Faithful Ruslan (Neversink)

Very downbeat tale, set in an appalling time time in history, little or no humour or humanity to relieve the unremitting grimness.

Hard hitting and a must for every dog owner. That'll knock the anthropomorphism out of 'em!

This book analogously captures the experiences and sentiments of any one party state, and those that endure it or profit from it, albeit in this case Stalinist Russia.

Good read and an interesting book ( had been part of a ships library onboard Canberra.)

Another fine book on the Russian Gulags, written from the perspective of a guard dog.Imaginative, and perceptive it is both lightly written and heavy in content.A tremendous literary achievement.

This is an intense, powerful and incredibly poignant masterpiece - brilliant analogy of post Stalinist society, but relevant to many political regimes in decline. I re-read it recently and it still has the power to affect and inspire. One of those books I think everyone should read. Works on several levels and not difficult.

This is the equal of White Fang with the added dimension of being set in a late-Soviet context. It can be taken as a metaphor for Russian society as it broke up when the Soviet system broke up -- anomie for the faithful; faithfulness to a corrupt system that was broken under its own inconsistencies.It is a brilliant piece of writing and ably translated too.

I first heard this story many years ago on book at bed time...Radio 4??, my son found this copy for me on line via Amazon and is now a treasured book. The story tells the life of a Russian guard dog. A very good read.

Back in the 1970s I became aware of two Russian novels that I vowed to read someday. These were THE MASTER AND MARGARITA, and FAITHFUL RUSLAN. I recently made it through THE MASTER, which is almost a textbook example of how NOT to write a novel. I've now finished FAITHFUL RUSLAN, which does not disappoint in any way. Ruslan is one of many guard dogs in a Soviet forced-labor camp in far Siberia. His story begins on his last day on the job... the camp has been disbanded, all prisoners have left, and Ruslan is ordered by his handler to lose himself in the woods. Since the dogs have frequently been sent to the nearby small town to escort trainloads of new prisoners to the camp, Ruslan and all the other guard dogs wind up trying to survive in that small town. The final result can only be disaster, but the reader is kept expertly in suspense as to what the nature of that disaster will be. In the meantime we get flashback/memories of incidents in Ruslan's life up until he becomes a stray. His story is roughly paralleled by that of a former prisoner Ruslan calls "the Shabby Man." Those two could have joined forces and saved one another, but their life experiences to date make that impossible. Ruslan is completely faithful to his training, which among other things at first seems to doom him to starvation. [The dogs never accept food from anyone other than their handler, to prevent prisoners from poisoning them.] Ruslan's story is heartbreaking, but so are the mainly untold stories of the prisoners and guards. The novel makes for very grim reading, but it is a work of art, and deeply compassionate. Highly recommended.

I love dog books. This book is told from the viewpoint of a Russian military/police/prison guard dog. It is a downer. There is little to no happiness found in this story. On the plus side, it is very memorable and there is a great deal of canine knowledge imparted which I think many dog owners will find invaluable. I think the dog is supposed to represent the Russian populace in detention in Siberia but I never read it that way. I am currently on my fourth German Shepherd. My second one had a history before we acquired her similar to Ruslan. She was very similar to Ruslan in personality and action. So IMHO this book is realistic. My wife always says we gave that dog a nice life after we acquired her. But her personality never mellowed in the nine years we lived with her.

The book came new with no damage. The book itself was great. I would recommend people read it. It’s about a dog’s experience in a Siberian gulag. 216 pages

Beautiful story. Very intense reading experience. The translation was, perhaps, a bit awkward in places, but as a testament to the horrors of that time in Russian Siberia, it was very powerful and left a lasting impression. I would like to have been able to read it in the original Russian, however.

Is a must, it's an incredible original and 'funny' way to learn a lot about this period of Russian history. I have read a lot about it and still learned a few very interesting things from this book, and really enjoyed reading it.