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Book Review of The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom

The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom
reviewed on + 77 more book reviews


Warning--spoilers

Having once had a landlord from Hungary who had endured a Siberian prison, I felt somehow connected to this story, and it was harrowing and inspiring. However, I kept having doubts and questions as I read--things that didn't quite "work" in my mind, especially that these broken-down, unsupplied refugees without even a map could survive the Gobi desert in summer and the Himalayas in winter. Their coming across a Yeti couple near the end just sort of burst my bubble.

I've since done a little Internet investigation and found evidence that such a trek might have been made, that a British officer did report three emaciated men arriving in India from the Himalayas, that Yetis might exist . But it seems that perhaps Slavomir Rawicz (and/or his ghost writer) wove together a tale made up of his own and others' experiences, and it seems he used his book tours in his time to raise money for Polish orphans or somesuch.

It's a good read, anyway!