Reviews

Ein sehr berührendes Buch, über ein Thema, das in Europa viel zu sehr verschwiegen wurde. Beinahe unheimlich erzählt Kurkov über den schon lange andauernden Krieg im Donbass und wie erst die Abwesenheit von Kriegsgeräuschen den Bienenzüchter Sergejitsch beunruhigt.

mrdixon95's review

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dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

ginavulpes's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.25

ethandhko's review against another edition

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3.0

Didn't finish this book because it got too boring for me. Story dragged out for too long and I lost interest. Maybe it was because I read this book for a class. I felt like it did a great job of showing different sides of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Want to finish this someday but I read 80% of it so I'm laying it down as read for now.

kristra's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

leof555's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Content Warnings

tomaxhull's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Slow-paced, but always interesting, with a dry understated wit and some lovely turns of phrase in the translation. It takes a while to work out where (if anywhere) this story is going, but you do feel at ease matching the pace of Kurkov's placid protagonist and the small happenings of his life. The book nicely skirts painting a picture of war on some overwrought grander scale, there are no daring heroes or awful villains; it stays within the lives of real people, and the skilful metaphor it's building towards only emerges when it's earned its place.

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