Through the Eyes of Ukrainian villagers 🌻
Where does Ukraine find such courage and toughness to stand up for months against Russia’s invasion?
I’m no expert on Ukraine, but we can understand a nation’s current behavior better by learning about its past through the eyes (and words) of people who lived through that time.
The Memory Keeper of Kyiv, a recent novel by Erin Litteken, offers a compelling fictionalized story of a Ukrainian family, offering a window on the dealings of Stalin’s Soviet Union (Russia’s name then) with Ukraine in the 20th century (certainly an influence on the events of 2022).
This time-split novel begins in two times and places:
- Wisconsin, 2004: Cassie, a Ukrainian-American, and her young daughter, Birdie, move in with Cassie’s Ukrainian grandmother, Bobby, after Cassie’s husband dies suddenly. Cassie struggles to understand her grandmother’s peculiarities, even as she grieves her husband’s death and faces the challenge of a possible new relationship.
- Ukraine, 1929: Dictator Joseph Stalin begins to create collective farms and control agriculture in the Soviet Union by eliminating kulaks (prosperous peasants). Katya, her family and community try to maintain their lives and values as their situation grows worse by the day.
Characters:
- They’re developed well, each with a unique perspective, strengths, and flaws.
- Their interactions create an engaging story that kept me reading.
- I especially related to Katya, one of the protagonists, who struggled between her desire for justice and her need to stay silent to survive.
Strengths:
The Memory Keeper of Kyiv, Erin Litteken’s debut novel, is a page-turner, providing a vivid portrayal of life in a fictional Ukrainian village around the time of Ukraine’s Holodomor (the Great Famine created by Stalin).
Weakness:
As the granddaughter of a Ukrainian refugee, the author understandably sympathizes with her Ukrainian characters. However, the novel would come across as more balanced if the Russian soldiers and collaborators showed more doubts about their actions, remorse, and perhaps a hint of compassion for their victims.
Content review:
This novel describes horrific cruelties inflicted by Stalin’s soldiers and local collaborators, so I suggest it to mature readers.
I recommend The Memory Keeper of Kyiv to readers who wish to understand this period in Ukraine’s history, and who aren’t put off by descriptions of violence and cruelty.
Reader, can you suggest other books about Ukraine?
