And I was right. Three Years on Fire: The Destruction of Ukraine by Andrey Kurkov is published in the UK by Open Borders Press, an imprint of Orenda Books and can out last Thursday. My thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for the invitation and to The publisher for my review copy.
The Blurb
In this third volume of Andrey Kurkov’s war diaries, Ukraine’s greatest living writer chronicles the third year of the full-scale invasion from his home in Kyiv and from journeys all over the country – capturing moments of horror, resilience, absurdity and grace with unmatched clarity.
Children on a contested border wear hooded bulletproof vests to school; soldiers write haiku; professional clowns go to war; and the mother of a young soldier killed in battle uses his compensation money to create a rehabilitation centre for veterans. Roses bloom across Ukraine in quiet tribute to a florist and soldier killed in Avdiivka, remembered by those who once bought his flowers.
The Dnipro River seems to slow when the first missiles fall, as though nature itself had paused in shock. In Pokrovsk, 7,500 residents refuse to leave a city that no longer exists – their homes obliterated but their will unbroken. A general’s seventeen-year-old pet toad becomes an iconic symbol of defiance. And buried beneath a cherry tree, a murdered writer’s final diary is recovered, a haunting echo of a silenced voice.
From the home front to the trenches, Kurkov captures the rhythms of survival – the quiet rituals, unlikely joys, unexpected humour and appalling costs – in an intimate and astonishing record of national endurance. Three Years on Fire is a luminous act of remembrance, rich with unforgettable detail and human spirit, from a writer whose voice stands witness to everything Ukraine has lost – and everything it refuses to give up.
In this third volume of Andrey Kurkov’s war diaries, Ukraine’s greatest living writer chronicles the third year of the full-scale invasion from his home in Kyiv and from journeys all over the country – capturing moments of horror, resilience, absurdity and grace with unmatched clarity.
Children on a contested border wear hooded bulletproof vests to school; soldiers write haiku; professional clowns go to war; and the mother of a young soldier killed in battle uses his compensation money to create a rehabilitation centre for veterans. Roses bloom across Ukraine in quiet tribute to a florist and soldier killed in Avdiivka, remembered by those who once bought his flowers.
The Dnipro River seems to slow when the first missiles fall, as though nature itself had paused in shock. In Pokrovsk, 7,500 residents refuse to leave a city that no longer exists – their homes obliterated but their will unbroken. A general’s seventeen-year-old pet toad becomes an iconic symbol of defiance. And buried beneath a cherry tree, a murdered writer’s final diary is recovered, a haunting echo of a silenced voice.
From the home front to the trenches, Kurkov captures the rhythms of survival – the quiet rituals, unlikely joys, unexpected humour and appalling costs – in an intimate and astonishing record of national endurance. Three Years on Fire is a luminous act of remembrance, rich with unforgettable detail and human spirit, from a writer whose voice stands witness to everything Ukraine has lost – and everything it refuses to give up.
My Review
I was not aware of this author before reading this book but see he has, at least, one book translated into English, and has also written two previous war diaries, which I would be interested to read. Three Years on Fire covers April 2024 to April 2025, and is presented as you would expect a diary to be. The entries are beautifully written, each discussing a couple of topics or events which are on the author's mind, as his country is being destroyed around him. Andrey Kurkov lives in Kyiv, which hadn't been too badly affected (relatively) by the war but started to get more attacks this year.
This book is so interesting. My only real knowledge of Ukraine and the situation there is from what I've seen on the news, so to read a true account from somebody living with the war as a backdrop has been educational and enlightening. And it's particularly interesting to hear a civilian account - how life is, three years into a war. A war in which thousands have died, millions of homes have been destroyed and millions of Ukrainians have been internally displaced, or have left Ukraine completely.
I made a ton of notes when reading this book, too many to cover all of them but I'll mention some of the things discussed. Some circus professions are deemed exempt from military service, which caused angry backlash on social media. Several well known clowns, however, are on the front line, whilst foreign clowns entertain children in their absence. The war has caused an increase in gambling, and Trump's election has caused an increase in drinking and a decrease in book sales, perhaps giving some indication of the emotions of Ukrainians. Tuareg music became a symbol of rebellion following the ambush of a private Russian military group by Tuareg rebels in Mali. The author recommends trying some Tuareg music - I did, and I would recommend it too. Ukrainians who are able to still to do things that being them joy, aware that those things, or they, might not be here tomorrow. Shopping (there was excitement at Zara reopening in Kyiv), eating out, theatre (there is a poignant story of two empty seats at a new year show in Kyiv), museums and art galleries. Through this I learned of Maria Primachenko, Ukraine's most well known artist in the 'naive' style - check her work out on Google - and I loved this comment by the author: 'Perhaps it is this seemingly naive stubbornness that lies at the heart of Ukrainian invincibility: the inexhaustible readiness to rise from yet another layer of ashes in a blaze of colour, like the paintings of Maria Primachencko'.
This war is costing Ukraine $100million dollars a day, and countless lives. There is growing disillusion about Trump's promise to end the war, anger as he humiliated Zelensky, and chummed up with Putin, and confusion over what he'll do next. Ukraine is a pawn between the two powers of the US and Russia. But it's clear from this book that one thing Ukraine won't do is lie down. They need more support from Europe, they are are under resourced, tired, battered, bruised and far worse, but the indefatigable resilience of the people comes through loud and clear here, even though 'For all of us the future remains unstable, treacherous, broken. The new geopolitical reality deprives us of any vision of the future.' (written in September this year following the worst attack on Kyiv thus far). I'm really glad I read this book, just wish there was more I could do other than hope for a swift end to the war.
The Author
Andrey Kurkov was born near Leningrad in 1961 and graduated from Kyiv Pedagogical Academy of Foreign Languages in 1983. After working as a prison guard in Odesa and as a journalist, he self-published his texts and found renown as a novelist. His novel Death and the Penguin, his first in English translation, became an international bestseller, translated into more than 43 languages, and has been in print since its publication in 2001. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the author has published unrivalled reports from his wartorn country in newspapers and magazines all over the world. He has been a regular presence on radio and television, including BBC Radio 4’s “Letter from Ukraine”, and travelled worldwide to lecture on the perilous state of his country. He has, in the process, become a crucial voice for the people of Ukraine. Of his war journals, Diary of an Invasion was published in 2022 and Our Daily War in 2024.
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