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Indlæser... I Will Die in a Foreign Landaf Kalani Pickhart
Indlæser...
Bliv medlem af LibraryThing for at finde ud af, om du vil kunne lide denne bog. Der er ingen diskussionstråde på Snak om denne bog. This is an engaging and involving book, set in Ukraine during the 2013-2014 period following protests at Euromaidan, Kyiv after the then President refused to sign an association agreement with the European Union. It presents as something of a scrapbook. The author follows four lives - that of Katya, an American doctor of Ukrainian heritage; Aleksandr, a musician haunted by his KGB past; Misha, whose wife dies of radiation poisoning after Chernobyl; and tough Slava, whose mother sold her into sex-slavery. As the layers of their lives unfold, we realise how connected they are in this time of brutality. Actual newspaper accounts, Ukrainian folksongs are dropped into the non-linear narrative, from which Ukraine and its troubled history emerges as the main protagonist. Pickhart has taken an immense subject. She's humanised it, emphasised its tragedy in a sweeping story which will remain with me as the war in Ukraine continues to dominate our headlines. ( ) What to say about this unique historical fiction of Ukraine in the 2013-14 timeframe? It was certainly written by a creative passionate lover of the Ukrainian people. I think it must resonate greatly with Ukrainian people who know and love their country. For me, who has only basic knowledge of Ukraine and it's history, it was not an easy book to read. It seemed disjointed and took much perseverance to finish. The characters were interesting, but it took me over half the book before I related to them as it skips around so much that I would loose track of people and have to try to remember who they were and what the relationships were. This period seems like a microcosm of what began in February 2022. Should Putin have read this book maybe he would have understood that these people are passionate and willing to die for their country and will not be conquered easily if at all. With any luck this ignorance and his egotism, nepotism, and tyranny will destroy him and those who follow him without thinking or reasoning before he obliterates as much of Ukraine as possible. This book certainly contributes to the world's resolve to resist and defend Ukraine's sovereignty by helping us understand the people. Pickhart brings home the struggle and devastation of the Ukrainian people over decades, focusing on the Euromaidan protests that mobilized thousands to fight against war and oppression. It was a bit difficult to follow at times, trying to keep names and times straight, but I understood enough to have my heart break for the people of Ukraine. "Kalani Pickhart's timely debut novel, I Will Die In a Foreign Land, is about the 2014 Ukrainian revolution which provided a pretense for Russia to annex Crimea. The story follows the experiences of several characters whose lives intersect as the country's political situation deteriorates. There's a Ukrainian-American doctor, an old KGB spy, a former mine worker, and others, and these episodes are interspersed with folk songs, news reports and historical notes. The effect—kaleidoscopic but never confusing—provides an intimate sense of a country convulsing, mourning, and somehow surviving." ingen anmeldelser | tilføj en anmeldelse
HæderspriserNotable Lists
In 1913, a Russian ballet incited a riot in Paris at the new Théâtre de Champs-Elysées. A century later, in November 2013, thousands of Ukrainian citizens gathered at Independence Square in Kyiv to protest then-President Yanukovych's failure to sign a referendum with the European Union, opting instead to forge a closer alliance with President Vladimir Putin and Russia. The peaceful protests turned violent when military police shot live ammunition into the crowd, killing over a hundred civilians.I Will Die in a Foreign Land follows four individuals over the course of a volatile Ukrainian winter, as their lives are forever changed by the Euromaidan protests. Katya is an 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, who climbs atop a burned-out police bus at Independence Square and plays the piano.While unfolding an especially moving story of quiet beauty and love in a time of terror, I Will Die in a Foreign Land is an ambitious, intimate, and haunting portrait of human perseverance and empathy. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Indlæser... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC-klassificeringVurderingGennemsnit:
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