{"product_id":"the-ukraine-9781644212950","title":"The Ukraine","description":"\u003cb\u003eA stunning debut collection of fiction and creative nonfiction-- irreverent and unglorified; loving and tender; uncomfortable and inconvenient--by a Ukrainian writer currently fighting for his country in Kyiv. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Includes the celebrated title story \"The Ukraine,\" which was published in the \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e in 2022. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Ukraine\u003c\/i\u003e is a collection of 26 pieces that deliberately blur the line between nonfiction and fiction, conjuring the essence of a beloved country through its tastes, smells, and sounds, its small towns and big cities, its people and their compassion and indifference, simplicities and complications. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003eIn the title story, Chapeye facetiously plays with the English misuse of the article \"the\" in reference to Ukraine, capturing a country as perceived from the outside, by foreigners. That pseudo-kitsch, often historically shallow, and not-quite-real Ukraine resonates because of its highly engaging and brutally candid snapshots of ordinary lives and typical places.\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003eIn \"One Soul per Home\" an elderly woman laments that the men are dying and the young are leaving for the cities, changing the face of her small town;\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003eIn \"The Unscrupulous Spirit of the Provinces,\" a couple of unspecified gender get stoned and go to church; and in \"False Premises,\" a man romanticizes his younger years working for a Soviet fishing fleet only to reconstruct his nostalgia in the face of Putin's Russia.\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Ukraine\u003c\/i\u003e conveys to readers a place that Chapeye and his countrymen are currently fighting for with their lives. The book features a preface by the author, which he composed on his phone from the front lines.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Seven Stories Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/30\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781644212950\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.81lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/27\/2023\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Artem Chapeye","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43378401444021,"sku":"9781644212950","price":16.11,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_51cdfa92-cb91-4d62-83b4-264f14d490bc.jpg?v=1701753462","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-ukraine-9781644212950","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}