Customer Reviews

Industry of Souls

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
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Martin Booth's gentle story is a true gem. Truthfully, I brought it to read because I thought it was about the horrors of the gulag, and such tales hold a fascination that's hard for me to resist. Instead, I found a wonderful, insightful and warm story of friendship and love; not what I was looking for, yet more than I could have hoped for. As Shurik strolls through his beloved Russian village of Myshkino on his eightieth birthday, he stops to chat with friends and remembers back to his 25 years of hard labor in the coal mines of the gulag. And as we follow him through the village and through time, we learn that love and friendship are all we have and all we need. When those are strong in us, the unbearable is bearable and the little moments of life are more important than we can imagine. There is such integrity and wisdom in its lessons that "The Industry of Souls" is virtually a text book on the power of relationships. I won't forget this story for a long time. I highly recommend it.

"The Industry Of Souls", by Martin Booth is an unusual tale of one man's experience in Russia's penal system. The system may be more accurately defined as a method of gathering masses of slave labor, or, "Ants", as one character suggests. If you have only read non-fiction or historically based fiction of these camps, this book may surprise or perhaps even leave you feeling a bit incredulous. However this is fiction and should be taken as such.

Prior to Mr. Booth's work I had primarily either read of the Gulag System of camps while reading history of the era, or books specifically on the camps themselves. Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize wrote what can be considered the definitive and massive trilogy, "The Gulag Archipelago". He additionally wrote further fiction and historically based fiction on the topic and his personal experiences while imprisoned. Anatoli Rybakov also wrote a brilliant trilogy beginning with, "Children Of The Arbat".

This is the very first time I have read a work that takes the reader through the misery of 25 years as a prisoner above the Artic Circle digging coal, and then upon his release the same man adopts the Country that savaged his life. Fiction allows anything to be stated, and perhaps a story happened in a manner like you will read of here. I found the book to be excellent reading, however it was so contradictory to the History I have read it was hard for me to suspend disbelief.

This work was short listed for The Booker Prize and that is not an accomplishment to be taken lightly and neither is this book. I very much enjoyed the main character Alexander Bayliss, and to the extent a man or woman could endure what he did and find a sort of happiness in the later years of his life was noble, but again such a result would seem almost to be impossible. However, the village and the people who live there, the motive for his initial visit, and his remarkable decisions he is faced with at the book's end make for great reading.

The book is very, very good. However if you have read Historical accounts about these camps, the transition to less than horrific endings takes a bit of adjustment.

This thoughtful and loving tribute to the human spirit begins with the lines: "It is the industry of the soul, to love and to hate; to seek after the beautiful and to recognise the ugly; to honour friends and wreak vengeance upon enemies..." Here and elsewhere throughout the book, Booth uses Biblical parallels to advance his message about the human condition: "[There is] a time to love and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace [Ecclesiastes]..." In quiet, thoughtful tones, the main character, 80-year-old Alexander Bayliss, called Shurik, reflects on his life, a life which we would consider intolerable but in which he has found satisfaction and, remarkably, much joy. At eighty, he is a man completely at peace with his world, celebrating the love, endurance, and forgiveness which have made his life not only bearable, but ultimately, happy.

Shurik was a 40-year-old Englishman doing business in the Soviet Union when he was summarily arrested for espionage and sentenced to hard labor in the gulag, spending the next twenty years in a coal mine. In the hellish darkness and depths of the mine, however, Shurik finds enlightenment. One of seven men in his labor group, he and his companions become a family, fiercely loyal to each other, accepting life moment by moment, with no thoughts wasted on a future they cannot afford to contemplate. Eventually released, Shurik lives a quiet life in a small Russian village, where he becomes much beloved. When Communism fails and the Soviet Union dissolves, Bayliss, at eighty, finds himself faced with his most difficult decision.

This ambitious novel entertains at the same time that it conveys a strong message about man's enduring spirit and the need to forgive. The symbolism is clear and easily understood--the miners digging up a completely preserved wooly mammoth, then roasting and eating part of it, Shurik acting as teacher to the children of the village and sometimes speaking in aphorisms or proverbs, the story of the fox in the cage, the making of bread in the village, Shurik arguing for the historic preservation of the local church, etc. The language is simple, the images are unforgettable, the prose style is both musical and urgent, and the characters are admirable and sympathetic. A memorable and thoughtfully constructed novel, every detail of which advances Bayliss's message. Mary Whipple

I have just finished this book and rushed to recommend that it be the next book for our book club to read. I felt it was a wonderful book of forgiveness. It portrayed how a man showed no bitterness for the brutality of his imprisonment in fact embraced the strength of human spirit in his friendship with other inmates. The unconditional love and friendship he encountered in prison was continued on his arrival in the village in which he was to live the remainder of his life The contrast between the harsh prison life and the gentle life of the country was marked by their juxtaposition of alternate chapters. I did not want the book to end.

A touching book about friendship in the gulags (work camps) of Siberia, The Industry of Souls by Martin Booth is a wonderfully written novel with an unforgettable story that examines the most basic human emotions of love and hope during the worst of times.

The book follows the life of Alexander Bayliss, a British citizen who is wrongly accused of espionage by the KGB and is sentenced to 25 years of hard labor in Siberia. The book centers around the friendships and bonds he makes with the six other men in Work Unit 8. Even in the terrible living and working conditions of the gulag, the seven men help and support each other in order to maintain their optimism and sanity. Almost all were betrayed into the gulags either by their acquaintances or by their country. Over the course of two decades, they find understanding and trust once more in their comrades.

This book explores themes of love, friendship, and freedom in the unusual setting of the gulag. The setting helps bring out the themes because it is often only during the worst of times when one truly comes to appreciate what they would normally take for granted. Martin Booth delves deep into these themes, showing us that even in the most hellish places, love and hope can exist.

In this way, what I found to be the most touching was the friendship between Shurik (Alexander's nickname) and Kirill, the leader of Work Unit 8. The events that unfold bring the reader to ponder the value of a true comrade. They make the reader wonder how far they would go for a friend.

At times the book is heartbreaking. Other times, the book leaves the reader furious at the injustices of Communist Russia. However, I don't believe Martin Booth was trying to reveal the corruption that put fear in the lives of all Russians during that period of time. I think his main message was that even in bad times and in the midst of such corruption, true friendship can help you pull through. As Shurik said himself, "I owed... my allegiance to my comrades, not to my country. Friends are more important than flags." A thoroughly compelling read, the reader is drawn into the story and doesn't want to leave. I give this book five stars.

I was loaned this book by a friend who bought it at a dollar store, and it sat on the shelf for a long time before I finally had enough time (between other books and general workload) to read it. I wish I had read it sooner.

I honestly can say that this book touched me in a way that few books do. Not only did it inspire me to contemplation, it also touched me on an emotional level. The story of Shurik and his years in the gulag and the lessons he learned (both in the mining camp and in his time in Myshkino) really pulled me in and imparted wonderfully written words of wisdom upon me.

I think everyone should read this book, really. I can honestly say, out of all the books I have ever read, this is my absolute favourite. I give all my praise to Martin Booth and the Industry of Souls.

This is not Le Carre, whose anti-heroes are complex and hard to imagine. Industry of Souls is about one man, Mother Russia, and the indomitability of the human spirit. Alexander Bayliss is not Everyman, but he is what we wish every man to be. As Shurik, the man who endured so much for so long, forgotten save by his friends and his adopted home, the protagonist is so unexceptional, by his own admission, that he basically writes off his personal history in favor of the light of today's sun. Martin Booth is so judicious in his selected perceptions that Shurik's narration approaches gentle poetry without being smarmy, creates images without being treacly, and constructs a world, a true microcosm, in which we would love to live, even in the village of Myshinko.

Its a story that allows your feelings and fondness to grow for Shurik, the "Englishman of Myshkino." Martin Booth has written a beautiful tale of friendship, dignity in the face of unbearable odds and loyalty in a place where revenge would seem appropriate. Alexander Bayliss is a character you will find yourself more attached to as the pages turn. Quickly, I was cast in his sometimes stark, black and white world, anxious to discover the simple philosophy that sustains him and his fellow workers of the gulag. Its a noble story. Perhaps most memorable, other than the decision Shurik ultimately faces, is the excavation of a 20 thousand year old mammoth. A brilliant read! A book to be past among friends.

Many written works, like their video or film counterparts, demand to be consumed voraciously by those eager to learn outcome(s). This powerful book, desires to be read reflectively and savored, one page at a time.

The life of the main character, Shurik, unfolds slowly and wonderfully, like the metamorphosis of an unusual butterfly. Originally from England,he will soon celebrate his eightieth birthday, after spending most of his life in the gulags of the former Soviet Union. His family has found he is still alive and wish to visit him. How will Shurik deal with this? Does he wish to go home or stay in Russia? Why would he go or stay?

The author, Martin Booth, uses the birthday concept to "anchor" his plot. The birthday is but a metaphoric excuse to study a lifetime interwoven with inexorable pain and unexpected beauty.

We are the recipients of these unique gifts as we begin to understand the life of one, very special, man. Highly recommended.

This was an interesting book that I bought because it was clipped out of almost winning the coveted Booker Prize. It was an interesting story that I think would make a wonderful film. The whole idea of being wrongfully accused of being a British agent and arrested by the Russian KGB and sentenced to 25 years of hard labor is a painful thought. However, this British character grows on you as you feel his pain and suffering while he works around it via friendships with inmates. It's meaningful, but I wouldn't rave about it as a very BEST BOOK that one must read. There is a line in the book that goes, "So what wisdom have you learnt today? Or has it yet to come?" Well, I liked the book but I still feel the wisdom I wanted to get has yet to come. There were some remarkable lines that are worth remembering (that I will not deny). More men would appreciate the book than women. It's written by a man who is writing about a man's life. In the end, the main character chooses a small village to remain close to the family he promised to keep a watchful eye over. The writing style is unique.