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Ukraine Diaries: Dispatches from Kiev Paperback – April 1, 2015

by Andrey Kurkov (Author), Sam Taylor (Translator)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 120 ratings
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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.

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  1. Print length
    272 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Harvill Press
  4. Publication date
    April 1, 2015
  5. Dimensions
    5 x 1 x 8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9781846559471
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1846559471
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Andrey Kurkov graduated from the Kiev Foreign Languages Institute, and worked for some time as a journalist, did his military service as a prison warder in Odessa, then became a writer of screenplays and author of critically acclaimed and popular novels, including the bestselling Death and the Penguin. Kurkov has long been a respected commentator on Ukraine for the world’s media, notably in the UK, France, Germany, and the U.S.

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
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 120 ratings

About the author

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Andrey Kurkov

Andrey Kurkov

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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

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
120 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

ADan
5.0 out of 5 stars A good read
Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2014
Verified Purchase
This 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.
7 people found this helpful
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Abaldess
4.0 out of 5 stars The Ukrainian crisis, seen by the common man
Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2016
Verified Purchase
“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.
4 people found this helpful
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L. S.
5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and insightful
Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2023
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I always enjoy Andrey Kurkov’s writing, so I knew I wanted to read this one, written at such a critical time for Ukraine.
One person found this helpful
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George Delic
5.0 out of 5 stars Event in Ukraine
Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2022
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This 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.
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The Philistines
4.0 out of 5 stars Daily life through an epic struggle.
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2016
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It'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.
2 people found this helpful
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Martin L. Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars Inside look at the struggle in Ukraine.
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2021
Verified Purchase
Very illuminating and personal look at the shocking continuing struggle of the Ukrainian people for independence from Russia.
2 people found this helpful
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Al
5.0 out of 5 stars ... (Ukraine) live streaming I was wondering what it was like at ground zero
Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2016
Verified Purchase
After 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!
2 people found this helpful
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Jeffrey Huntington
5.0 out of 5 stars On-the-spot reporting
Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2014
Verified Purchase
This 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.
9 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Pete K.
5.0 out of 5 stars essential reading
Reviewed in Canada on November 15, 2022
Verified Purchase
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.
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Terry Carr
5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 22, 2022
Verified Purchase
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.
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Josep Bonet
4.0 out of 5 stars Diaries which make history
Reviewed in Germany on September 1, 2014
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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.
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Mac McAleer
4.0 out of 5 stars The prequel to the current situation
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 26, 2022
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These are the diary entries of the author, starting on Thursday 21 November 2013 and ending on Thursday 24 April 2014. They cover the demonstrations and occupation of the Maidan (Independence Square) in Kiev. Throughout this period, the author lived with his young family within walking distance of the Maidan and also at the family’s weekend house in the country at Lazarevka, west of the city. There is an underlying and overt violence during this period and uncertainty about the future of the country. In the south Russia annexed Crimea and in the east Russian-backed separatists were in the ascendant. I found the situations unfamiliar and confusing, although the short Publisher’s Note at the start and the author’s Notes at the end helpful. This book has now become the prequel to the author’s current  Diary of an Invasion: The Russian Invasion of Ukraine .

THE BOOK: The book is mostly diary entries. These are all short, between ½ page and 2 pages long. Background information is provided by the Publisher’s Note at the start and the Notes by the author at the end of the book †.

LOOK INSIDE provides the book’s contents, including a list of the diary dates, the Publisher’s Note and the maps of Ukraine and Kiev that begin the book. It also provides the first eight diary entries, from Thursday 21 November 2013 to Saturday 30 November,

THE FRONT COVER shows a protestor at a barricade at Hrushevskoho Street near Independence (Maidan) Square, February 2014.

_____________________________________________

† THE BOOK

Publisher’s Note (1 page)
Map of Ukraine (across 2 pages)
Map of central Kiev (1 page)
Preface (2 pages)
Diary entries (235 pages)
Afterward (27 June 2014) (5 ½ pages)

Notes
1. Yulia Tymoshenko (2 pages)
. . . Yulia Tymoshenko was a businesswoman and politician, co-leader of the Orange Revolution in 2004 and then prime minister. She ran for president in May 2014, coming second to Petro Poroshenko.
2. Viktor Yushchenko (3 pages)
. . . Viktor Yushchenko was a banker who was appointed prime minster and later became president.
3. Titushky (1 page)
. . . Titushky are people hired by government representatives to intimidate, provoke clashes or carry out violent acts against the regime’s opponents.
4. Holodomor (the Great Famine of 1932-33) (1 ½ pages)
. . . In 2006, the Ukrainian Parliament officially recognised the Holodomor of 1932-33 as a genocide of the Ukrainian people. To this day, Russia refuses to acknowledge the artificial nature of the famine, which it still ascribes to a poor harvest.
5. Western Ukraine (3 pages)
. . . Western Ukraine was part of the USSR for only forty-six years, and it was able to keep its ethnic unity, its language and its enterprising character. The central and eastern regions of Ukraine were part of the Soviet Union as early as 1918.
6. Georgly Gongadze (1 ½ pages)
. . . Gongadze was a journalist and founder of one of the first opposition newspapers on the Internet. He was abducted in September 2000. His body was later found in a forest sixty miles from Kiev.
7. Ruslana (½ page)
. . . The winner of Eurovision in 2005 and active in Euromaiden.
8. Road Control (½ page)
. . . An organisation founded to defend the rights of Ukrainian motorists against illegal police practices.
9. Mikhail Khodorkovsky (½ page)
. . . A Russian oligarch imprisoned by Putin.
10. Stepan Bandera (2 pages)
. . . A Ukrainian nationalist born in 1909.
11. Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (2 pages)
. . . Before the Second World War, UGCC was the largest Church in western Ukraine. After the war the Soviet government actively repressed it.
12. The language question (1 page)
. . . Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian all have the same origin. They began to diverge in the seventeenth century.
13. Yurko Vynnychuk
. . . Yurko Vynnychuk is a famous Ukrainian writer born in 1952 and now living in Lviv.
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D. Edgar
5.0 out of 5 stars A denouement of life in Ukraine before and since 2013.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 13, 2022
Verified Purchase
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.
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