Review: "Sky Above Kharkiv" by Serhiy Zhadan

Sky Above Kharkiv by Serhiy Zhadan
Translated by Reilly Costigan-Humes and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler
English translation published May 2023 via Yale University Press
★★★★

Ukrainian flags flutter above the city. Tomorrow, we'll wake up one day closer to our victory.

These are two of the enduring refrains of Zhadan's war diary. Written in the first four months of war, Sky Above Kharkiv offers up a glimpse into a besieged city. Zhadan is a writer, not a fighter, but he and many of his friends stayed as bombs rained down upon the city because, as he says, we have a lot of work to do (loc. 56*). In the months following the Russian invasion, he took daily to Facebook to provide updates as he roamed the city, collecting and delivering supplies and checking in on troops and civilians alike.

Don't forget one thing, my friends. History isn't just being rewritten right now. It's being written in Ukrainian. (March 8, 1:48 p.m.)

This is, again, a war diary: The individual posts were written for publication on Facebook, but not intended for broader distribution. Read with that in mind—many characters show up once and not again, and there is no easy ending, and in fact there is no ending at all. But Zhadan writes with a poet's sensibility (and enduring sky-and-wheat patriotism) even in short posts. The war drones on, but Ukraine continues on as David against Goliath.

To put it simply, I feel fortunate to live in this city. The residents of Kharkiv have shown so much courage, so much strength, and so much humanity over the past few days. I've never seen anything like it anywhere. Everything will be all right, everything will be Ukraine. Ukrainian flags flutter above the city. (March 16, 2:24 p.m.)

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

*I read an ARC, so quotes may not be final.