Darkness at Noon
Ratings38
Average rating4.1
7/10
After reading the author's bio, I thought I would really enjoy the book. However, once it started, I was immediately put off by the subject matter. Luckily, it ended up taking a very conceptual approach to the subject, which was extremely well suited to my interests.
Probably not for everyone, but definitely recommended for philosophers.
Superb read. Placing this book into historical context, written and published in 1940/41 this must have been seen to close for comfort for those that gave total support to Stalinism. Pre-dating Orwell's 1984 there is a constant sense of the world weary in the character of Rubashov as he comes to grips with his imminent demise. Easily standing the test of time this novel is a must read for those that have an interest in the show trials that racked the USSR in the 1930's.
Getting the bad out of the way, I think the prose could have been sharpened a bit. Of all my recently read books, I am probably holding up Gatsby as the gold standard in command of language. Darkness at Noon falls short of that, so I cannot rate it 5/5.
However, it touches on important themes, and, along with Siddhartha, Things Fall Apart, and For Whom the Bell Tolls, it has made me think a lot about death, its meaning, and how one ought to live his life with the concrete understanding that one day he will, too, grow old and feeble, then cease to exist.
The novel is also an interesting peek into a certain period of Soviet and antebellum history. Remarkable that such control could be exercised over a people, and the philosophy underpinning it all that the ends absolutely justify the means, and that the winner decides ex post facto what the truth is.
If you enjoy Orwell and For Whom the Bell Tolls, you will enjoy Darkness at Noon.
My favorite book this year and one of the best I've ever read. Perhaps it had a more powerful effect on me since I spent several months in the archives in China reading the reports of the Communist treason elimination bureau, but this work brilliantly captures the essence of the mad logic of a Communist purge.
Tony Judt has a great essay about Arthur Koestler and his importance found as the first chapter in part one, in his collection “Reappraisals” which I found very informative.