Books Dave Has Read

Darkness at Noon

Arthur Koestler



Rank: A+
No. Times Read: 1
Last Read: Summer, 2001
Reviewed By: Dave
Date Review Added: 6 / 28 / 2006

• Review: Arthur Koestler was a member of the Communist party in the Soviet Union for a time, but then fell out of favor with the party, and was jailed. Through a bit of luck (and after several years), he managed to escape. Darkness at Noon is supposedly a semi-autobiographical account of Koestler's experiences, mixed with those of others he'd known. Because of this, I wasn't really expecting much from this book, and probably wouldn't have read it had it not been named the eighth greatest book written in English in the twentieth century. I was both surprised and delighted when this book far surpassed any expectations I'd had of it.
  
  The main character of Darkness at Noon is Rubashov, a revolutionary who helped to overthrow the tsarist government. Over the years, though, he's watched the party grow into something far more sinister than anyone had imagined at the outset. As a result, he's jailed for crimes he didn't commit, and made to admit to them publicly.
  
  The plot mainly follows Rubashov in prison as he's interrogated by various party officials and slowly broken down by his captors. What's remarkable about this novel is that the political aspect is really secondary to the human aspect. It would have been very easy for Koestler to simply write a heavy-handed exposé to show the world how terrible the Soviet Union was. Instead of that, though, Koestler focuses on developing Rubashov, and on the interactions between Rubashov and the other characters in the book. The result is one of the most remarkable character studies I've ever encountered. That's why, regardless of a given reader's proclivities with respect to plot, genre, etc., I'd enthusiastically recommend Darkness at Noon to anyone.
  
  [Interesting note: This book was originally written in German—Koestler's native language—but was translated into English by the author himself, giving the English version an authenticity often lacking in many translations. It also makes more impressive the fact that the quality of the writing is so incredible.]


• Categories: Art, Classic, Controversial, German, War, Worthwhile


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