Genres
Description
"Out of the impoverished coal regions of Ukraine known as the Donbass, where Russian secret military intervention coexists with banditry and insurgency, the women of Yevgenia Belorusets's captivating collection of stories emerge from the ruins of a war, still being waged on and off, ever since the 2014 Revolution of Dignity. Through a series of unexpected encounters, we are pulled into the ordinary lives of these anonymous women: a florist, a cosmetologist, card players, readers of horoscopes, the unemployed, and a witch who catches newborns with a mitt. One refugee tries unsuccessfully to leave her broken umbrella behind as if it were a sick relative; a private caregiver in a disputed zone saves her elderly charge from the angel of death; a woman sits down on International Women's Day and can no longer stand up; a soldier decides to marry war. Belorusets threads these tales of ebullient survival with a mix of humor, verisimilitude, the undramatic, and a profound Gogolian irony. She also weaves in twenty-three photographs that, in lyrical and historical counterpoint, form their own remarkable visual narrative"--… (more)
Publication
Media reviews
The title is ironic: far from having any "lucky breaks", Belorusets's women are disillusioned, moving between towns and cities with scant economic opportunity. And in some stories, they are abruptly erased – a florist disappears leaving no trace, her shop turned into a warehouse for propaganda materials, her house destroyed, her regular customers having left Donetsk "long ago". In vignettes no longer than a few pages, Belorusets recounts stories of women existing in the margins.
User reviews
The translator's note at the end was so helpful in establishing context for the author and this work, for writing in Russian vs. Ukrainian, etc.
I got so much more than I expected here, this was wonderful.