{"product_id":"2940152330533","title":"Keep Forever","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the freezing nights of a labor camp, fifty prisoners \"settle in like herring in a barrel, tightly nuzzled next to each other, and someone among them would cover the rest with clothing\". And then the night-time storyteller begins his tale.\u003cbr\u003eAleksandr Sokolenko's four true stories of life in the Soviet camps detail a world of baffling catch-22s, but also of intense community. From farm work to timber-driving, wrestling marmots to runaway brides, the daily reality captivates.\u003cbr\u003eVivid characters fill the pages: the aged merchant Semyonov's rich life history and wry acceptance (\"At least here, they can't arrest you\"); the thief-king who tries to break free from his followers; the high-society orphan who turns barbering into an art; and the inept, vicious Captain Ivanov. Stepping back to narrate their stories as well as his own, Sokolenko offers us a broader picture of the USSR and its history, as lived by his fellow inmates.\u003cbr\u003eThe human suffering is blunt and clear - scurvy, starvations, injustice, drownings - but what lingers is a sense of humans' capacity for kindness and boundless talents.\u003cbr\u003eKeep Forever, they stamped on his prison files, and Keep Forever is what we must do with these stories.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"FEHT Inc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47103054086384,"sku":"2940152330533","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940152330533_p0.jpg?v=1764018728","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940152330533","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}