Diary of an Invasion

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Surprisingly perhaps to a British audience, he is not an unalloyed supporter of Zelensky, whose leadership has won worldwide praise, drawing comparisons to Winston Churchill. Although he does believe the president has proved himself under fire. Kurkov is best known for his 1996 novel Death and the Penguin, a book that has been translated into more than 30 languages. When the war began, he was hard at work on a new novel, but he hasn’t touched it since. At first, he was too distracted and he missed his library, left behind in Kyiv. Then he started writing his diary, the phone began ringing and he found himself too busy being a voice for Ukraine out in the world: “It’s a big responsibility. I wish there were more like me.” But there are also, he knows, things he can say that might sound hollow if they came from a non-Ukrainian. Take culture. He believes that it is never more important than in a time of war, offering as evidence for this the fact that no sooner had the conflict started than Kyiv’s metro platforms were being used as free cinemas. “People cannot live without it,” he says. “It gives meaning to a person’s life. It explains to a person who he or she is and where he or she belongs.” One of the most important Ukrainian voices throughout the Russian invasion, the author of Death and the Penguin and Grey Bees collects his searing dispatches from the heart of Kyiv.

Diary of an Invasion by Andrey Kurkov review — Ukraine’s

When we became refugees, we left all our books in Kyiv. Now, since my first wartime trip into Europe, I have some books again – gifts from my English publisher. I’m wondering when I will be able to take those books home and add them to my library. Kurkov was born in small town of Budogoszcz, Russia on April 23, 1961. When Kurkov was young, his family moved to Kyiv, Ukraine. In 1983 Kurkov graduated Kyiv Pedagogical Academy of Foreign Languages and later also completed a Japanese translation training. Kurkov remains grateful for British support from No 10 down. "I was in Banbury (Oxon), and I talked to a British-Polish lady and her English partner who set up a humanitarian hub in the defunct Debenhams to collect help and are running lorries to Ukraine," he adds. As for a possible coup, he adds: "Putin is from the KGB, he is very well protected. He has made the two Russian secret services - the FSB and GRU, the Army intelligence service - fight each other, the typical behaviour of a dictator. The truth is, nobody's happy there. In reality they have already lost the war. They can still destroy Ukraine, but the war is lost."

Summary

For many people, history has long ceased to be a science and has become part of literature. It is edited just as a novel is edited before it is published. Something is added, something thrown out, something is changed. Some concepts are polished and smoothed, some ideas are made more prominent while others are played down. As a result of this editing, instead of comprising familiar past events, a new "formula" arises and the significance of the events is altered, as is their influence on events today. Certain politicians are very fond of commissioning new editions of history so that the history better fits their ideology and their ideological discourse." What about the part played by Europe? President Zelenskiy’s wife has told us that inflation and rising gas bills are a small price to pay if they mean freedom for Ukraine. “The role of Europe isn’t crucial, but it’s almost crucial,” he says. He notes that France and Germany have not yet delivered the military help they promised (though pressure is now mounting on Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor). “Without Britain and America, we wouldn’t be where we are.” The last time he was in the UK, Ukrainian flags were everywhere; this time, there are far fewer around. “I hope people aren’t going to start displaying Russian flags as they worry about their bills,” he says, with a smile. The west should remember that Russian agents are good at stirring dissent favourable to their country: “Yesterday, 70,000 pro-Russia demonstrators were on the streets in Prague.”

Diary of an Invasion | The Spectator Andrey Kurkov: Diary of an Invasion | The Spectator

Gives a detailed and original perspective of the invasion. Nice story telling with attributes of detail, crisp and truth. The author has never sounded like having a biased view but having been going through the war, indeed brings out the negativity as a human and that reflects in the story telling. We have a small garden and we hope that we can plant potatoes and carrots for ourselves. For us it is a hobby, but what kind of hobby can you have during a war? If the Ukrainian army manages to drive the Russian military away from our region, we will try to return to Lazarevka, to live a normal life again. Although the term "normal life" now seems but a myth, an illusion. In actuality, there can be no normal life for my generation now. Every war leaves a deep wound in the soul of a person. It remains a part of life even when the war itself has ended. I have the feeling that the war is now inside me. It is like knowing that you live with a tumour that cannot be removed. You cannot get away from the war. It has become a chronic, incurable disease. It can kill, or it can simply remain in the body and in the head, regularly reminding you of its presence, like a disease of the spine. I fear I will carry this war with me even if my wife and I some day go on holiday – to Montenegro or Turkey, as we once did." Kurkov - who knows 10 writers fighting in the front lines - can recall the Soviet Union but says that for the latest generation of Westward-looking young Ukrainians, Russia is as distant as Poland or the Czech Republic. In fact, we did not really think much about what to take with us. We thought that we would go to the village, not a great distance from Kyiv, and would return quite soon. I think this is always the case at the start of a war. 24 March 2022A week goes by, and all the news is suddenly of the miles and miles of territory Ukraine has liberated in the east, and of the Russian army’s hurried departure. So I send him a message, and a couple of hours later – he was finishing off his column for a Norwegian newspaper – he calls me from somewhere in Germany. Even by his standards – Kurkov has a smile that could light Saint Sophia Cathedral – he sounds happy. “I’m very excited,” he says. Recently a strong wind of up to 70 k.p.h. has been blowing across Ukraine. A strong wind usually changes the weather and cuts off electricity simply by breaking the power cables. No electricity supply usually means a break in communication with the outside world - no Wi-Fi or T.V. and no way to charge a mobile telephone. All that remains is a candle and a book, just like two hundred years ago. As was the case then, a candle is more important than a book. And cheaper! When the electricity went off that night in hundreds of villages because of the wind, tens, if not hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians burrowed into the drawers of their tables and sideboards looking for candles. Everyone's world was reduced to the space that can be illuminated by a candle. Forced romance won out over high-tech reality." He is probably the number one foreign personality of the year. He's appreciated, he's loved," explains Kurkov. "When he resigned there were lots of jokes on Ukrainian Facebook saying we should ask Boris to come and be our Prime Minister.