Sławomir Rawicz (1915–2004)

Three star fiction, minus one for claiming to be true.

> The length of chain dragging in the snow at the end of each section of prisoners told the tale of the men who had fallen out on the way. At each death the men behind the vacant space were moved up and the varying lengths of spare chain were an indication of the casualty rate in each group.

> What were they? For years they remained a mystery to me, but since recently I have read of scientific expeditions to discover the Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas and studied descriptions of the creature given by native hillmen, I believe that on that day we may have encountered two of the animals. I do insist, however, that recent estimates of their height as about five feet must be wrong. The minimum height of a well-grown specimen must be around seven feet.

> The bus pulled away towards the transit camp where I was to await a troopship for the Middle East. I looked back at him once and he waved. I felt suddenly bereft of friends, bereft of everything, as desolate and lonely as a man could be.… (mere)

I completely changed my mind about this book once it was almost certainly proven to be sheer fabrication (do your research). I guess it always had a dubious reputation. The book just doesn't have any particular literary merit aside from the almost unbelievable, er, I mean, plain unbelievable story of human endurance.

I moved from non-fiction to fiction shelf.

Read The Worst Journey In The World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard if you want to see a true story of the limits of human endurance.… (mere)