If the events related in The Long Walk are factual, then Mr. Rawicz's has executed a remarkable feat, demonstrating that the human will has no limits when the goal is survival in a world gone mad. But did he actually do it? It may well be that Mr. Rawicz fabricated his story entirely, or was told of the journey by someone else and co-opted the glory for himself. We may never know. Therefore, while I recommend The Long Walk for its admirable premise and its vivid prose, its consumption ought to be taken with grains of salt appropriate to your own tastes.
In 1941, Mr. Rawicz was a Polish soldier who, after the army was crushed by Nazi and Soviet forces, was arrested by the Russians, tried on trumped-up charges of spying, and sentenced to 25 years of hard labor in a Siberian gulag. After a long and terrifying relocation to this distant and miserable place, Mr. Rawicz was forceably acquainted with his new life as a virtual slave. However, he was lucky in one respect. A certain skill with radios earned him the attention of a kindly couple administrating the gulag. Taking pity on Rawicz, the wife aids his escape. And so, with a little bit of food and hardly any supplies, he and six of his fellows flee the gulag and begin an adventure that sees them walk 6,000 miles, from the coldest reaches of Russia, down to Mongolia, through the inhospitable Gobi and into greater India where, eventually, the survivors reach British civilization. Along the way, Mr. Rawicz and his companions face every imaginable deprivation, food, water, warmth, shelter. And yet theypress on, avoiding people and towns for fear of being recognized as fugitives from the Soviets. Eleven months the seven spend with themselves, seven men and, for a time, one young girl who travels with them for a spell. Eleven months of solitude and endless marches for freedom.
There are a few reasons to question the authenticity of this amazing odyssey. Firstly, it reads too much like a travel log. Mr. Rawicz is suitably appalled by his trial, but he bears up remarkably well thereafter, facing the gulag with almost clinical detachment. The walk halfway round the planet is executed with a kind of determined curiosity, with the pains and complaints natural to such a voyage set almost entirely aside. Second, the young girl, Krystyna, who joins the seven men for part of their journey, is a creature held by the men in sisterly or daughterly affection. Not once does Mr. Rawicz record any of these seven, sex-starved men making so much as an insinuation her way, let alone approaching her for satisfaction. A vulnerable girl, in as precarious a state as they and none of them take the remotest advantage? Chivalry may not have been dead in the 1940s, but innocent paternalism seems a bridge too far. Thirdly, The natives they encounter are always friendly, always hospitable, and never take advantage of their plight. Mr. Rawicz may not have spoken a single lie in the telling of this book; perhaps his magnanimity is a consequence of looking back from the anesthetic comfort of hindsight, but I do not seem to be alone in my suspicions.
This is an inspiring book enshrouded in mystery. I enjoyed the read. If it is real, then we all have an example of human will to follow. If it isn't, well, then at least we had the Gobi. (3/5 Stars)
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