Everything Flows (Vasily Grossman; last worked on in 1964)

Discussion of Grossman and his larger work (Life and Fate) can be found here.

Grossman wrote this work later, and never finished it (still working on it at time of his death). He's exploring a number of events and themes; perhaps not entirely pulled together; but always coming back to "freedom".

The main character (Ivan Grigoryevich) returns to Moscow after 30 years in the camps - this was after Stalin's death, after Khrushchev's denunciation, when quite a few camp survivors were freed. This led to some difficult meetings with folks that had managed to avoid the camps - typically via denunciations and other forms of collaboration. These folks feel intense guilt; but Grossman includes concepts showing lots of sympathy for folks in the impossible circumstances in which all tried to survive.

Chapters on the starve-out of the Ukrainian kulaks and on the conditions in the women's camps in Siberia are presented in a very matter-of-fact manner; but graphic and almost painful to read.

Grossman concludes with a discussion of Lenin, Stalin, the 19th century Russian writers who perceived Russia as having a "great soul" that would end up leading the world (in comparison to decadent Europe and money-chasing US) - this part is pretty interesting. That Stalin was basically a new Tsar with a better-organized secret police force; that Russia had a 1000 year history of slavery that facilitated 20th century totalitarianism.

So the book is pretty much very heavy duty but with an underlying affirmation - maintained in the face of all contrary evidence - about freedom as man's essential condition.

For folks that went through these events, those concepts must have levels of meaning about which we cannot have a clue.