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The Ukrainian and Russian Notebooks
The Ukrainian and Russian Notebooks: Life and Death Under Soviet Rule | Igort
12 posts | 6 read | 16 to read
Written and illustrated by an award-winning artist and translated into English for the first time, Igorts The Ukrainian and Russian Notebooks is a collection of two harrowing works of graphic nonfiction about life under Russian foreign rule. After spending two years in Ukraine and Russia, collecting the stories of the survivors and witnesses to Soviet rule, masterful Italian graphic novelist Igort was compelled to illuminate two shadowy moments in recent history: the Ukraine famine and the assassination of a Russian journalist. Now he brings those stories to new life with in-depth reporting and deep compassion. In The Russian Notebooks, Igort investigates the murder of award-winning journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkoyskaya. Anna spoke out frequently against the Second Chechen War, criticizing Vladimir Putin. For her work, she was detained, poisoned, and ultimately murdered. Igort follows in her tracks, detailing Annas assassination and the stories of abuse, murder, abduction, and torture that Russia was so desperate to censor. In The Ukrainian Notebooks, Igort reaches further back in history and illustrates the events of the 1932 Holodomor. Little known outside of the Ukraine, the Holodomor was a government-sanctioned famine, a peacetime atrocity during Stalins rule that killed anywhere from 1.8 to twelve million ethnic Ukrainians. Told through interviews with the people who lived through it, Igort paints a harrowing picture of hunger and cruelty under Soviet rule. With elegant brush strokes and a stark color palette, Igort has transcribed the words and emotions of his subjects, revealing their intelligence, humanity, and honestyand exposing the secret world of the former USSR.
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ellarebee
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Pickpick

This is a brutal, horrific, and necessary read, especially with the war, atrocities, and crimes the Russian government and its military are inflicting on its own people and the Ukraine. Putin and his ilk should have been tried for war crimes years ago. May he receive an ignoble, anonymous death, which is still not nearly fitting enough for the lives he‘s destroyed.

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Dilara
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Possibly the most depressing graphic work I‘ll ever read, about - among other things - the great famine in Ukraine in the thirties. I tried to photograph a page that did not show corpses or famelic people.
#ukraine

jlhammar Depressing for sure, but so good. I‘m still haunted by many of those images. One of the best works of graphic nonfiction I‘ve ever read. 3y
Dilara @jlhammar It's definitely more poignant than a few lines in a school book! 3y
18 likes2 comments
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jlhammar
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Pickpick

Pulled this one off the shelf for a reread given current events. Outstanding graphic nonfiction about life in Ukraine under Russian foreign rule. Filled with stories of survivors and witnesses. Harrowing with haunting illustrations.

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AllisonMP
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Pickpick

Powerful, human, and immediately relevant. The interplay of text and art made this newcomer to the genre understand what “graphic” really can mean.

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Dewthedo17
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I've always had a hard time reading and discussing early/mid 20th Century world history, it makes me angry and sick. This book is no different, I keep having to take breaks.

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TelevisionNeighbor
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Post breakfast reading.

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Chessa
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I was sort of tickled to find that all the translated books that I've read this year have been graphic novels - not intentional, but kind of funny! If you'd like your heart to be broken over and over AND learn some history you might have missed (I certainly learned a ton), definitely check out The Ukrainian and Russian Notebooks. Very powerful. #somethingforsept #translatedbooks #booksintranslation

Eyelit Awesome! Now I have 3 more books to add to my tbr! (I've already read blue and I'm waiting for Aya to come in at my library) 😄 8y
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Ellen_C
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Pickpick

Graphic novels can be a great way to introduce yourself (or your middle/high schooler) to issues in modern history. Igort tackles the great famine in Ukraine, Chechnya and the assassination of a political reporter in Moscow. http://cannonballread.com/2016/06/when-graphic-novels-meet-modern-history/

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Ellen_C
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Arrived today! I'm looking forward to reading this.

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BookishTrish
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Jellybeanbon Worth a read? 8y
BookishTrish Most definitely 8y
10 likes2 comments
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BookishTrish
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Igort spent two years in Russia and the Ukraine collecting stories about life under Soviet rule.

9 likes1 stack add