Review: Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine

Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine by Anne Applebaum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a feat of research and writing about Ukraine in the 1930s, and how Stalin's policies intentionally targeted Ukrainians, resulting in widespread famine and what many consider genocide. From collectivization to dekulakization, the author shows how Ukraine was stripped of its resources and culture and then punished further for not being able to provide more. I was shocked this time period is still highly debated/contested - largely by the Russian government - well shocked might be too strong of a word, after all Putin borrows from Stalin in categorizing Ukrainians as Nazis in order to justify his decisions.

For my tastes, there are so many names and so many details that the reading was sometimes a slog. However I don't know how the author could have written it without those details since she has done so well pulling them all together. I just don't read a lot of history.

This is one of the books I selected for the non-fiction quarter of Reading Envy Russia (#readingenvyrussia) - April was month 1 so you can still join in with 2 more months of non-fiction reading to go.

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Review: I Will Die in a Foreign Land

I Will Die in a Foreign Land by Kalani Pickhart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm one of many people who felt drawn to reading more about Ukraine. This novel was already on my radar so I purchased it from Two Dollar Radio.

Publisher summary excerpt:
"[This novel] follows four individuals over the course of a volatile Ukrainian winter, as their lives are forever changed by the Euromaidan protests. Katya is a Ukrainian-American doctor stationed at a makeshift medical clinic in St. Michael’s Monastery; Misha is an engineer originally from Pripyat, who has lived in Kyiv since his wife’s death; Slava is a fiery young activist whose past hardships steel her determination in the face of persecution; and Aleksandr Ivanovich, a former KGB agent, climbs atop a burned-out police bus at Independence Square and plays the piano."

Set in 2013-14 but also rooted in the complexities of the past (from the mythical Rus to Cossacks to Chernobyl), alternating viewpoints include the four characters plus news articles, cassette recordings, songs, and more. It's very readable and brings the reader into the intimacy of the recent past for Ukraine. Honestly I was trying to read non-fiction about Stalin's war on Ukraine and was drawn back into fiction instead.

The author is not Ukrainian but is donating all proceeds of the book to relief orgs benefitting Ukrainian people at the time of this review.

One friend said they couldn't tell if I liked the book and my feelings are mixed - it has many techniques I like, the rotating perspectives, the various format types, the short chapters, the tidbits that send me off on research projects, for instance listening to the bells of St. Michaels in 2013 on YouTube (only the second time they were played as part of a conflict, the previous time was with the Mongols!) But it feels weird to say I liked a novel about a previous conflict when the country it's about it in such turmoil now with people dead in the street. It even took me a while to read because I struggled to return to a setting that doesn't even exist as it's described because of the Russian invasion, and the book is set only 8 years in the past. I can be quite the emotional reader sometimes.

This book has come up a few times on the Reading Envy podcast this year, and will also be mentioned on episode 245.

The author is not from Ukraine but is a bit of a subject matter expert, and also published this list of suggested books to read to learn more.

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A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka

 

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Around the World: 41 of 52 (Ukraine)

I had tracked a copy of this book down because it would fulfill the Ukraine component for my Around the World challenge as well as having been shortlisted for the Orange Prize.

Then I read a few fairly negative reviews, and it got pushed aside in Orange January. Then I decided to speed date it along with the other Orange Prize nominees that I had in the house, and it won!

I like the snappy dialogue, the quick storytelling, and the frustrating characters. Nadia and Vera are children of Ukrainian immigrants to the UK, actually immigrants themselves (although Nadia may have been born in the UK, I'm not clear). Their mother has passed away and their mid-80s father has become engaged to a Ukrainian who they suspect is after his money.

And he really doesn't have very much money. He is fascinated by "...the relationship between mechanical engineering as applied to tractors and the psychological engineering advocated by Stalin, as applied to the human soul," and is working on a book. Through his book, you get his view of Ukraine, of war and of politics, and through the stories he and Nadia's older sister tell, you learn quite a bit about their early history.

Through the contrast between Valentina and the family, you also see the misconceptions both countries have of each other, and the changes between various sociopolitical systems in the Ukraine.

I'm not sure it is "extremely funny" or "mad and hilarious" as advertised on the cover blurbs, in fact that is the issue most reviewers seem to have - false advertising. As a story about the complexities of first-generation immigrants, and the frustrations of blending families, it is a good read.