Amazon Prime Free Trial
FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button and confirm your Prime free trial.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited FREE Prime delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
$18.95$18.95
Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com
$14.99$14.99
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Zoom Books Company
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Ukraine Diaries: Dispatches from Kiev Paperback – April 1, 2015
Purchase options and add-ons
An acclaimed novelist offers Ukrainian dispatches from the heart of Kiev
-16°C, sunlight, silence. I drove the children to school, then went to see the revolution. I walked between the tents. Talked with revolutionaries. They were weary today. The air was thick with the smell of old campfires.
Ukraine Diaries is acclaimed writer Andrey Kurkov’s first-hand account of the ongoing crisis in his country. From his flat in Kiev, just 500 yards from Independence Square, Kurkov can smell the burning barricades and hear the sounds of grenades and gunshot. Kurkov’s diaries begin on the first day of the pro-European protests in November, and describe the violent clashes in the Maidan, the impeachment of Yanukovcyh, Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and the separatist uprisings in the east of Ukraine. Going beyond the headlines, they give vivid insight into what it’s like to live through—and try to make sense of—times of intense political unrest.
- Print length272 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarvill Press
- Publication dateApril 1, 2015
- Dimensions5 x 1 x 8 inches
- ISBN-109781846559471
- ISBN-13978-1846559471
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Frequently bought together
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : 1846559472
- Publisher : Harvill Press (April 1, 2015)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 272 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9781846559471
- ISBN-13 : 978-1846559471
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 5 x 1 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,585,443 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,911 in Human Rights (Books)
- #2,877 in European Politics Books
- #45,532 in Memoirs (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Ukrainian author translated into 45 languages. Novels are full of black humour, elements of surrealism, irony and humanism. Most of novels deal with post-Soviet Ukraine, but also with Pre-Soviet and Soviet history. Lives in Kyiv, Ukraine with his British wife Elizabeth and their 3 children. From 2022 learned how to be an IDP and refugee. Back in Kyiv.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book well-written and engaging. It provides a thoughtful, balanced account of events in Kyiv, Ukraine during the Euromaidan revolution. The notes at the end provide useful background on Ukraine history and factions. Readers describe the book as a genuine account of life in Kiev during the crisis.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book engaging and insightful. They describe it as a thoughtful, balanced account of life in Kiev during the crisis. Readers appreciate the personal and genuine perspective on the ongoing struggle.
"...It does not aspire to be systematic. It is a personal, genuine account of life in Kiev during the crisis. It is history seen by the common man...." Read more
"It's well written and a good book. But it is not about the Maidan. It's about living through it...." Read more
"Very illuminating and personal look at the shocking continuing struggle of the Ukrainian people for independence from Russia." Read more
"Very good; that is, a lot better than our Media's establishment reporting! Men go there for a beautiful and loving wife!!" Read more
Customers appreciate the writing quality. They say it's well-written and provides an inside view of Ukraine during a critical time.
"...It is history seen by the common man. And it is superbly written...." Read more
"...’s writing, so I knew I wanted to read this one, written at such a critical time for Ukraine." Read more
"It's well written and a good book. But it is not about the Maidan. It's about living through it...." Read more
"...Well written and definitely gives you a view from the "inside". Amazing people these Ukrainians! Glory To Ukraine!" Read more
Customers find the book provides an inside look at the struggle in Ukraine. They appreciate the notes at the end that provide useful background to the history and factions in the recent past. The book is a personal, genuine account of life in Kiev during the crisis.
"...It does not aspire to be systematic. It is a personal, genuine account of life in Kiev during the crisis. It is history seen by the common man...." Read more
"...The author's style is short and pungent. The notes at the end are useful bakcground to Ukraine history and factions in the recent past that are not..." Read more
"...read, describing the events that took place in Kyiv, Ukraine during the Euromaidan revolution. Highly recommended." Read more
"Inside look at the struggle in Ukraine...." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2014This was a fun and educational read from a writer who lived a couple blocks from the center of action in the Kiev demonstrations earlier this year. It is in diary form and by a man with strong nationalistic feelings, but it so much better information than you can possibly get from reporters. It if nice to get the feeling that you are actually there. My only regret was it did nit go on a couple of mor months - and maybe that is coming.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2016“When nothing in particular happens in the life of a man and his country, the man might believe his existence to be stable and eternal...The man who lives in one of the world's 'hot spots', or simply lives next to an active volcano, has a different view of time.” (loc. 87 Kindle version)
“Ukraine Diaries” shows the “different view of time”. The time is late 2013 and early 2014. Yanukovich refuses to sign the Association Agreement with the EU. Protestors gather in the Maidan and are beaten. Yanukovich flees. Putin takes over Ukraine and unrest spreads through the Donbas. In the meantime life goes on: Kurkov travels to Lithuania for a conference, hands out literary prizes and takes the family on vacation to Crimea.
This is not a scholarly work. It does not delve into history. It does not quote figures, documents or reports. It does not aspire to be systematic. It is a personal, genuine account of life in Kiev during the crisis. It is history seen by the common man. And it is superbly written. Look at how Kurkov explains what the protests were trying to achieve “If everyone accepts the rules, the the poor police officer will find himself bound by them as well. If we don't accept them he will maintain the right to take ice creams for his children from the kiosk without paying for them” (loc. 166, Kindle version)
“Ukraine Diaries” is unique among books on the Ukrainian crisis. I greatly enjoyed it.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2023I always enjoy Andrey Kurkov’s writing, so I knew I wanted to read this one, written at such a critical time for Ukraine.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2022This book is diary entries from the author's time around end of 2013 and start of 2014 when the Maidan protests against Yanukovich's era and shortly before the Russian invasion of the Crimea. The author's style is short and pungent. The notes at the end are useful bakcground to Ukraine history and factions in the recent past that are not will covered in the news cycle. A dark prelude to what has happened there this year.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2016It's well written and a good book. But it is not about the Maidan. It's about living through it. Imagine a cc TV shot of a kitchen while a war rages outside. From that perspective. It is a good book.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2021Very illuminating and personal look at the shocking continuing struggle of the Ukrainian people for independence from Russia.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2016After having watched the EuroMaidan (Ukraine) live streaming I was wondering what it was like at ground zero. Well written and definitely gives you a view from the "inside". Amazing people these Ukrainians! Glory To Ukraine!
- Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2014This is a journalistic treatment of the author's experiences before and during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014. The author is hardly disinterested or impartial, but he writes as a worldly person who has seen a lot of bad news and doesn't get excited easily. How this will all play out, we have yet to learn.
The author is a famous writer of mystery novels, very dark, and in a uniquely Ukrainian stylr.
Top reviews from other countries
- Pete K.Reviewed in Canada on November 15, 2022
5.0 out of 5 stars essential reading
Read this book if you want to get a feel for contemporary Ukrainian politics. The added bonus is coming to feel you also know the author, an ironic yet big-hearted and fiercely engaged citizen, father, and neighbour.
- Terry CarrReviewed in the United Kingdom on July 22, 2022
5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting book
I bought this book after seeing the author interviewed on Hardtalk and listening to his account of the first days of Russia's invasion on R4. This diary pre-dates the current situation and begins 2013/14 giving an interesting account of living in Ukraine at the time of the Maidan protests and the Orange revolution. It also references Russia's annexation of Crimea, all events which foreshadow the full-scale invasion of today. It gave me a basic understanding of the unstable political climate, which eventually led to Zelenskiy's landslide victory and Putin's brutal war on Ukraine. As a personal diary, it also gives an fascinatng insight into the culture and daily lives of Ukranian people.
- Josep BonetReviewed in Germany on September 1, 2014
4.0 out of 5 stars Diaries which make history
Diaries are not particularly easy to read or worse, interesting to read. But these diaries are exciting because they refer to recent history. So recent that the war is still raging in Ukraine. Kurkov is a great writer and describes his feelings and ideas in a very readable way. Not a major book, but a necessary one to understand present day Ukraine, or at least one side of it.
- D. EdgarReviewed in the United Kingdom on May 13, 2022
5.0 out of 5 stars A denouement of life in Ukraine before and since 2013.
Kurkov opens the Pandora's Box of life in the Ukraine during the mass protests of 2013. He explains what factions constitute the forces the Kremlin use to cause fear and chaos.
In his diary account of events nine years past he and for that matter the population generally appear to be living in fear of a Russian invasion.
The horrific nightmare had yet to unfold.
- Lost JohnReviewed in the United Kingdom on February 17, 2015
4.0 out of 5 stars Depressing, but valuable
Andrey Kurkov tells us in the Preface to this book that he has kept a diary for more than 30 years. This 234 page abstract covers just 154 days between 21st November 2013 and 24th April 2014. Kurkov lives within 500 yards of Kiev's Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Independence Square, or simply The Maidan, so his diary naturally contains extensive reference to the increasingly violent and destructive actions and reactions centred on the Maidan and surrounding streets during that period.
Kurkov records that on Sunday 8th December he spent some time in the Maidan and joined in the chanting, calling for the widely-despised Prime Minister, Mykola Azarov, to resign. For the most part, though, he skirts the action as he passes between his home, his office and various other points in the city. Nevertheless, he is extremely well-informed and deeply interested at the political level.
One of his most prescient remarks is, 'This country has never had such a stupid President before, capable of radicalising one of the most tolerant populations in the world!' Not that Kurkov has any admiration either for Victor Yushchenko, the previous President and chief beneficiary of the 2004 Orange Revolution, or for Yulia Timoshenko, the former Prime Minister who, although imprisoned, clung to the hope of succeeding Yanukovich.
I have so far felt that there is an enduring question about Yanukovich's ultimate departure: - Why did he flee when he did (in the early hours of Saturday 22nd February), when an agreement to leave him in office for a further ten months had just been signed? Kurkov helps me towards an answer.
We have known for some time that Yanukovich's packing began on Wednesday 19th, and that many of his associates left Kiev on Thursday 20th. So the realisation that all was over evidently came on Wednesday 19th.
Kurkov reports, 'This night of warfare (Tues 18th - Wed 19th February) has transformed the city centre to ruins.' The Kiev Metro stopped running on Tuesday 18th and was still not running on the 19th. On Tuesday 18th, the Maidanistas set fire to the headquarters of Yanukovich's Party of Regions. The Berkutovsky (thugs used by the government as auxiliary police) invaded the Trades Union building - used by the Maidanistas as a dormitory and a hospital - and set that on fire. The Central Post Office and the Music School were occupied by the Maidanistas on Wednesday 19th. With minute-by-minute rolling headlines reporting events such as those, no wonder if those in power felt their time had come to its end.
Moreover, it is alleged that on the night of Tuesday 18th Yanukovich telephoned Vladimir Putin but failed to win his support. Putin effectively confirmed that (as early as Thursday 20th) when he said that he gave Yanukovich no advice - and that his earlier offer of a multi-billion dollar loan to Ukraine was now withdrawn.
So, on Wednesday 19th Yanukovich knew that for him it really was Game Over. He perhaps didn't know that the infiltration of unidentified Russian troops into Crimea was to begin on Thursday 20th, whilst he was still President and active in Kiev, an overlap of timing that Kurkov points out.
I found the book a depressing read. That is because of the many pointers to the mess that has ensued. Nevertheless, it is a valuable read, and definitely recommended if you want to know more of the background to EuroMaidan and the events that have followed.