This has reminded me to go back and re-read Solzhenitsyn's "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Day_in_the_Life_of_Ivan_Den...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Denisovich-Penguin-Modern-Class...

http://www.shmoop.com/ivan-denisovich/