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leannaaker's review
4.0
This was a little dense in places, but overall, I learned a lot from this collection of essays!
spacestationtrustfund's review against another edition
3.0
Peter Pomerantsev, Andriy Kulakov, Volodymyr Yermolenko, Yaroslav Hrytsak, Serhii Plokhy, Yuri Andrukhovych, Andriy Kurkov, Andrij Bondar, Irena Karpa, Haska Shyyan, Larysa Denysenko, Vakhtang Kebuladze, Volodymyr Rafeyenko, Alim Aliev, Ola Hnatiuk, Leonid Finberg, Andriy Portnov, Hanna Shelest
beulah_devaney's review
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
When I started reading this book Putin was still denying any intention to invade Ukraine. By the time I finished reading it he was bombing civilians and hospitals, while claiming Ukraine should not exist as a country.
That context made reading this collection a unique experience. On the one hand it was fascinating to see what the authors got right and what they misjudged about what would happen if Putin invaded Ukraine. On the other hand, it was incredibly sad to see how much they love their country and know what was going to happen to the places they described.
If you're interested in understanding more about Ukraine and Ukrainian people, this is a great book to start. But the start of the book is not a great place to start. Instead, skip to the Stories section and read Ukraine as a Movie by Irena Karpa. Karpa plays the part of the enthusiastic tour guide and takes the reader through all the things they must know and see in Ukraine. It's moving, evocative, funny and wistful at the same time. It feels like Karpa is writing from some time in the future, as if she's about to finish the chapter by venturing into post-war Ukraine. There are lots of other intriguing insights in this book, but that essay stayed with me long after I finished reading.
That context made reading this collection a unique experience. On the one hand it was fascinating to see what the authors got right and what they misjudged about what would happen if Putin invaded Ukraine. On the other hand, it was incredibly sad to see how much they love their country and know what was going to happen to the places they described.
If you're interested in understanding more about Ukraine and Ukrainian people, this is a great book to start. But the start of the book is not a great place to start. Instead, skip to the Stories section and read Ukraine as a Movie by Irena Karpa. Karpa plays the part of the enthusiastic tour guide and takes the reader through all the things they must know and see in Ukraine. It's moving, evocative, funny and wistful at the same time. It feels like Karpa is writing from some time in the future, as if she's about to finish the chapter by venturing into post-war Ukraine. There are lots of other intriguing insights in this book, but that essay stayed with me long after I finished reading.
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