3.5 Stars
The novel has two storylines which are narrated in alternating chapters. In September 1929 in Ukraine, 16-year-old Katya is living happily with her family (Tato, Mama and sister Alina) and falling in love with Pavlo, a neighbour. Then Stalin’s activists arrive to persuade villagers of the advantages of collectivization. From then until July 1934, various of Katya’s relatives are arrested and deported or executed or starved. In 2004 Illinois, 31-year-old Cassie is grieving the death of her husband. Anna, Cassie’s mother, convinces Cassie and her 5-year-old daughter Birdie to move in with Bobby, Cassie’s 92-year-old grandmother, to help care for her. Bobby gives Cassie a journal she kept when she was a young girl; because it is written in Ukrainian, Cassie enlists the help of Nick Koval, a handsome neighbour, to translate it with her. Cassie learns about her grandmother’s experiences during the Holodomor.
Katya’s sections are compelling. They are not an easy read because people suffered in unimaginable ways. If I had not read the non-fiction book Red Famine, I might have thought that some of the events described in the novel are exaggerated and unbelievable.
Cassie’s chapters are much less engrossing. She is in mourning, but compared to Katya and what she endures, Cassie seems so whiny and full of self-pity. Her story has so many characteristics of a Hallmark movie: a dead spouse, a single mom, a perfectly behaving child, and a handsome, single neighbour. Cassie’s chapters do provide a break from Katya’s heart-breaking story, but after a while, I just became impatient.
Part of the problem is that Cassie is irritating because she is so clueless. She studied history in university and mentions trying “for years to interview Bobby for different research papers”; however, when her grandmother didn’t co-operate, she never bothered to research life in Ukraine during the time her grandmother would have lived there? Cassie doesn’t know that Katya is Bobby?! Cassie never heard the Christian name of her grandfather? (And Anna didn’t know her father’s Christian name?!) When Cassie is given Bobby’s journal, she doesn’t seem so anxious to learn what is in it.
There are a number of issues that bothered me. Cassie’s narrative really slows down the novel’s pace. Then, because readers learn Katya’s story before Cassie does, there is needless repetition when she catches up. The present timeline is very predictable; from the moment Nick is introduced, the narrative arc is obvious. Another problem is that secondary characters appear and then disappear; they’re used only to advance the plot and are then dismissed. Olha’s wedding opens Katya’s story, but her fate is never mentioned. Vasyl appears, disappears, and then reappears at a convenient time. Prokyp is another such plot device. Is the sentimental Epilogue really needed? Finally, how many naps do Birdie and Bobby take? To remove them from events, the author has then constantly taking naps.
The theme is clearly stated: “’people can move on from loss. You can still have a life, even when you think there’s nothing left, because there is always something to live for.’” This is the lesson Bobby learned and the lesson she tries to teach her granddaughter.
Despite its literary
weaknesses, this is an important novel because it shows the horrors of the
Holodomor in a more emotionally compelling way than non-fiction might. It also provides a perspective on the
relationship between Russia and Ukraine, and may give one reason why Ukrainians
are fighting so bravely and so determinedly against the Russian invasion.
Note: I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley.
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