensive study into Rawicz’s own life since it is written by Rawicz himself. Every detail that made the trek so such a significant occurrence in his life has been captured by him in the book, and he has put those details into words in such a way that they are easily readable and comprehensible. I may not have been there to actually experience all the pain and suffering that Rawicz had to endure, but I was definitely able to experience all those details that his words have described in the book.
While some readers may feel that most of the book is about the journey that Rawicz embarks on in order to return home, but that is not all there is to it. I think the book gives readers a chance to peer into Rawicz’s emotions and experiences, during a length moment in his life that readers will agree was very crucial. I think I find it justifiable that Rawicz goes into so much detail to tell everything as it had happened because I believe that this helped me, as it may have helped other readers, to understand why or how things happened the way they did. Rawicz succeeds in showing us the extent to which a man can go in order to not just defend himself, but also his country and family.
Considering that fact Rawicz was a part of the trek, he was the one who planned it, and he experienced everything himself, the book probably serves as a primary source of the events that occurred during the trek. It is interesting and surprising that Rawicz would have probably wanted to forget these memories and nightmares from his past, but it is commendable that he still decided to recall them in order to write this book. In a way, Rawicz’s book also paints a picture of how frightful and terrible the Russian camps were and how everyone was affected by the Second World War, which makes me think that how me and my loved ones are that we had never had to experience such suffering.
I feel that during the time period between his escape and return to England, the things that can be regarded as memorable, or at least they had been seared into this memory. Between the period that he is a prisoner and beyond his escape, readers will definitely sense a change in his point of view. Apart from the efforts and endeavors that he makes, his point of view once he has escaped also reflects his will to survive and return home. Perhaps, it is this point of view that makes the story even more comprehensible. I think that the book is not only historical but also political, since many events that occurred in the book were somewhat influenced by the politics. Through his story, Rawicz is able to paint a picture in the reader’s heads and they are able to see quite clearly how he and his companions started out on their quest for freedom and what was the outcome of it all.
In conclusion, I believe Rawicz and everyone who was a part of his group deserved freedom, and it is saddening that most of them did not make it along the way, despite their struggle. Not just Rawicz, but all the members of his group deserve quite the respect for having escaped in pursuit of their own freedom. It cannot be denied that Slavomir Rawicz’s “The Long Walk” is a book that is quite well written, but what makes is a good book is the fact that it is a record of perhaps the most astounding and remarkable story of human endurance.