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  • The Long Walk

  • The True Story of a Trek to Freedom
  • By: Slavomir Rawicz
  • Narrated by: John Lee
  • Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (246 ratings)
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The Long Walk cover art

The Long Walk

By: Slavomir Rawicz
Narrated by: John Lee
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Summary

Twenty-six-year-old cavalry officer Slavomir Rawicz was captured by the Red Army in 1939 during the German-Soviet partition of Poland and sent to the Siberian Gulag. In the spring of 1941, he escaped with six of his fellow prisoners, including one American. Thus began their astonishing trek to freedom.

With no map or compass but only an ax head, a homemade knife, and a week's supply of food, the compatriots spent a year making their way on foot to British India, through 4,000 miles of the most forbidding terrain on earth. They braved the Himalayas, the desolate Siberian tundra, icy rivers, and the great Gobi Desert, always a hair's breadth from death. Finally arriving, Rawicz reenlisted in the Polish army to fight the Germans.

©2006 Slavomir Rawicz (P)2006 Blackstone Audio Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"Positively Homeric." ( London Times)
"One of the most amazing, heroic stories of this or any other time." ( Chicago Tribune)
"It is a book filled with the spirit of human dignity and the courage of men seeking freedom." ( Los Angeles Times)

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What listeners say about The Long Walk

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Long swindle, more like

There's something about this kind of book that attracts people like me to pay good money to read (or listen to it): namely that it's a factual account of something that happened. Tales of endurance and hardship are only inspiring if they've happened to real people. It's hard to get inspired by the exploits of Reme in Ratatouille for example.

My suspicions about this book were only aroused near the end with Rawicz's description of, yes, I'm serious, an encounter with two Yeti. Eight feet tall (falling to seven a little later).

I'm the kind of person who wants to know how it ended beyond the book. You know, what was the rest of his life like? What about the others on the walk? What ultimately happened to them? So I consulted Wikipedia, which in no time at all informed me that this story (not least the Yeti episode) doesn't stand close scrutiny.

All of which leaves me, frankly, feeling like I've been swindled. I hope this review serves as a 'errata' sticker for the front cover of this book.

To sum up? Well written but deceptive.

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36 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Read the TRUE story not this fiction!

Exclusive: The Greatest Escape - war hero who walked 4,000 miles from Siberian death camp


By Dennis Ellam and Adam Lee Potter 16/05/2009

Told for the first time the incredible story of Witold Glinski's escape from the Russians across the Gobi desert and through the Himalayas to freedom in India.. a journey that took him 11 months.
It was an epic feat of courage and strength. A triumph of human spirit over tyranny.

Witold Glinski is the last survivor of World War Two's greatest escape.

As he lovingly crafts another willow basket in the shed at his seaside bungalow in Cornwall, it's hard to believe that this modest man walked 4,000 miles to freedom; all the way from a Siberian prison camp to India.

He trekked through frozen forests, over mountains and across deserts on a journey that took 11 months.

Seven men were in the break-out, in February 1941. Only four reached safety, at a British base over the Indian border, the following January. And Witold, 84, has now emerged to recall their astonishing story. It's time to tell the truth he says. It's time people knew.

Witold has waited more than 50 years for this moment. In 1956, a book called The Long Walk claimed to tell how seven prisoners escaped from a labour camp in Siberia and walked to India.

It was every bit Witold's story and became an international bestseller, but the man who claimed to have made the epic journey was Slavomir Rawicz, a former Polish officer.

After Rawicz died in 2006, a BBC radio documentary uncovered proof that he was a fake, military records showed that he was serving in Persia (now Iran) at the time of the escape.

Full article can be read in May 2010 issue of Reader's Digest

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

A Wonderful Adventure

First and foremost, 'The Long Walk' is a truly epic story of adventure and misadventure. The characters, although not deeply emotionally explored, are interesting and relateable. The build-up and escape from the gulag is tense and terrifying. The epic walk to freedom is both distressing and inspiring. But what I enjoyed most was the interactions the group of escapees have with the locals of the regions they pass through.

I disagree with the comments of some reviewers; this is a captivating adventure story, one of the best in the genre. The incident with the 'Yetis' is entirely believeable and in keeping with continuous unexplained sightings of ape species in the Himalaya by respected sources. Anyway, why else would it be written in a travelogue, if not true? And as for not tying up loose ends...the book is called 'The Long Walk', not 'The Long Walk and what happened to the escapees in the ensuing 40-odd years'.

The only reason I was left feeling slightly disappointed with 'The Long Walk' was after I had joyfully completed it and began researching it. The writer was apparently not involved in the trek and was instead, serving time in a different gulag. There was later a claim from a polish man living in the UK, that it was he about whom the story was written. But the original author never agreed on this...why is there so much continuing debate? I don't know the answer.

What I do know is that the book is based on true events and a true trek, completed by a group of prisoners from a Gulag to freedom. Don't let the anti-author authenticity claims prevent you from enjoying this astounding tale.

If you enjoy reading of human hardship, travel and true adventure, then you will not be disappointed by 'The Long Walk'.

Ben Waddams

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping

I was completely gripped by this astonishing and inspiring story. I have a long commute and sometimes my attention span is not great, but with this book I was actually pleased when the motorway traffic ground to a halt and the journey took longer than planned. I constantly wanted to know what was going to happen next and this book has stayed in my thoughts since I finished it.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

A guilty confession

I started listening to this book fully anticipating an interesting and informative experience. Unfortunately I was let down. Not by the subject matter, what could be more exciting than a remarkable true story of escape and endurance beyond belief. It was just the way the story was told. I feel guilty saying this but it was just boring.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

The Long Walk


I was absolutely absorbed and amazed by this book. The reader was brilliant and kept my attention throughout. Please find me another one like this one.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Inspiring survival story

This is an amazing story, which shows just how much people can achieve in the face of adversity. The experiences of the walkers are at turns horrific and uplifting; you get a real sense of the hardships they endure and the growing friendship between them as they continue their journey. There have been questions as to the authenticity of the story, but I?d suggest you leave that aside and simply immerse yourself in this highly enjoyable, gripping story.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

a good listen even though a fake story

he was let out according to records in 1942 through a amnesty so most likely fiction based on other peoples story

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing true story

Great story, great reading.
It’s hard to imagine how the people in the story kept going when everything was against them and so many things went wrong

Really fascinating and detailed information about how they coped with every single thing and keep going.

Enjoyed hearing about the adventures. Beautifully narrated.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Score will vary if you believe it true or not

Certainly a fascinating read, although the narrator wasn't the greatest.

This is the 'story' of a young Polish prisoner who escaped a Soviet Goulag in 1941 and with 6 others walked 4,000 miles across the Gobi desert and Himalayan mountains. There's a mixture of awe, wonder, sadness and joy as you make your way through the book, but I have perhaps been naive now reading some of the other reviews, where it is talked like fact that some or all of this simply can't be true.

I think if it was known to be true (which now looks unlikely) than it would be a 4, if it's definitely made up then it should really be a 2.

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