A seminal work of twentieth-century literature, Darkness At Noon is a penetrating exploration of the moral danger inherent in a system that is willing to enforce its beliefs by any means necessary.

Average Rating:


Review: 2008-10-09

Fiction is rarely as good as reality
I had recently read Gulag Archipelago which I thought was magnificent. As so many reviews recommended this book by Koestler, I decided to read it. It held my attention, but I did not find it eye-opening. And the rather long and convoluted "justifications of bad behavior" put into the mouth of examiner Ivanov I found artificial and tedious. I guess it would be interesting to a sociologist, which Koestler was. It would have been much more interesting to me to read what Koestler experienced himself, at first embracing Communism and later becoming disenchanted with it. This was the course of the main character's beliefs, but then I find that fiction is never as interesting as the true story. I imagine that Koestler didn't see his secretary put to death because of his refusal to admit his own guilt. If he had he certainly would have been able to write a more poignant description of his conflicted emotions.


Review: 2008-07-03

Novel of Ideas
"Darkness at Noon" is one of those books that stays in your mind long after you put it down. I first read it more than 30 years ago when I was a high school student reading "serious" books for the first time. It just knocked me over. It raised questions about personal morality and the ends of politics that made other authors I was reading at the time (such as Ayn Rand) seem incredibly shallow. I loved it.

Recently I read the book again to see if it was as good as I remembered. It's actually even better. "Darkness at Noon" tells the story of an Old Bolshevik who re-examines his life in the communist party when he is caught up in the purge trials of the 1930s. As such, the book is a great analysis of the pathology and twisted logic that corrupted mid-20th century communism. But it is also a broader exploration of ends-justify-means morality, exposing the traps and contradictions we fall into whenever truth and common decency are thrown overboard in the name of social utility. "Darkness at Noon" easily transcends old controversies about communism. Indeed, in an age when the U.S. government has secret torture camps to fight terrorism, its message has lost none of its power or relevance.

The story is gripping. The writing is superb. The characters are vivid. Dialogues of near-Dostoyevskian intensity alternate with passages of sad introspection and guilty memory. Read it. It may even make you feel 17 again -- and wide open to the impact of great literature. Six stars.

Heck, seven stars....

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