A culture fix. Ukrainian books — in English — for a literary deep-dive
Ukraine’s Eurovision win this year is a great example of What the world needs to do with Russia. One answer is to support Ukrainian culture and arts.
Why not explore some Ukrainian literature for a start? Unlike Twitter, The Economist 1843 Magazine, or even The New Yorker, a book is rich in nuance and in context. The latter is in short supply in the Western discourse on events shaping the current Russia-Ukraine war. Books offer a remedy to that.
I’m not just offering a list of “Ten Ukrainian books you must read”, and that is for two reasons. One is context (I prefer full immersions over checklists). Another is my personal rule — to only recommend a book if I’ve read it myself. But read on — the list is there, in the end.
My story of leaving — and coming back to — Ukrainian books
Some weeks before the war, I had a “Zoom coffee” with my best friend from Ukraine. “I’ve had a tough time concentrating on work lately. All these war rumors have been messing with my head.” — “What do you do about that?” — “I read. I’ve read more about Ukrainian history than ever before. Especially about the aftermath of Maidan [2013/14] and the Russian invasion[of 2014].”
To me, that conversation was a wake-up call. I used to read a lot in Ukrainian — not so much lately, with my English-only focus on non-fiction. In my teenage years, I would go to the Lviv Book Forum every year, stocking up on physical copies of Zabuzhko, Prokhasko, Vynnychuk, Deresh and more.
Lately, however, my reading was always on Kindle, always pragmatic, always in search of a specific answer — on work, life, love — you know the kind I’m talking about. I lived a life of a comfortable Ukrainian abroad — not unlike my friends from France, Spain, Chile, US, Korea or Belarus. Ukrainian economic questions I addressed through the Economist. Ukrainian life questions — through my parents’ experience. Ukrainian literature lived quietly in my FB feed: I follow a few writers I respect.
I do not own physical books (I move too often to carry them around), with the exception of these two (in Ukrainian). After a wake-up coffee from my friend, one of those books (by Oksana Zabuzhko) became my daily read. As the war started, I was half-way through, and amazed at how precise Zabuzhko’s essays [from 2014–16] were in describing the cultural undercurrents leading to the war.
I’ve since looked up more Ukrainian books I could load onto my Kindle. My pragmatic questions on economics, psychology, and life, — have given way to The Question. Ukrainian history and culture, fiction and non-fiction, philosophy and literature — I’m after it all, going backwards from modernity and to the past. Reading history is not an indulgence anymore, but a matter of survival. Literary discourse is not an exercise in abstract thinking, but an operations manual for nation-building.
Best Ukrainian books to understand Ukraine
I’ve promised before to compile a book list for my foreign friends. I’ve since had to compromise on my hard rule of only recommending books I read myself. One or two of the below I haven’t read, but plan to.
These are Ukrainian books with English translations, not an exhaustive review of what you can read in Ukrainian. I do not earn a commission from the links below.
This book is first on my list, because it’s very recent (the English edition is from April 19th, 2022). I haven’t read it yet, but when I do, I’ll be looking to better understand Ukraine’s East. It enters my list through Bohdana Neborak, an editor at The Ukrainians (see her Twitter thread for more book recommendations).
2. Ukraine Diaries : Dispatches From Kiev (by Andrei Kurkov)
I’ve learned about Andrei Kurkov from his articles for The Economist. I’m now reading the 2019 Ukrainian edition of “Diaries” (i.e., “Війна” ). The English edition (from 2015) is shorter and covers Kurkov’s diary entries from 2013–14. It’s a no-frills account of the the Revolution of Dignity, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014.
Kurkov is also the author of the well-acclaimed “Grey Bees” and “Death and the Penguin”.
3. The Museum of Abandoned Secrets (by Oksana Zabuzhko)
Oksana Zabuzhko’s “The Museum of Abandoned Secrets” is one of my all-time favorites. I read this book years ago (on my Kindle, in Ukrainian), and the storyline kept me in its grip from start to finish. Back then, I didn’t think about all the subtle meanings, historical sub-plots, and allusions to modern politics and culture. I must re-read this book, with an eye out for more subtle layers of meaning (of which this book has plenty!).
From my earlier reads of Zabuzhko, I also recommend “Fieldwork in Ukrainian Sex” and “Your Ad Could Go Here”. What I read more recently was her collection of essays from 2014-16 (“І знову я влізаю в танк”, in Ukrainian). Some of them appeared in English, German, Polish etc. in a variety of foreign outlets. Check out her bibliography here.
4. Sweet Darusya (by Maria Matios)
Andrei Kurkov calls this book “the best contemporary Ukrainian novel since 1991”. As a teenager I “stole” a copy from my parents’ bookshelf —its chief attraction lied in that “I was too young to understand it”. The book turned out less scandalous than I expected, but definitely worth another read (now that “too young” is not an issue, eh..) .
5. The UnSimple (by Taras Prokhasko)
I still remember the time I got this book —hidden within a thick tome of stories (“БоТакЄ”). The tome was a New Year’s present from a friend of mine. Back in those days, New Year’s presents were a belated version of St Nicholas Day gifts (we don’t exchange presents for Christmas or New Year’s in Ukraine). Back in those days, me and friends went skiing in the Carpathians every winter, and spent every Christmas with the family at home. Coincidentally, to me, those days came to an end in 2014. But the book did travel with me for a few more years, until I found it futile to burden myself with paperback books altogether.
6. The Forest Song (by Lesya Ukrainka)
“No, I’m alive — my heart is full of something that will never die!” — Mavka, the heroine of this play in three acts, — is my own prototype of everything that is unearthly, soulful, poetic, free, and true. I never read the English translation — I hope it’s worth the read (the original — Ukrainian version — is divine!).
7. The Hunters and the Hunted (by Ivan Bahriany)
My favorite adventure novel in Ukrainian. In high school, I re-read it so many times I could recite some bits of dialogue from memory. It takes place in Siberia, where many Ukrainians were sent to labor camps during the Stalin terror. Now take this, and transform it into an action-packed story of adventure, bravery, and love. The novel, like its heroes, managed to escape the Soviets, as Bahriany completely restored the text from memory after leaving Ukraine. It’s also worth checking out his pamphlet Why I am not going back to the Soviet Union.
8. Voroshilovgrad (by Serhiy Zhadan)
I remember listening to this novel as an audiobook the summer before finishing high school. Somewhat bewildered, and somewhat taken aback — I don’t know if I was ready to hear what I heard. For more context on this book — and its author (whom I follow on Facebook for his updates from Kharkiv) — check this thread by Bohdana Neborak.
9. The Moscoviad (Yuri Andrukhovych)
I vaguely remember The Moscoviad as yet another audio-book from that summer before 11th grade. It was read by the author — I liked Andrukhovych’s voice, even if the content of the book was too brutal for my ears. Still, it might be worth returning to. After all, the book is set is Moscow. Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer, as they say.
10. The Gates of Europe. A History of Ukraine (by Serhii Plokhy)
Serhii Plokhy is a Harvard-based Ukrainian historian, and a pretty good writer (4.2 is an A+ on the Goodreads GPA scale, right?). In short, this is my go-to when I have to recommend a qualified take on the History of Ukraine.
This concludes my list. There’s a lot I left out (by necessity or by ignorance — do not judge me harshly!), but you can add suggestions in the comments. Still, for reference, you can also check out:
- This list by UkraineWorld.
- This list by Bohdana Neborak (as a Twitter thread)
- This list by The Economist
- This one by the Financial Times
Happy reading!
