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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
The writing is stunning...but, man, I feel like so much of it should have been cut.
It's an atmospheric dream of a book with a simmering undercurrent of political unrest flowing below, but it never grabbed me in a way that demanded I finish reading it (which is why I've set it aside and restarted it several times over the past couple of years).
I enjoyed what I actually read much more than what I listened to (I went back and forth between the Kindle and Audible versions)--the reader mispronounced SOOO many of the Ukrainian words (mostly names, cities, and the word "dacha" which showed up a lot and was particularly grating to hear mispronounced).
It's an atmospheric dream of a book with a simmering undercurrent of political unrest flowing below, but it never grabbed me in a way that demanded I finish reading it (which is why I've set it aside and restarted it several times over the past couple of years).
I enjoyed what I actually read much more than what I listened to (I went back and forth between the Kindle and Audible versions)--the reader mispronounced SOOO many of the Ukrainian words (mostly names, cities, and the word "dacha" which showed up a lot and was particularly grating to hear mispronounced).
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I picked this up in an attempt to hear a voice of Ukraine. The Museum of Abandoned Secrets is a long complex novel with many areas of focus, memory and history, feminism and individual identity, the Soviet era and post-Sovietism.
Zabuzhko is very ambitious with this novel and while I didn’t love every page the sum total of the reading experience is very positive. I don’t think this novel is for everyone. It doesn’t quite serve as a historical background to the current war unless you have a good frame of reference to Ukraine’s history. There is a certain opaqueness to historical and even contemporary settings, which works very well within the novel but its not a history of Ukraine in novel form. You do get a sense of Kiev and its importance as well as an unfathomable amounts of buried secrets.
I think this would be a really good second or third book to read about Ukraine. I have a good knowledge of the famine and wwii era and less the further forward we move. While I didn’t struggle to finish the book I did feel like I should have read a history of Ukraine first.
Zabuzhko is very ambitious with this novel and while I didn’t love every page the sum total of the reading experience is very positive. I don’t think this novel is for everyone. It doesn’t quite serve as a historical background to the current war unless you have a good frame of reference to Ukraine’s history. There is a certain opaqueness to historical and even contemporary settings, which works very well within the novel but its not a history of Ukraine in novel form. You do get a sense of Kiev and its importance as well as an unfathomable amounts of buried secrets.
I think this would be a really good second or third book to read about Ukraine. I have a good knowledge of the famine and wwii era and less the further forward we move. While I didn’t struggle to finish the book I did feel like I should have read a history of Ukraine first.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Challenge worth completing
It was a slow book to get into, in the beginning I could not understand what is the structure of this book, how these stories come together, she rambles on and you lose what she was talking about initially, the chapters are very long and there are large parts in parentheses. In the audiobook it is hard to understand these transitions and stories within stories. Though, the actress reading the audiobook does an excellent job.
However, almost half-way through, I started to love it, somehow all the mosaic pieces start to fall into their places, it becomes easier to understand when she has rambled off and to remember which place we are still at. I have got more familiar with the main actors and have started to like them. The dream format almost makes it like a mystery/thriller...
But most of all I love the deep and sharp contemplation not only of the Ukrainian history and its present, but more widely of life, death, love - the big questions.
The highest praise for a book is that you can't stop thinking about it and this is this kind of a book.
It was a slow book to get into, in the beginning I could not understand what is the structure of this book, how these stories come together, she rambles on and you lose what she was talking about initially, the chapters are very long and there are large parts in parentheses. In the audiobook it is hard to understand these transitions and stories within stories. Though, the actress reading the audiobook does an excellent job.
However, almost half-way through, I started to love it, somehow all the mosaic pieces start to fall into their places, it becomes easier to understand when she has rambled off and to remember which place we are still at. I have got more familiar with the main actors and have started to like them. The dream format almost makes it like a mystery/thriller...
But most of all I love the deep and sharp contemplation not only of the Ukrainian history and its present, but more widely of life, death, love - the big questions.
The highest praise for a book is that you can't stop thinking about it and this is this kind of a book.
challenging
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Overall I really enjoyed this book - I think the stream of consciousness style works really well with the kind of story this book is trying to tell (after all, the only way the characters can uncover whatever truth remains is to circle around it like that) and it's a great book for annotating if you enjoy that sort of thing. Some of the ideas and sentences blew me away. On the other hand, there's a lot of really nasty writing about women to get through, and I don't think the final reveal of one character's Jewish heritage worked at all (unbelievable that a modern author would describe a Jewish character as looking as if he had horns!!!!).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Fatphobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Fire/Fire injury
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Почну з того, що далось важче, а саме Зала 2 цей розділ майже тиждень читала, думала покинути, але продовжила, про що абсолютно не шкодую ( мова йде про Владу Матушевич, саме тут ми розуміємо, що таке секрет і чому саме така назва твору).
Те, як пані Оксана описує сцени кохання, це окремий вид мистецтва, особливо сцена Андріян/Рахель. Любовних ліній досить таки багато і ми бачимо якими різними можуть бути відносини Дарина/Андріян на противагу Владі/ Вадиму.
Дуже цікава лінія Павла Івановича народженого здається 48-го року в тюрмі, дівчиною єврейкою, яка завагітніла від Андріяна упівця. Його усиновлює кгбшник, Павло Іванович йде по слідам "батька" і також працює в кгб, після проголошення Незалежності України в СБУ. Будучи вже дорослим він дізнається хто була його мати і як вона померла, будучи в тюрмі на допитах вона згвалтована, повісилась на своїй косі...
Пані Оксана, пише прекрасно, дає можливість перевідкривати українську мову знову і знову. Читання цього роману – це така собі інтелектуальна робота і хотілось би в майбутньому чекати, щось таке ж маштабне, хоча на скільки я знаю пані Забужко хоче зосередитись більше на есеїстиці.
Але, якщо ви тільки починаєте знайомитись із сучасною українською літературою, то можливо б я радила почати з чогось іншого.
Те, як пані Оксана описує сцени кохання, це окремий вид мистецтва, особливо сцена Андріян/Рахель. Любовних ліній досить таки багато і ми бачимо якими різними можуть бути відносини Дарина/Андріян на противагу Владі/ Вадиму.
Дуже цікава лінія Павла Івановича народженого здається 48-го року в тюрмі, дівчиною єврейкою, яка завагітніла від Андріяна упівця. Його усиновлює кгбшник, Павло Іванович йде по слідам "батька" і також працює в кгб, після проголошення Незалежності України в СБУ. Будучи вже дорослим він дізнається хто була його мати і як вона померла, будучи в тюрмі на допитах вона згвалтована, повісилась на своїй косі...
Пані Оксана, пише прекрасно, дає можливість перевідкривати українську мову знову і знову. Читання цього роману – це така собі інтелектуальна робота і хотілось би в майбутньому чекати, щось таке ж маштабне, хоча на скільки я знаю пані Забужко хоче зосередитись більше на есеїстиці.
Але, якщо ви тільки починаєте знайомитись із сучасною українською літературою, то можливо б я радила почати з чогось іншого.