The Orphanage by Serhiy Zhadan

The Orphanage by Serhiy Zhadan is a story that takes place over 3 days. It was recommended to me and I am very happy that I read it. It shows a story of civilians struggling with the war going on in Ukraine. It is about the eastern parts and the book was written and published before the full-scale invasion of February 2022.

The story of the brutal landscape, the ideas of language, “ours” vs “yours”, intimacy and privacy, family relations, human relations, are all a part of the story. The plot is simple, Pasha, who is a Ukrainian language teacher in his 30s is going to the orphanage where his nephew lives, now in the occupied territory, to get him. Even the idea of the orphanage is much more complex than it seems in the beginning.

The book is so well written. The tempo, the characters, the future, the soldiers, the descriptions, everything is engaging and interesting. I highly recommend this book.

The Orphanage by Serhiy Zhadan

Details about the picture: –
My rating: 5/5 Stars
Would I recommend it: yes
Published by: Yale University Press
Year it was published: 2021 (first published in 2017)
Format: e-book
Genre(s): Fiction
Pages: 338

About the author: Serhiy Zhadan was born on 23 August 1974 in Starobilsk, Luhansk region, Ukraine. He is a contemporary Ukrainian novelist, writer, essayist, poet, translator, musician, and public figure. Among his most notable works are novels Depeche Mode (2004), Anarchy in the UKR (2005), Voroshilovgrad (2010) and Orphanage (2017). He also wrote a collection of short stories and poems Mesopotamia (2014).
He recently published Arabesques, a series of 12 stories. He is raising funds for the military in his tour throughout Ukraine, in promoting the book.
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