THE THIRTY-SECOND DAY

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

The adventures of a young man named Shura in Russia during the Civil War in 1920 are turned to human and humorous account in this novel with autobiographical antecedents. A jewish set designer, Shura is denounced by a jealous actor, and attempts to escape on a train hidden on a luggage rack. There he meets and makes love to a girl named Zoya, and when after some weeks on this world's most capacious luggage rack, they arrive in Kiev, they marry over the family's objections. Shura does not elude imprisonment, however. Again denounced, he is incarcerated for thirty-one days in which he watches and waits as his cellmates go forth one after another to face the firing squad. The long wait is lightened by the stories of his fellow inmates and a secretly conducted in-prison wedding; at the end, he is released. To this story Victor Trivas brings his own experience as the inmate of the Military Cheka prison before escaping Communist Russia; Charles O'Neal contributes his as actor, producer and screen playwright. The result is a professionally brisk tale with valid background and more value as entertainment than one might ordinarily expect from this subterranean sphere.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1964

Categories: FICTION