Opening Line: “It was about nine o’clock one bleak November day that the key rattles in the heavy lock of my cell in the Lubyanka Prison and the two broad-shouldered guards marched purposely in.”

Wow what an amazing story, epic is I guess more the word I’m looking for. I read this after watching the movie The Way Back and as is usually the case the book is much better, vastly different yet obviously maintaining the gist of the year long trek across an entire continent to freedom. As a point of interest (or not) Colin Farrell’s tattooed gang character does not exist in the book. Anyways…

Slavomir Rawicz wrote this memoir in 1959 as a form of therapy to escape the memories that still haunted him. It has lost nothing with time however and remains one of the most incredible journeys of strength, endurance and human spirit you’ll ever read.

Its 1941 and “Slav” has just spent two years in a Soviet prison. After multiple beatings and interrogations at the hands of the sadistic prison guard “the Bull” he is eventually found guilty of espionage (?) and sentenced to 25 years forced labour in a Siberian work camp. (These sections were actually some of the most brutal in the whole book)

Thus begins his journey. Transferred during the dead of winter Slav somehow survives the 3000 mile cattle car train ride and subsequent chain gang death march into inner Siberia and camp 303 in Yakutsk After enduring starvation, cold, illness and brutality he and six other prisoners escape.

Together they cross an entire continent on foot with nothing more than an axe, a knife, a weeks worth of food and an unbreakable will to live. Covering some of the most inhospitable conditions on earth they travel out of Siberia and through China, across the Gobi dessert into Tibet and finally over the Himalayas and into British India. This is where the epic part comes in because their journey is so brutal, so filled with despair and suffering its at times unbelievable and also impossible to put down.

The LONG WALK is written factually and Slav doesn’t ever tell us how he feels, he just gives a meticulous account of what is taking place. However for this type of storytelling it was perfect. Included in this 1997 version is an afterwards with some of the readers most persistent questions answered. What Slav’s life was like after The Long Walk, What happened to the other men? Did he ever see them again?

This is a story I won’t ever forget and I highly recommend. I mean they walked from Siberia to India, just think about that for a second.

This is an autobiography/biography of a Polish man who was arrested in Russia during WWII. He was accused of being a spy and given 25 years to be served in a prison in northern Russia. There is a cloud of controversy swirling around this book about whether this actually happened or not of if it is the true story of someone else who wasn't the author. Knowing this didn't really change my enjoyment of this book. It was really quite the story and would make a great movie. So 4 stars.

Una increíble novela de aventura y superación que tiene el aliciente extra de estar basada en hechos reales, lo que te permite conocer parte de la negra historia de los campos de concentración rusos. Muy bien escrita y con un ritmo que te lleva de página en página hasta el final.

A grueling, thrilling story of imprisonment, escape and survival, I was surprised to see that this book came out way back in 1956 - I thought it was much more recent, having only been turned into (or "served as the inspiration for") the Peter Weir film "The Way Back" in 2011. But in fact, this was one of the first books to expose the horrors of the Russian gulag system, published eight years before Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's more famous One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

The first section of Rawicz's trial and transport across Siberia is harrowing enough, but then his escape and epic trek from just south of the Arctic Circle across the Gobi desert, Tibet and finally the Himalayas -

- is truly the stuff of legend, and an amazing testament to the human spirit....

...if only it were true.

There has always been a suspicious lack of evidence supporting Rawicz's story, as well as questions about how he could go through such an intense bonding experience only to immediately lose touch with his fellow few survivors, (no one else was ever able to find them either). And so as Weir began researching his film, the long-simmering if low-key controversy surrounding Rawicz's book became the focus of a full-on BBC investigation, which ultimately led to the sad conclusion the Rawicz most likely did not make the famous "long walk" after all.

But that didn't mean that no one else did. Because around 2009, another Polish veteran, Witold Gliński, came forward to claim that it was he who had made the journey, and that his story had been "appropriated" by Rawicz and his co-author Ronald Downing. Of course, this story was then challenged by one Leszek Glinieckim, who claimed not only to have been a classmate of Gliński's during the period in question, but to have documentary evidence to prove it...

And so the question remains even today: did Rawicz or Gliński or anyway in fact make this epic journey? The Long Walk certainly rings true when you read it, but is it the recollection of an actual participant or someone else who had heard the story in vivid detail? Sadly, 80 years on we'll probably never know the true story, despite more recent attempts such as Linda Willis' inconclusive 2010 investigation, Looking for Mr. Smith: Seeking the Truth Behind The Long Walk, the Greatest Survival Story Ever Told. But fact or fiction - it's still a helluva story, (4.5 stars if it were only true; but just 3 here based on its doubtful authenticity), and a darned good movie.*

You can read a summary of the BBC story here: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-11900920,
as well as details of Rawicz's life here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%82....

And you can read about Gliński's claims here: https://www.polishnews.com/the-greate...,
as well as Glinieckim's debunking of that story here: https://www.explorersweb.com/trek/new...

* Just rewatched it and it really is a helluva movie, with great performances from Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Saoirse Ronan, Jim Sturgess and Mark Strong. Peter Weir hasn't made anything since this, so at ten years and counting this could be his last film...and while probably not his greatest, still a strong enough finish to an outstanding career.

I found this book truly inspirational and gripping. I read it in 2 nights. There is some banter about whether or not it is true. I'm still not decided on what I think about this debate. What I do know, from having lived in Russia for a number of years and having toured an obscure KGB "prison" in Lithuania 3 times, that the author's description of his torture in Minsk and in Moscow were especially haunting. From what I saw in Vilnius, he was actually given light treatment. Some of the rooms in that prison possess possibilities for torture that normal humans can barely comprehend. I have no doubt that if Slavomir had been a prisoner of war in Siberia (records indicate he was) then he most likely experienced what he claims on the way to camp 303. As for his escape, I also know many Mongols, and they are as kind as he describes.
All in all, an excellent read, fiction or fact. I recommend it to all.

There is much controversy as to whether this account is fact or fiction. I googled the author's name and the book title and after reading dozens of articles and opinions, I'm still not sure, though I lean towards thinking that the narrative is actually a composite of a number of experiences including Rawicz's.

As was said in an account on the web entitled "#18 Anderson's Long Walk Expedition", in which a group of people retraced Rawicz's journey, although on camels not on foot:

Attempting to find truth in every written word of the Long Walk dooms the book to skepticism. The two most poignant examples of this are Rawicz and his companions crossing the Gobi desert without water for 13 days and sighting the yeti in the Himalayas. However, both of these events occurred when Rawicz was close to death due to extreme environmental conditions. Other sections of the book, such as the descriptions of the local people and their customs are so accurate it seems impossible a Polish immigrant living in England could have made up such details without experiencing them first hand.

Giving Rawicz some creative leeway, considering English was his third or fourth language and he wrote the book more than 15 years after the walk occurred, the events in the book take on a more believable tone.

You can find the complete article on the  Polartech web site.

I certainly enjoyed reading the book whether or not it was a completely true re-telling of Rawicz's experiences or not.

The story was actually transcribed by Ronald Downing, a British reporter. I'm sure he took some creative liberties, especially in describing the Yeti encounter, due to his desire to find eye-witness accounts of just such meetings.

The story is exciting and moves along briskly. The prose is sparse but captures the emotion of these survivors very well. I recommend reading the book, if for no other reason, than to make up your own mind about the controversy surrounding its veracity.

An amazing true story of the human spirit's will to live. Russia invaded Poland in 1939 and took hundreds of thousands of Polish soldiers prisoner...

One man, the author of this book, not only survived torture in Russian hands, and an inhumane train ride and walk to a Siberian labor camp... but after all that, he decided to escape. He recruited 6 other prisoners to join him and the 7 of them walked to India. Through Siberian blizzards, the Gobi desert's deadly heat, the treacherous landscape of the Himalayas. Took them over a year, and some died along the way, but 4 made it all the way.

We've all heard of incredible survival stories, but you have never read a story like this. A detailed account of an entire year, highlighting the day-to-day challenges of survival. The amazing strokes of luck that saved their lives, like the generosity of the peoples they came across in Mongolia and Tibet, people who fed them along the way. It is truly amazing how the human body survived the ordeal, and even more impressively, how they managed to keep their integrity, their spirits, and humanity in tact.

Author is very factual, almost dry and understated, which I think, is how he survived. Still rich in detail and captures the pain and suffering without wallowing in it. Have to move on, as do the words and chapters... like the travelers, you don't want to stop moving once you get going (start reading).

OK, here is my gut feeling. I do not know if all of this is true. Right smack in the beginning sections just did not seem believable. Once I started thinking this way my feelings toward the book were wrecked. If there is one inconsistency, do you believe the rest? I will list some of the points that I found quite unbelievable. I must add, that for none of these points can I prove I am right. That there is ALWAYS a good explanation for each peculiar instance is almost another complaint. Everything is so fullproof, that it doesn't ring true. I am a born sceptic......

1. First of all, why are there no notes that document these experiences. To believe this I need the notes.
2. Seven men escape from a gulag in Siberia just south of Yakutsk. The seven men manage to get themselves all placed in the same building, a building located near their escape route. How did they pull this off? Other men were sleeping in the barracks and none of the others awoke. Is this believable? I certainly hear when someone gets up or even moves in my bedroom. I know. I know. These men were exhausted, but still I find it strange. Furthermore the author, the instigator of the escape plan, is aided by the wife of the commanding officer of the gulag...... I mean give me a break. Everything is explained so well, that I do not believe it. Real life has hitches.
2. When they escape they are never chased. Nothing.
3. They manage to survive the Siberian cold and get through the Govi desert. Three of the seven do die.
4. Along the way they are joined by a woman. She does die in the desert. But the whole thing is kind of "cute".
5. Then the final bit is just too much....... They meet the, not one but two, Abominable Snowmen. The way it is described is just too much. They are drawn up as couple. When the group departs the text reads:

"We pushed off around the rock and directly away from them. I looked back and the pair were standing still, arms swing slightly, as though listening intently."

I don't have the energy to quote more.

On the other hand, if this book is true I feel like a total creep. There are elements that seem to bring forth a romanticism to sell the book. There is a huge bear playing music on a tree trunk. OK, bears do play. Do you see what I mean? There is always an explanation. In the end I feel uncomfortable. Is the book true? I belive parts are true. I believe the description of the prisons and the torture procedures - they rang true. Oh yes, at one point the author is punched in the face and all his teeth on that side fall out. Then the guy beating him says to head is off balance. He slugs the other side, and those teeth fall out too. However later in the book, it is mentioned that one of the group has trouble eating their rough food because he has no teeth. The author never has this problem. But I thought his teeth were punched out. They clattered on the floor!

What I did like was the description of the people in Tibet. You got close to these people and saw a glimpse of their lifestyle. There were also two excellent maps. The writing style is just factual, neither exceptionaly bad nor good.

I fthis is true I feel terrible. The author has raised money talking about his experiences. This money has gone toward helping orphans in Poland. Knowing this, I do feel a bit uncomfortable criticizing the book. I have to tell you how I see it.

Audible.com 9 hours and 34 min. Narrated by John Lee (A)

I don't know if this book is based on a real life experience or a work of fiction because either way it was a compelling story! I learned so much that it was time well-spent. Despite the torture, physical and mental thoughout, there were two bright spots in the book. First, Christina and her perpetual optimism and the strong feelings of guardianship the men felt for her. Second, was the graciousness and generosity of the Mongols that saved the lives of the travelers over and over. This book proves that good writing doesn't need to include profanity or needless foul language.

Truly amazing survival story. It is almost superhuman what these people had to go through to escape to freedom. It is a testament to human resilience and the power of friendship and common humanity, but also of the undeniable dark side of those who, for some reason, punish and torture the innocent for sadistic reasons or in order to secure their comfortable place in a totalitarian regime.

A friend on Goodreads did some research on the book and found it to be of questionable authenticity. I am inclined to believe it is apocryphal. You just can’t walk for that long without food or water. I am therefore taking away a star from my original rating.

When this novel was first published in 1956 it created a sensation. It claimed to be a memoir of a man, who with seven others, had escaped from a Siberian prison work camp in 1942 and managed to walk all the way to British India. The story was eagerly consumed by the cold war era public who were enamored by the tale of an escape from the evil empire of the Soviet Union. It was an incredible story of endurance that required walking across the Gobi Desert and over the Himalayan Mountains.

Research of Soviet records since the cold war has revealed that while it is true that the author had been a prisoner in Siberia in the early 1940s, he did not escape in the manner described in this book. Instead he was released as part of a 1942 general amnesty and subsequently transported across the Caspian Sea to a refugee camp in Iran. He did end up living in Britain and probably passed through India on the way there.

I'm surprised that anybody believed the story in the first place because of its many technical flaws. If the author had called the book a novel I would criticize for being unrealistic and in need of additional research into means of survival in the desert and mountains. Unfortunately, the author claimed it to be a true memoir of his experiences. I say unfortunate because it clearly makes him to be a liar.

If there is any possibility of truth in the story it may be that Slavomir Rawics stole the story from another person who actually walked such a journey. I think it's possible that prisoners from Siberia managed to escape to India, but I'm quite confident that they didn't do it by walking across the Gobi without equipment and a map. Their crossing of the Himalayas has similar problems. And the book's claim that they saw Abominable Snowman (i.e. The Yeti) establishes the fact beyond all doubt that the book is fiction, and fiction not very well done.

But the fact remains that the idea of escaping from Siberia to India is a heck of a story. The 2011 movie "The Way Back" is based on this book. Maybe the movie is more realistic, but I've not seen the movie so I can't judge it. The movie's popularity caused the book to be republished and consequently brought to my attention.

You can read more about the controversy regarding the authenticity of the book at this Wikipedia article.

The following review from PageADay's 2007 Book Lover's Calendar was how I first learned about the book:
BACK IN PRINT
Rawicz’s memoir is one of the most extraordinary and harrowing you will ever read. A young Polish officer in World War II, Rawicz was captured by Soviet forces and sent to a work camp in Siberia. In 1941 he and six fellow prisoners escaped and, with only an ax head and a makeshift knife, trekked thousands of miles through Siberian tundra, the Gobi desert, and over the Himalayas to freedom in British-occupied India. The New York Times calls Rawicz “a poet with steel in his soul” and Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm) calls the book “one of the epic treks of the human race.”
n  THE LONG WALK: THE TRUE STORY OF A TREK TO FREEDOM,n by Slavomir Rawicz (1956; The Lyons Press, 1997)

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