What is the author's style in Kolyma Tales by Varlam Shalamov?

The stories of Shalamov are written originally in Russian and translated by John Glad. The descriptions in most stories seem to be autobiographical, although since this is fiction, liberties can be taken to make each story more interesting and to the point. The language is fairly simple and there is every reason to believe that the translation into English is effective. The stories are not edited by the author, due to his position as a Soviet dissident who had his stories smuggled out of the former Soviet Union. One challenge for the reader is to get acquainted with words describing the local Siberian conditions and the plant life of the area. These words include taiga, the tea drink, Chifir, dwarf cedar and permafrost, and describe conditions under short summers and long cold winters.