In some cultures we are alive as long as our memory is alive, as long as someone i calling our name. The people who live far from their country keep the memories alive telling stories about how they lived, what happened, and who came before.
Souvenirs from Kyiv is a book that must be read now as Ukraine is at risk of being destroyed and its people is suffering under bombs, resisting to an invasion.
This is the memory of those people. I studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the university and I had to sat some exam about European history but Ukraine was always a sort of ghost as a nation.
I know about Crimea as the Crimean War plays a relevant role in the making of my home country, but that was all I knew. I discovered that one of my favorite writer, Bulgakov, is Ukrainian after the start of the war.
This book opened my eyes and let me know what happened during WWII, the horror and the sufferance but also hope and strength.
Six fictionalised accounts of real people who were relatives of the author.
The foreword is a punch in the stomach as the author delivers pride, strength, and the support to the resistance of a country to an invasion.
Strongly recommended.
Many thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine