What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

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► UNSOLVED: One specific book > Non-Fiction (I think) book about a Russian Gulag where the protagonist (a man) works on digging out a frozen mammoth in Siberia, read in the early 2000s

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message 1: by Emma (last edited Mar 05, 2020 09:07AM) (new)

Emma (factandfable) | 10 comments I read a book in the early 2000s which was about a Russian gulag in Siberia where the inmates were digging out a frozen mammoth. I am almost certain it was non-fiction, but I may be wrong on that front. Set during the USSR era (70s or 80s maybe?)

I don't remember anything else about the plot, and I was in my early teens, so I don't think the language was that complicated. I have looked EVERYWHERE and haven't found any books with that particular plot point described in them!


message 3: by Emma (new)

Emma (factandfable) | 10 comments Kris wrote: "A long shot - Mammoth: The Resurrection Of An Ice Age Giant by Richard Stone?"

I don't think so, unfortunately, but thanks! This sounds like a more modern expedition, and the one I was thinking of was definitely set during the USSR era.


message 4: by Mai (new)

Mai | 1280 comments Searching online the only thing I found remotely close was The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956 by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. From the comments about the book it doesn't seem like the kind of book that is read in the early teens but just in case!

These are the comments related to the mammoth I found online:
"In The Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn describes how the zeks ate a frozen mammoth raw before it could be studied."
"Well there is the scene where he describes eating a frozen mammoth corpse. "

I know you didn't mention the zeks (inmates) eating the mammoth... do you remember why they were digging it out in your book? Was it part of the work they had to do at the Gulag?


message 5: by Emma (new)

Emma (factandfable) | 10 comments Mai wrote: "Searching online the only thing I found remotely close was The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956 by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. From the comments about the book it doesn't seem..."

This is interesting - I have looked at this and wondered if it was it, but couldn't find any referenced to mammoths so I thought it wasn't. I'll put it on hold at my library ASAP and see if it really is!


message 6: by Kris (new)

Kris | 55149 comments Mod
Google Books offers a snippet search of The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956 by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Mai's suggestion:

https://books.google.com/books?id=anI...


message 7: by Emma (new)

Emma (factandfable) | 10 comments Kris wrote: "Google Books offers a snippet search of The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956 by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Mai's suggestion:

https://books.google.com/books?id=anI..."


Thanks, but that is only volume one and there are no mammoths. I'll have to see what the next two volumes have.


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