Lucky Breaks

In a novel published in 2022 — though written before the current Russian invasion of Ukraine — Yevgenia Belorusets presents 32 pieces that highlight the lives of women affected by the Russian separatist movement in eastern Ukraine during the 2010s. Each profiles an individual woman, with each portrayal running just a few pages in length. What unifies their separate stories is the common thread of displacement. These women, fleeing the violence in eastern Ukraine, are migrants in their own country. The unnamed narrator of their life stories provides few clues to her own circumstances, but she is clearly a sympathetic ear in documenting their plights.

These women are outsiders experiencing difficulty fitting into their new show more surroundings, with most suffering the effects of post traumatic stress. But the author also presents most as possessing supernatural powers, giving the pieces a fairy tale quality. Considering the current events taking place in Ukraine today, they provide a glimpse into a country struggling to uncouple itself from Russian dominance, and the cost it has extracted from the populace.

While it’s not a straightforward documentary of the country’s current plight, Belorusets provides an insight into the spirit of the country’s present resistance to Russia’s invasion. In this novel, the women she highlights represent the country’s backbone. Even if the odds are stacked against them, their desire for a democratic country and their defiance gives proof to why the Russian troops continue to be stymied in their so-called liberation of Ukraine. show less

I saw this in a bookstore in a display of Ukrainian writers and had to buy it. And I'm glad I did, because it was so, so good. A collection of short stories largely centered in impoverished Ukrainian coal country. This collection also centers women, and the unreality of living in the kinds of covert conflict that has been going on there for so long.

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.