Ratushinskaya, ther very accomplished poet and former Soviet exile, has produced here one of the most rspectable and well arranged books of all time. I expect it will go down as one of the most prominent and exceptional gifts of memoir for the entirety ofthe twentieth century. Unjustifiably charged in 1983 for "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda" (whatever that may actually mean is obviously conjectural)for her stance on human rights and opposition to persecution of personal religious freedom and conviction, Ratushinskaya was imprisoned with a sentence of seven years, four of which were filled. Her memoir here attests to a type of courage seldom seen in any era and exceed the sometimes absurd limitations imposed by politicoes as well, the genre of writing of such an ordeal. This book, along with the follow up ("In the Beginning") are highly impressionable, admirable and an answer to anyone who ever thought either one respected for their insights or convictions seldom put to paper such depth and maturity. I haveenormous repsect for her and can highly recommend to anyone this book.

I found the novel not only to be beautifully written and inspiring but also very educational. It describes what commonly happened in the Soviet Union to people like Irina Ratushinskaya. It is hard to believe that life in prison can be filled with hope, friendship and such morality. The novel is a testament to the stregnth of a human spirit.

I started reading this book after finding it in my gramma's book shelf. I'm not a big book reader, but I couldn't stop reading this. It really shows the hardships of prison. Each page shows compassion, and strength, the depth and detail makes my heart go out to the women in the story. This novel left me in tears. It is one of the best novels ever written. Ratushinskaya is a wonderful writter.

Irina Ratushinskaya is a Russian poet/writer who became a political prisoner in the Soviet Union due to her dissident activities. I happened to come across another book of hers, "A Tale of Three Heads" and fell in love with it, and so I was interested in finding something else by her to read.

Whereas the book "Grey is the Color of Hope" is about her experiences in prison, most of this book is about Ratushinskaya's life before she was arrested. She talks about growing up in Odessa, and about the life of her husband when he was younger, how he worked to overcome difficulties walking, and how he loved making fire. Although religion, being forbidden under the Soviets, did not play a large part in their lives growing up, instilled in both of them was a thirst for the truth, and a sense of decency and justice -- things which, as they got older, they saw the Soviets try to do away with as well. (Of course Lenin was a genius in physics!)

For these reasons, they had to decide to play along with this system or to try to resist it - they chose to resist. Coming together with others of like mind, they hoped to help circulate forbidden texts, such as those of Solzhenytsin, to do anything to loosen the grip the Soviets had on the minds of the people. Ratushinskaya is a poet herself, and her poetry was also circulated; one of the reasons that she served much more time in prison as her husband.

She did survive, and after her release she and her husband were forced to flee to England.

This book, however, is a well-written chronicle of what will bring a person (or in this case two) to try to fight against a tyranny that they have almost no hope of toppling, and yet they struggle on anyway.