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Diaries of War: Two Visual Accounts from Ukraine and Russia
Powerful graphic journalism that highlights the contrasting realities of a Ukrainian journalist and a Russian artist grappling with their own individual experiences of Russia’s war on Ukraine—collected, edited, and illustrated by award-winning author Nora Krug
Immediately after Russia began its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Nora Krug reached out to two anonymous subjects—“K.,� a Ukrainian journalist, and “D.,� a Russian artist—and began what would become a year of correspondence. Based on her weekly interviews with K. and D., Krug created this collection of illustrated accounts that chronicles two contrasting viewpoints from opposing sides of the first year in this ongoing war.
With millions displaced, injured, or killed as a result of the invasion, Krug presents a look at the devastating effects on an everyday, individual level. K.’s diary documents a year of emotional and existential distress. She experiences loss in every sense of the the death of those close to her, the disconnection from her family and friends, and the devastation of her country—but her account is also a story about bravery and survival in the face of dire uncertainty.
In juxtaposition, D.’s narrative details his disdain for his government’s murderous actions and his attempts at emigrating his family abroad. He navigates his own struggle with cultural identity, guilt, and lack of action in the face of a tyrannical regime—a perspective that is necessary in challenging readers to confront the political actions of their own countries. Krug approaches Diaries of War with the immense skill and thoughtfulness required to document these two complicated experiences for the purpose of encouraging critical thinking.
Published as an Op-Comic series with the Los Angeles Times , with a portion of the entries unique to this book, Diaries of War is a harrowing real-time record of an international conflict that continues to devastate countless lives.
Immediately after Russia began its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Nora Krug reached out to two anonymous subjects—“K.,� a Ukrainian journalist, and “D.,� a Russian artist—and began what would become a year of correspondence. Based on her weekly interviews with K. and D., Krug created this collection of illustrated accounts that chronicles two contrasting viewpoints from opposing sides of the first year in this ongoing war.
With millions displaced, injured, or killed as a result of the invasion, Krug presents a look at the devastating effects on an everyday, individual level. K.’s diary documents a year of emotional and existential distress. She experiences loss in every sense of the the death of those close to her, the disconnection from her family and friends, and the devastation of her country—but her account is also a story about bravery and survival in the face of dire uncertainty.
In juxtaposition, D.’s narrative details his disdain for his government’s murderous actions and his attempts at emigrating his family abroad. He navigates his own struggle with cultural identity, guilt, and lack of action in the face of a tyrannical regime—a perspective that is necessary in challenging readers to confront the political actions of their own countries. Krug approaches Diaries of War with the immense skill and thoughtfulness required to document these two complicated experiences for the purpose of encouraging critical thinking.
Published as an Op-Comic series with the Los Angeles Times , with a portion of the entries unique to this book, Diaries of War is a harrowing real-time record of an international conflict that continues to devastate countless lives.
128 pages, Hardcover
First published October 24, 2023
27 people are currently reading
2410 people want to read
About the author
Nora Krug
16books169followersNora Krug is a German-American author, illustrator and associate professor in the Illustration Program at the Parsons School of Design in New York City. Her drawings and visual narratives have appeared in publications including The New York Times, the Guardian and le Monde Diplomatique, and in a number of anthologies. A recipient of numerous prestigious fellowships, her books are included in the Library of Congress and the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University. Her illustrations have been recognized with three gold medals from the Society of Illustrators and a Silver Cube from the New York Art Directors Club. Krug's work has been exhibited internationally, and her animations shown at the Sundance Film Festival.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
June 11, 2023
"brings to life diary entries of a Ukrainian journalist and a Russian artist grappling with the on-the-ground realities of Putin’s war"
Em, no? Ukrainian journalist in this case - it`s Katerina Sergatskova, a person, who was born and long live in Russia. When she came to Ukraine, she wrote in her articles things, that repeated Russian propaganda (so helpful that Ukraine has freedom of speech!). So "Ukrainian journalist" is a douptful statement about her.
Also war is not even end yet and some people try to reconcile us, ignoring that Russians don`t bother to stop killing us and ask for forgiveness.
I also saw some parts of this comic and don`t understand what new sense author creates simply redrawing photos of our tragedies. It looks like making merch from images of dead bodies of our civilians in Bucha.
It all hurts me and feels like lack of tolerance and compassion to victims of war.
June 11, 2023
what could be better than a dialogue between the rapist and the victim. great idea! wow, you should be given russian citizenship
September 25, 2023
Quite disgusting to write a story of the people you have no clue about, but bringing you white colonial attitude. Not even caring to listen to the perspectives of those being literally killed.
June 12, 2023
Kateryna Sergatskova ("K") who calls herself a Ukrainian journalist, is actually working against Ukraine. She is an agent working to destroy Ukraine.
That's all you need to know about this book.
That's all you need to know about this book.
February 1, 2025
Imagine a narrative about WWII with '2 different POVs': 1 from a Nazi; the other from someone who claims not being a Nazi but not condemning extermination camps, and even presenting justification for the Holocaust.
So, no. Just... no.
And I fail to understand how Prof Timothy Snyder would allow himself to be connected to this.
So, no. Just... no.
And I fail to understand how Prof Timothy Snyder would allow himself to be connected to this.
January 3, 2024
Nora Krug is complete disappointment.
I liked her previous works, especially her visualisation of Timothy Snyder's book about tyranny. But THIS book is beyond of evil.
You CANNOT compare experience of victims and their opressors. By the way, for people out of context - the voice of "Ukrainian side" in this book is Russian. One more situation, when Western reader cannot listen Ukrainians. Reason - blatant ignorance of author, who is unable just CHECK who is the speaker. By the way, now this "Ukrainian voice" is working on a movie about Russian-Ukrainain war, which was sponcored by Russians. And this Russians were supporting Russian imperialism all the time.
I liked her previous works, especially her visualisation of Timothy Snyder's book about tyranny. But THIS book is beyond of evil.
You CANNOT compare experience of victims and their opressors. By the way, for people out of context - the voice of "Ukrainian side" in this book is Russian. One more situation, when Western reader cannot listen Ukrainians. Reason - blatant ignorance of author, who is unable just CHECK who is the speaker. By the way, now this "Ukrainian voice" is working on a movie about Russian-Ukrainain war, which was sponcored by Russians. And this Russians were supporting Russian imperialism all the time.
June 21, 2023
The book provides 2 russian perspectives and zero Ukrainian perspectives. Tone-deaf. The style of illustrations does not fit the themes the book talks about. Buy it, if you want an example of how to write a book about a genocidal war while writing it with zero respect to a country that defends itself.
October 24, 2023
In 2018, Krug published Belonging, a graphic memoir examining her own family's involvement in Nazi Germany. It's a fascinating work, and a relatively unusual one because people don't usually want to examine their loved ones' involvement in atrocities. So when I saw that Krug was coming out with a work about the war in Ukraine, I was immediately intrigued.
In Diaries of War, Krug illustrates the accounts of two people, one living in Ukraine and working as a reporter and one living in Russia and working as an artist, after Russia waged war on Ukraine in 2022. I'll note (because it's hard to miss the controversy) that I'm not familiar with either contributor outside what's in this book, and also that the only introduction in the ARC I read was by Krug herself; it's not clear to me whether the final book will have a foreword (with or without controversy) by another writer.
As a visual experience, the book is tidily put together—one contributor's words on one side of the page, the other's on the other; Krug's drawings sprinkled throughout—though I found myself skimming right past many of the drawings, which break up the text but don't seem to add that much on their own. (I realized only after the fact that some of her illustrations are her interpretations of photos that have been in the news, and I badly wish that there were citations at a minimum.)
But...although I am sure this book was conceived with the best of intentions, there may be an element of "act in haste, repent at leisure". As far as I can tell from Krug's introduction, the contributors were chosen because they were some of the only people Krug knew in Ukraine and Russia at the time. Although it's interesting to see some variation in perspectives (K., a Russian-born journalist now with Ukrainian citizenship; D., a Russian who passively opposes the war), I struggle to imagine that these would have been the sole two voices represented had they been chosen intentionally rather than out of convenience.
This would have been a stronger project if Krug had not relied on (presumably) her only two contacts in Ukraine and Russia and had instead solicited contributions from more people with more varied backgrounds and reactions—born-and-raised Ukrainians; someone in Russia who does more than shrug off his own total inertia by saying "This war has also shown me that you cannot influence your government in any way. It's terrible, but it's a fact" (123); someone in the Ukrainian army; hell, someone who is or has been in the Russian army. I suspect that choosing only two people Krug was friendly with made her less inclined to interrogate their analyses and/or (in)actions in the way that she was willing to interrogate her own family history in Belonging, but showcasing more perspectives also would have made it easier to bluntly say, in the main text as well as in the introduction, Here is why these perspectives cannot be taken as perfect/representative viewpoints and here is why I have included them among others. It might have been easier for her to ask K. to talk about how much she's had to learn and unlearn, as someone who grew up under Russian propaganda, and to contrast with someone who has grown up with a perspective of Russia as an aggressor. She could have juxtaposed D.'s refusal to speak at an event in Paris because "I was worried I'd have to share my opinions on the war in public on that stage" (111) with someone living in Russia who has spoken out and faced consequences—both because D.'s story is neither interesting nor inspiring, and because it would ask the reader to ask themselves, What are or are not the consequences of you speaking out? Would you? (K. could conceivably be that juxtaposed Russian voice, were the book structured differently, but the book is working too hard to make her the Ukraine-side voice of the project to allow for that.)
Because I am not from either Ukraine or Russia, I lack the cultural context that Ukrainians will have when reading this. When I recontextualize it by thinking about wars waged by the US—i.e., wars in which my country of origin has been (or continues to be) an aggressor—I can understand D.'s passivity as something akin to Americans I know who don't even vote(!) because politics and war seem so distant from their own lives. Yes, include those voices, because people will recognize themselves and you can talk about the dangers of complacency and inertia. But at the same time, if I were putting together a book from the perspectives of (say) someone from the US and someone from Iraq during the US invasion and war in Iraq (feel free to substitute any US-led conflict; there are plenty), I can't imagine choosing, as the sole US voice, someone whose perspective boiled down to "Oh, yeah, it's terrible...I think about moving to Canada all the time. But I sponsored a kid from Iran to go to school once, so I've done everything I can."
Again, I am sure the intentions here were good. I understand that parts of this were originally serialized in a paper, but I wish that when discussions were undertaken to turn this into a book some different decisions had been made.
Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
In Diaries of War, Krug illustrates the accounts of two people, one living in Ukraine and working as a reporter and one living in Russia and working as an artist, after Russia waged war on Ukraine in 2022. I'll note (because it's hard to miss the controversy) that I'm not familiar with either contributor outside what's in this book, and also that the only introduction in the ARC I read was by Krug herself; it's not clear to me whether the final book will have a foreword (with or without controversy) by another writer.
As a visual experience, the book is tidily put together—one contributor's words on one side of the page, the other's on the other; Krug's drawings sprinkled throughout—though I found myself skimming right past many of the drawings, which break up the text but don't seem to add that much on their own. (I realized only after the fact that some of her illustrations are her interpretations of photos that have been in the news, and I badly wish that there were citations at a minimum.)
But...although I am sure this book was conceived with the best of intentions, there may be an element of "act in haste, repent at leisure". As far as I can tell from Krug's introduction, the contributors were chosen because they were some of the only people Krug knew in Ukraine and Russia at the time. Although it's interesting to see some variation in perspectives (K., a Russian-born journalist now with Ukrainian citizenship; D., a Russian who passively opposes the war), I struggle to imagine that these would have been the sole two voices represented had they been chosen intentionally rather than out of convenience.
This would have been a stronger project if Krug had not relied on (presumably) her only two contacts in Ukraine and Russia and had instead solicited contributions from more people with more varied backgrounds and reactions—born-and-raised Ukrainians; someone in Russia who does more than shrug off his own total inertia by saying "This war has also shown me that you cannot influence your government in any way. It's terrible, but it's a fact" (123); someone in the Ukrainian army; hell, someone who is or has been in the Russian army. I suspect that choosing only two people Krug was friendly with made her less inclined to interrogate their analyses and/or (in)actions in the way that she was willing to interrogate her own family history in Belonging, but showcasing more perspectives also would have made it easier to bluntly say, in the main text as well as in the introduction, Here is why these perspectives cannot be taken as perfect/representative viewpoints and here is why I have included them among others. It might have been easier for her to ask K. to talk about how much she's had to learn and unlearn, as someone who grew up under Russian propaganda, and to contrast with someone who has grown up with a perspective of Russia as an aggressor. She could have juxtaposed D.'s refusal to speak at an event in Paris because "I was worried I'd have to share my opinions on the war in public on that stage" (111) with someone living in Russia who has spoken out and faced consequences—both because D.'s story is neither interesting nor inspiring, and because it would ask the reader to ask themselves, What are or are not the consequences of you speaking out? Would you? (K. could conceivably be that juxtaposed Russian voice, were the book structured differently, but the book is working too hard to make her the Ukraine-side voice of the project to allow for that.)
Because I am not from either Ukraine or Russia, I lack the cultural context that Ukrainians will have when reading this. When I recontextualize it by thinking about wars waged by the US—i.e., wars in which my country of origin has been (or continues to be) an aggressor—I can understand D.'s passivity as something akin to Americans I know who don't even vote(!) because politics and war seem so distant from their own lives. Yes, include those voices, because people will recognize themselves and you can talk about the dangers of complacency and inertia. But at the same time, if I were putting together a book from the perspectives of (say) someone from the US and someone from Iraq during the US invasion and war in Iraq (feel free to substitute any US-led conflict; there are plenty), I can't imagine choosing, as the sole US voice, someone whose perspective boiled down to "Oh, yeah, it's terrible...I think about moving to Canada all the time. But I sponsored a kid from Iran to go to school once, so I've done everything I can."
Again, I am sure the intentions here were good. I understand that parts of this were originally serialized in a paper, but I wish that when discussions were undertaken to turn this into a book some different decisions had been made.
Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
September 25, 2023
it just looks like a mockery of the genocide of the Ukrainian people.
November 14, 2023
This book show 2 perspective - Russian living in UA and repeating Russian propaganda and Russian who lives in russia.
Only value of this book is that it shows true colors of russians. They don't care about war and genocide of Ukrainians. They care only about their comfort.
It's really shame that Nora Krug give power and voice to russians. Not reaching for Ukrainians from every part of country. For those who left, who stay, who go to defend country, who became voices of Ukrainians in world.
My advice: read UA authors. Lates cool book is - "De-occupation. Stories of Ukrainian resistance 2022" by Ukrainer.
Only value of this book is that it shows true colors of russians. They don't care about war and genocide of Ukrainians. They care only about their comfort.
It's really shame that Nora Krug give power and voice to russians. Not reaching for Ukrainians from every part of country. For those who left, who stay, who go to defend country, who became voices of Ukrainians in world.
My advice: read UA authors. Lates cool book is - "De-occupation. Stories of Ukrainian resistance 2022" by Ukrainer.
November 15, 2023
Another shameful attempt to reconcile Ukrainians with russians. Not work. I wrote about it once, but ŷ deleted my review, I'll say it again. Ukrainians do not seek reconciliation, we seek justice. And deleting reviews and creating similar works is an attempt to justify one of the biggest crimes of the 21st century. There will be no reconciliation, but every russian will be punished, because everyone who is silent, who pays taxes, who justifies aggression - everyone is guilty of thousands of deaths of Ukrainians. And the authors of such books that justify the russians are also complicit in the crime.
November 11, 2023
"Diaries of War" by Nora Krug is a seemingly well intentioned book that completely fails to grasp the realities of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its genocidal assault on the country's people.
The book juxtaposes the experiences of a Russian artist, "D" with those of an alleged Ukrainian journalist "K". The problematic nature of this juxtaposition has been completely missed by Krug so I will spell it out here. D, although in disagreement with his government's policies does nothing to oppose them. D is primarily concerned about leaving Russia permanently and actually spends much of the book abroad while trying to avoid military service and find a solution that will allow him to escape Russia once and for all. In contrast, K is living through an invasion while surviving bombings and reporting on conditions from the front.
An additional problem for this book is posed by K herself. Protesters of this book have identified K as a former Russian citizen who wrote articles claiming that Ukraine was controlled by fascists. I spent a very limited amount of time researching this and was able to confirm that K only became a Ukrainian citizen in the last few years. I would hope that the publisher would have researched her previous articles, but I have not found any evidence that this was done.
In light of the above it is not surprising that there is currently a boycott campaign against this book on ŷ and the average star rating is one. Additionally, I seem to be the only reviewer willing to touch this steaming pile of hivno on NetGalley. I have only written this review since I committed to do so. To be frank it never occurred to me that an imprint of Ten Speed Press or an acclaimed artist such as Nora Krug would be so negligent as to produce such a book. I am deeply perturbed that the publisher, Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press would bring this work to market. I expected much more from an imprint of Ten Speed Press and I will not review books from this imprint in the future.
Finally, I do not, in general, insert personal details into reviews. However in this case it makes sense to to do so. Although I do not have roots in the region covered by this book I do understand the languages and I have a deep familiarity with the history of the region. I seems fairly obvious that the people involved with bringing this book to market do not have this background. I would strongly suggest that they actually engage someone who does prior to covering this region again.
The book juxtaposes the experiences of a Russian artist, "D" with those of an alleged Ukrainian journalist "K". The problematic nature of this juxtaposition has been completely missed by Krug so I will spell it out here. D, although in disagreement with his government's policies does nothing to oppose them. D is primarily concerned about leaving Russia permanently and actually spends much of the book abroad while trying to avoid military service and find a solution that will allow him to escape Russia once and for all. In contrast, K is living through an invasion while surviving bombings and reporting on conditions from the front.
An additional problem for this book is posed by K herself. Protesters of this book have identified K as a former Russian citizen who wrote articles claiming that Ukraine was controlled by fascists. I spent a very limited amount of time researching this and was able to confirm that K only became a Ukrainian citizen in the last few years. I would hope that the publisher would have researched her previous articles, but I have not found any evidence that this was done.
In light of the above it is not surprising that there is currently a boycott campaign against this book on ŷ and the average star rating is one. Additionally, I seem to be the only reviewer willing to touch this steaming pile of hivno on NetGalley. I have only written this review since I committed to do so. To be frank it never occurred to me that an imprint of Ten Speed Press or an acclaimed artist such as Nora Krug would be so negligent as to produce such a book. I am deeply perturbed that the publisher, Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press would bring this work to market. I expected much more from an imprint of Ten Speed Press and I will not review books from this imprint in the future.
Finally, I do not, in general, insert personal details into reviews. However in this case it makes sense to to do so. Although I do not have roots in the region covered by this book I do understand the languages and I have a deep familiarity with the history of the region. I seems fairly obvious that the people involved with bringing this book to market do not have this background. I would strongly suggest that they actually engage someone who does prior to covering this region again.
November 16, 2023
Literally Russian propaganda - the repetition of old Russian song about nazis in Ukraine, bothsidism. What is presented as dialog between Ukrainian and Russian account is, in fact, dialog between two Russians. "Ukrainian" account here is native russian "journalist" Ekaterina Sergatskova, who got Ukrainian citizenship in 2015 after Russia started the first part of war by annexing Crimea and occupying parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ekaterina is well known by her controversial articles undermining Ukrainian government and Armed Forces. Another fact is that she left Ukraine in 2020, long before full scale invasion started. What could she tell us about the war if she even wasn't there?
June 22, 2023
So there's a zillion nitwits, illiterate zealots condemning the book (one star) without either having actually read it or understood what it is about. It's brilliant, it's human.
So read it first before you wash your tiny soul with your moral superiority. All the one star reviews are an organized review-bomb and a f*cking shame, character assassination is what it's called.
So read it first before you wash your tiny soul with your moral superiority. All the one star reviews are an organized review-bomb and a f*cking shame, character assassination is what it's called.
December 26, 2023
Aside from the glaringly obvious issues already pointed out by countless reviewers before me, this book also is just terrible. I’d be interested to hear from people that are less privileged (ie: can’t afford to take twelve vacations and hire a nanny).
February 18, 2024
The author is a servant of Russian propaganda, and therefore on the side of evil. No Ukrainian will ever agree with those theses, with the theme meanings that the author wants to convey to his audience. Shame you!
February 24, 2024
Kurz nachdem Russland am 24. Februar 2022 einen erneuten, nicht provozierten militärischen Großangriff auf die Ukraine startete, nahm Nora Krug Kontakt zu K., einer Journalistin aus Kyjiw und D., einem Künstler aus St. Petersburg auf. Sie erkundigte sich, wie es ihnen ging - und entwickelte nach deren offenen, verletzlichen Antworten die Idee, ein illustriertes wöchentliches Tagebuch zu gestalten. Die beiden Personen stimmten dem Projekt zu und Nora Krug befragte sie jedes Wochenende zu ihren Gedanken, ihrem Befinden, ihren Alltagserfahrungen im Krieg. Ihre Textnachrichten fasste sie zu einer zusammenhängenden Erzählung zusammen, änderte einige Details, um die Anonymität von K. und D. zu wahren, sprach die Endfassung mit den beiden ab und zeichnete letztlich auf Grundlage einer Mischung aus Recherchen und Fantasie die dazugehörigen Illustrationen. Die Tagebucheinträge wurden großteils wöchentlich zwischen Februar 2022 und Februar 2023 in der Los Angeles Times veröffentlicht.
In "Im Krieg: Zwei illustrierte Tagebücher aus Kiew und St. Petersburg", aus dem Englischen übersetzt von Alexander Weber, versammelt Nora Krug all diese Tagebucheinträge und versieht sie mit einem einordnenden Vorwort. Auf der linken Seite des Buches sind jeweils die Beiträge der Ukrainerin K., auf der rechten Seite die des Russen D. dargestellt, in visuell hervorgehobenen und mit Bildern unterstützten Texten. Nora Krug schafft es, sehr nah an den beiden Erzählenden zu bleiben, sie nimmt selbst keine Bewertung vor, distanziert sich aber durch das Vorwort von einigen von D. getroffenen Aussagen. Entstanden ist ein erschütternder Echtzeitbericht aus zwei sehr unterschiedlichen Perspektiven.
Ich finde Nora Krugs neue Graphic Novel sehr lesenswert, da sie eine ganz neue Form der Auseinandersetzung mit dem russischen Angriffskrieg auf die Ukraine durch bildlich unterstützte persönliche Erzählungen bietet. Allerdings sehe ich die Darstellungsform des direkten Nebeneinanderlegens, des Erzeugens einer Parallelität der Tagebucheinträge durchaus auch kritisch. Ist es in Ordnung, ukrainische direkt neben russische Perspektiven zu platzieren? Ich denke, diese Frage können weder ich, noch Nora Krug aus unserer westeuropäischen Sichtweise abschließend beantworten. Mir persönlich ging "Im Krieg: Zwei illustrierte Tagebücher aus Kiew und St. Petersburg" sehr nahe, es hat mir einen Einblick in den Kriegsalltag und viele neue Denkanstöße gegeben.
In "Im Krieg: Zwei illustrierte Tagebücher aus Kiew und St. Petersburg", aus dem Englischen übersetzt von Alexander Weber, versammelt Nora Krug all diese Tagebucheinträge und versieht sie mit einem einordnenden Vorwort. Auf der linken Seite des Buches sind jeweils die Beiträge der Ukrainerin K., auf der rechten Seite die des Russen D. dargestellt, in visuell hervorgehobenen und mit Bildern unterstützten Texten. Nora Krug schafft es, sehr nah an den beiden Erzählenden zu bleiben, sie nimmt selbst keine Bewertung vor, distanziert sich aber durch das Vorwort von einigen von D. getroffenen Aussagen. Entstanden ist ein erschütternder Echtzeitbericht aus zwei sehr unterschiedlichen Perspektiven.
Ich finde Nora Krugs neue Graphic Novel sehr lesenswert, da sie eine ganz neue Form der Auseinandersetzung mit dem russischen Angriffskrieg auf die Ukraine durch bildlich unterstützte persönliche Erzählungen bietet. Allerdings sehe ich die Darstellungsform des direkten Nebeneinanderlegens, des Erzeugens einer Parallelität der Tagebucheinträge durchaus auch kritisch. Ist es in Ordnung, ukrainische direkt neben russische Perspektiven zu platzieren? Ich denke, diese Frage können weder ich, noch Nora Krug aus unserer westeuropäischen Sichtweise abschließend beantworten. Mir persönlich ging "Im Krieg: Zwei illustrierte Tagebücher aus Kiew und St. Petersburg" sehr nahe, es hat mir einen Einblick in den Kriegsalltag und viele neue Denkanstöße gegeben.
March 20, 2024
There are a lot of reviews on here from people who have not read this book and information literacy is important to me so--
The subtitle of this book is "two visual accounts from Ukraine and Russia." This is correct. One of the people giving a visual account is in Ukraine, reporting from the frontlines. The other is in Russia. Nowhere does Krug try to hide the fact that the person currently living in Ukraine was born in Russia and moved to Ukraine as a child. This is included in the introduction as well as referenced several times in the body of the text.
The propaganda that "Ukrainians are Nazis" is included in context, as something Putin is attempting to convince Russians of, and not published in this book without context, as a fact. It is presented as incorrect information in the attempt to combat it.
Comparing a person who lives in Russia and is against the war/Putin to a rapist is, I believe, part of the reason Krug wanted to write this book. You can argue that she should have selected different people to provide the visual accounts because you don't agree with or care about the thoughts and feelings of the people providing the visual accounts, but arguing that their stories should not be told at all or are somehow "wrong" (how can a person's lived experience be wrong?) is shortsighted.
Anyway I found the accounts compelling and interesting. Many of the war stories I've read have been historical, and the immediacy of these stories helped me envision the modern experience of war for people trying to live ordinary lives. I believe that was the intention of the book and that it succeeded. That said, the illustrations didn't add very much to the immediacy of the text in the same way that "Belonging" did but knowing that these accounts first ran in newspapers adds context.
Reading is fundamental, friends. Read the book before you review it.
The subtitle of this book is "two visual accounts from Ukraine and Russia." This is correct. One of the people giving a visual account is in Ukraine, reporting from the frontlines. The other is in Russia. Nowhere does Krug try to hide the fact that the person currently living in Ukraine was born in Russia and moved to Ukraine as a child. This is included in the introduction as well as referenced several times in the body of the text.
The propaganda that "Ukrainians are Nazis" is included in context, as something Putin is attempting to convince Russians of, and not published in this book without context, as a fact. It is presented as incorrect information in the attempt to combat it.
Comparing a person who lives in Russia and is against the war/Putin to a rapist is, I believe, part of the reason Krug wanted to write this book. You can argue that she should have selected different people to provide the visual accounts because you don't agree with or care about the thoughts and feelings of the people providing the visual accounts, but arguing that their stories should not be told at all or are somehow "wrong" (how can a person's lived experience be wrong?) is shortsighted.
Anyway I found the accounts compelling and interesting. Many of the war stories I've read have been historical, and the immediacy of these stories helped me envision the modern experience of war for people trying to live ordinary lives. I believe that was the intention of the book and that it succeeded. That said, the illustrations didn't add very much to the immediacy of the text in the same way that "Belonging" did but knowing that these accounts first ran in newspapers adds context.
Reading is fundamental, friends. Read the book before you review it.
November 14, 2023
A book about the war in Ukraine by two Russians. No, thank you... Russian propaganda is enough. I don't want to read about how poor and miserable the Russians are, and that everyone is to blame for the war except themselves
October 13, 2023
The author knows nothing about Ukraine and people here.
How dares she to write that Ukrainians are Nazis?!
Has she lived here? Has she seen on her own widespread hatred towards Jews here?
Does she know that for years Ukraine has being ruled by Jews and that they are in Ukraine on all possible high and respected positions?
From where is the author taking all her horror fairy tales?
As everywhere in the world for sure there are some mental racists, but it’s not applicable to ALL citizens of Ukraine because of a couple of idiots.
If to judge the whole country based on them, then all countries in the world are nazi ones. And still the main one will be logically Germany, though so many years passed after Hitler but still ALL do remember the Holocaust.
By the way it’s a Motherland of the author, I am not hinting at anything, just stating the fact.
By the way, for many years many Jews from abroad come to 1 Ukrainian town, where is some important Jewish man is burried. So does it show a wrong attitude towards Jews by Ukrainians?
So, dear Nora Krug, have you thought that it’s possible to go to court for your uttering slander about Ukraine being a nazi country and spreading that lie all over the world in your low sort fiction?
I suggest to think about that.
God might forgive you for such mistakes of yours, but people won’t. NEVER.
How dares she to write that Ukrainians are Nazis?!
Has she lived here? Has she seen on her own widespread hatred towards Jews here?
Does she know that for years Ukraine has being ruled by Jews and that they are in Ukraine on all possible high and respected positions?
From where is the author taking all her horror fairy tales?
As everywhere in the world for sure there are some mental racists, but it’s not applicable to ALL citizens of Ukraine because of a couple of idiots.
If to judge the whole country based on them, then all countries in the world are nazi ones. And still the main one will be logically Germany, though so many years passed after Hitler but still ALL do remember the Holocaust.
By the way it’s a Motherland of the author, I am not hinting at anything, just stating the fact.
By the way, for many years many Jews from abroad come to 1 Ukrainian town, where is some important Jewish man is burried. So does it show a wrong attitude towards Jews by Ukrainians?
So, dear Nora Krug, have you thought that it’s possible to go to court for your uttering slander about Ukraine being a nazi country and spreading that lie all over the world in your low sort fiction?
I suggest to think about that.
God might forgive you for such mistakes of yours, but people won’t. NEVER.
February 16, 2024
Nora Krug offers up two different views of the Russo-Ukraine War.
Called K. to protect her identity, the first narrative is from a Ukrainian citizen who immigrated from Russia and is now a journalist covering the war in the field. She and her journalist husband zip back and forth between Kyiv, the front, and Copenhagen where they have taken their children for refuge.
D. is a Russian who feels guilty by association about Putin's aggression and worried about being drafted into Putin's army. He leaves his family and his home to wander around Europe looking for a new place to live, while fretting that the only place he wants to live is in St. Petersburg. He's a wishy-washy jackass, which I unfortunately found relatable.
Each two-page spread in the book represents a week in the first year of the war, with K. giving her updates on the left side and D. taking the right. Their slice-of-life vignettes and ongoing opinions on the war are pretty engaging.
My biggest problem with this book is that it gets lumped in with graphic novels, when it is really just an illustrated text -- even if that text is (or given the appearance of being) hand lettered. At the very start of the book, we are given a couple non-sequential pictures layered between two or three large caption boxes. But very quickly the layout transforms to one little picture in the middle of two to four caption boxes that take up two-thirds to three-quarters of each page. If they had simply typeset the text it would be easier to read and perhaps the picture could at least be made a little bigger.
It doesn't help that the faces of the people in the illustrations are frequently cropped to show only chins or cheeks or are left entirely out of the picture. It adds a little to the anonymity aspect, but it also makes it hard to connect with the people depicted as human.
FOR REFERENCE:
Contents: Introduction -- Winter - Spring -- Spring - Summer -- Summer - Fall -- Fall - Winter -- Acknowledgments -- Image Sources -- About the Author
(Best of 2023 Project: I'm reading all the graphic novels that made it onto one or more of these lists:
� Washington Post 10 Best Graphic Novels of 2023
� Publishers Weekly 2023 Graphic Novel Critics Poll
� NPR's Books We Love 2023: Favorite Comics and Graphic Novels
This book was Honorable Mention on the PW list.)
Called K. to protect her identity, the first narrative is from a Ukrainian citizen who immigrated from Russia and is now a journalist covering the war in the field. She and her journalist husband zip back and forth between Kyiv, the front, and Copenhagen where they have taken their children for refuge.
D. is a Russian who feels guilty by association about Putin's aggression and worried about being drafted into Putin's army. He leaves his family and his home to wander around Europe looking for a new place to live, while fretting that the only place he wants to live is in St. Petersburg. He's a wishy-washy jackass, which I unfortunately found relatable.
Each two-page spread in the book represents a week in the first year of the war, with K. giving her updates on the left side and D. taking the right. Their slice-of-life vignettes and ongoing opinions on the war are pretty engaging.
My biggest problem with this book is that it gets lumped in with graphic novels, when it is really just an illustrated text -- even if that text is (or given the appearance of being) hand lettered. At the very start of the book, we are given a couple non-sequential pictures layered between two or three large caption boxes. But very quickly the layout transforms to one little picture in the middle of two to four caption boxes that take up two-thirds to three-quarters of each page. If they had simply typeset the text it would be easier to read and perhaps the picture could at least be made a little bigger.
It doesn't help that the faces of the people in the illustrations are frequently cropped to show only chins or cheeks or are left entirely out of the picture. It adds a little to the anonymity aspect, but it also makes it hard to connect with the people depicted as human.
FOR REFERENCE:
Contents: Introduction -- Winter - Spring -- Spring - Summer -- Summer - Fall -- Fall - Winter -- Acknowledgments -- Image Sources -- About the Author
(Best of 2023 Project: I'm reading all the graphic novels that made it onto one or more of these lists:
� Washington Post 10 Best Graphic Novels of 2023
� Publishers Weekly 2023 Graphic Novel Critics Poll
� NPR's Books We Love 2023: Favorite Comics and Graphic Novels
This book was Honorable Mention on the PW list.)
December 13, 2023
Diaries of bystanders: 2 typical russians, one lying and another doing nothing [An epitome of proud ignorance]
It was such a brilliant idea to let russians talk about Ukraine, as they are the main victims there. As we all know, in Eastern Europe russians are the only ones who can talk (especially on behalf of others) and the only ones, who have a soul that can suffer.
Recently, I saw a tweet with a list of killed Ukrainian authors because of russian invasion. And here, once again, Ukraine is wiped out of the narrative, replaced by russians. It's a clear mockery to choose a russian journalist to represent Ukraine, adding insult to injury. Well-crafted book with such malicious content and here GoodReads deletes negative comments about it, cause it's "suspicious activity".
It was such a brilliant idea to let russians talk about Ukraine, as they are the main victims there. As we all know, in Eastern Europe russians are the only ones who can talk (especially on behalf of others) and the only ones, who have a soul that can suffer.
Recently, I saw a tweet with a list of killed Ukrainian authors because of russian invasion. And here, once again, Ukraine is wiped out of the narrative, replaced by russians. It's a clear mockery to choose a russian journalist to represent Ukraine, adding insult to injury. Well-crafted book with such malicious content and here GoodReads deletes negative comments about it, cause it's "suspicious activity".
January 29, 2024
A quick but powerful read! The story is of two individuals, one identifies as Ukrainian while the other is Russian. It’s an account of their separate experiences during the Russia-Ukraine War over a span of a year since 2022. The graphic novel humanizes the individuals who are in the middle of the conflict and brings about the complexities of the human experience� how we cope and persevere in such chaos and what makes up our individual identities when we have no place to call home or our home has become a stranger to ourselves.
October 25, 2023
Nora Krug's work explores the individual experience in systems of forced or coerced complicity, mining her own family history for Belonging: A German Reckons With History and Home or how to fight or challenge tyranny in her adaptation of Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. In Diaries of War: Two Visual Accounts from Ukraine, Krug serves as the medium for two anonymous individuals caught up in the complexities of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Krug begins with an explanation of how the project was created and first published, serialized in several news publications. This introduction also details why the subjects have been anonymized, and that the experiences were formed into a narrative by Krug with K and D having full textual approval. Following the explanation of process, Krug presents a condensed history of the development of Ukraine as a nation and the challenges of having Russia as a neighbor, with their tied past as Soviet states. Page 10 specifically address Krug's authorial concerns of how to address a Russian perspective, but decided that "As a German, I believe that we have to correct our mistakes of the past." Continuing to discuss her outsider status, but that democracies and pacifism are merely ideas that need support, resources and military to continue to exist, especially when challenged by tyrannical regimes. (Page 10).
Divided into four chapters themed by seasons, each page pair alternates between K, a female journalist based in Kyiv, and D, a male artist from St. Petersburg who is opposition to the war. Each page is centered on one or more images derived from some idea, event or action in that page's narrative. The narratives are shown in handwritten text over notecard like boxes. Both K and D have families and children and their weekly diaries serve to show the struggle to balance traditional day to day family life when so much time and psychological energy is locked up in survival in nations at war. K's pages are hued in oranges and yellows. Much of her experiences reflect the fear of death of her or her acquaintances, life in the Ukraine, her children's' lives in Denmark and the daily struggle of having shelter, heat and food. D's pages are in greens and blues. He does not support the war and much of his entries discuss trying to find things his family was used to buying in a sanctioned Russia, his opposition to the war and the Putin government, and the efforts to get his family out of Russia and settles somewhere else in Europe.
Both of our narrators struggle with loneliness and forced separation. Of their personal experiences caught up in the wider historic events. They both offer perspectives on the war, K more patriotic and committed to doing what she can to spread word and assist those in need. D struggles with how to live up to his ideals and opposition without risking harm to his family. Many of his entries contrast his adult experiences against his youthful memories of the Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. They are both have the financial privileges to be able to leave their nations, but both talk about those in their lives for whom that is not a possibility. It is a powerful work that provides two human stories of the Russo-Ukrainian War, that challenge us to consider and confront our own roles and capabilities in the face of challenge.
As Krug wrote in the introduction, she is quite clearly an outsider, and they and we will never be able to fully grasp the narrator's experiences. But history often overlooks the common person in search of the over arching historical narratives of key figures or timeline of events. K and D's lives are narratives are "ambiguous, complex and sometimes contradictory... But it is ambivalent narratives that force us to critically confront our own passivity..." (pg. 11). There is always a choice to be passive or resist, and certainly that means a sacrifice might be necessary, but isn't it better to chose than to be carried along?
I received a free digital version of this eBook via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
Krug begins with an explanation of how the project was created and first published, serialized in several news publications. This introduction also details why the subjects have been anonymized, and that the experiences were formed into a narrative by Krug with K and D having full textual approval. Following the explanation of process, Krug presents a condensed history of the development of Ukraine as a nation and the challenges of having Russia as a neighbor, with their tied past as Soviet states. Page 10 specifically address Krug's authorial concerns of how to address a Russian perspective, but decided that "As a German, I believe that we have to correct our mistakes of the past." Continuing to discuss her outsider status, but that democracies and pacifism are merely ideas that need support, resources and military to continue to exist, especially when challenged by tyrannical regimes. (Page 10).
Divided into four chapters themed by seasons, each page pair alternates between K, a female journalist based in Kyiv, and D, a male artist from St. Petersburg who is opposition to the war. Each page is centered on one or more images derived from some idea, event or action in that page's narrative. The narratives are shown in handwritten text over notecard like boxes. Both K and D have families and children and their weekly diaries serve to show the struggle to balance traditional day to day family life when so much time and psychological energy is locked up in survival in nations at war. K's pages are hued in oranges and yellows. Much of her experiences reflect the fear of death of her or her acquaintances, life in the Ukraine, her children's' lives in Denmark and the daily struggle of having shelter, heat and food. D's pages are in greens and blues. He does not support the war and much of his entries discuss trying to find things his family was used to buying in a sanctioned Russia, his opposition to the war and the Putin government, and the efforts to get his family out of Russia and settles somewhere else in Europe.
Both of our narrators struggle with loneliness and forced separation. Of their personal experiences caught up in the wider historic events. They both offer perspectives on the war, K more patriotic and committed to doing what she can to spread word and assist those in need. D struggles with how to live up to his ideals and opposition without risking harm to his family. Many of his entries contrast his adult experiences against his youthful memories of the Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. They are both have the financial privileges to be able to leave their nations, but both talk about those in their lives for whom that is not a possibility. It is a powerful work that provides two human stories of the Russo-Ukrainian War, that challenge us to consider and confront our own roles and capabilities in the face of challenge.
As Krug wrote in the introduction, she is quite clearly an outsider, and they and we will never be able to fully grasp the narrator's experiences. But history often overlooks the common person in search of the over arching historical narratives of key figures or timeline of events. K and D's lives are narratives are "ambiguous, complex and sometimes contradictory... But it is ambivalent narratives that force us to critically confront our own passivity..." (pg. 11). There is always a choice to be passive or resist, and certainly that means a sacrifice might be necessary, but isn't it better to chose than to be carried along?
I received a free digital version of this eBook via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
December 26, 2024
Nora Krug, celebre giornalista e illustratrice tedesca di cui avevo già apprezzato il bellissimo “Heimat�, raccoglie qui le testimonianze di due persone che hanno vissuto (e stanno vivendo) l’orrore della guerra in Ucraina: queste due persone, che saranno sempre indicate con le rispettive inziali, K., una giornalista di Kiev e D., un artista di San Pietroburgo, riportano così, settimana dopo settimana e alternandosi la voce di pagina in pagina, le loro sensazioni e le loro paure, intervallate dalle immagini di Nora Krug. Ne risulta un reportage in forma intimistica che ci svela come la vita di queste due persone venga travolta, nel quotidiano, dal disastro della guerra: entrambi hanno famiglia, entrambi fanno un lavoro che li porta a relazionarsi con altre persone, entrambi meditano di lasciare il loro paese e lo fanno, sradicando la loro esistenza e sperimentando un senso di smarrimento ed entrambi, seppur appartenenti ai due paesi avversari, sono completamente contrari allo scontro.
Il libro illustrato di Nora Krug tenta di portare a termine un progetto ambizioso su un tema di grande attualità ma, forse, la complessità di questo obiettivo poco si sposa con la semplice struttura dell’impianto grafico e narrativo qui adottata. E ne deriva qualcosa che non si riesce ad apprezzare del tutto.
Non scarto ma non lodo.
Il libro illustrato di Nora Krug tenta di portare a termine un progetto ambizioso su un tema di grande attualità ma, forse, la complessità di questo obiettivo poco si sposa con la semplice struttura dell’impianto grafico e narrativo qui adottata. E ne deriva qualcosa che non si riesce ad apprezzare del tutto.
Non scarto ma non lodo.
May 12, 2024
I really wanted to like this graphic novel, as I appreciate the concept - trying to merge voices from people living in either side of a war, in (admittedly) a beautiful graphic portrayal. However, my first major problem was the selection of the individuals - both bourgeoisie (both travel constantly throughout, one owns a media company and foundation and the other fully makes a seemingly very comfortable living off of art) which, from my understanding, fails to capture the viewpoints of “everyday� people…the vast majority that can’t afford the luxury of hopping on planes regularly to escape the chaos in which they live. Gives more of a “poor rich people whose lives were disrupted� more than a “heart-wrenching account of people living through war� vibe…not what I think the author had in mind�
My next issue, one that several others have pointed out - they are both from (and lived at least their formative years in) Russia. While “K’s� story is interesting in that she’s from Russia but has ties to/now lives in Ukraine and goes to the front lines when possible - but its complexity in this very brief narrative takes away from [what should have been] its primary scope - understanding everyday experiences of people actually LIVING in (not visiting when they so choose�) Ukraine. It’s also interesting to not bring up her backstory, given the doozy that it is. “D’s� entries read more like a selfish artist who is annoyed at the discomfort of not easily being able to obtain a visa and the woes most people today face - albeit, in many countries, they can express - of having different views than those that live around you. Granted the legitimate fear of being arrested, tortured, etc. isn’t great, but at least his life is never actively in danger as it is for many Ukrainians. every. single. day. It would have been much more effective to get the perspective of a Russian pro-Ukraine activist.
My third issue, which I guess relates to both of the aforementioned, is that there’s no war in the novel. Not that I needed extreme shock-value examples, but it was as if both stories were fully removed somehow from the reality of the situation. Okay, her life was definitely impacted (she did make money off the war given that she owned a media company though, right? Pure speculation, as I do not own a media company nor know how their finances work�). He scrolled the news (as we all have).
Overall, it just didn’t seem that these were the right people for what the author was trying to accomplish. Would gladly read another version of this if it were to feature stories grounded in the realities of war - maybe excerpts from soldiers, people who’s residences were bombed, people who went to jail in Russia for protesting, etc. Even pro-Russians to better understand what the hell they’re thinking/hearing in their very censored media to better know how to change that moving forward. Gimme something! Just not this�
My next issue, one that several others have pointed out - they are both from (and lived at least their formative years in) Russia. While “K’s� story is interesting in that she’s from Russia but has ties to/now lives in Ukraine and goes to the front lines when possible - but its complexity in this very brief narrative takes away from [what should have been] its primary scope - understanding everyday experiences of people actually LIVING in (not visiting when they so choose�) Ukraine. It’s also interesting to not bring up her backstory, given the doozy that it is. “D’s� entries read more like a selfish artist who is annoyed at the discomfort of not easily being able to obtain a visa and the woes most people today face - albeit, in many countries, they can express - of having different views than those that live around you. Granted the legitimate fear of being arrested, tortured, etc. isn’t great, but at least his life is never actively in danger as it is for many Ukrainians. every. single. day. It would have been much more effective to get the perspective of a Russian pro-Ukraine activist.
My third issue, which I guess relates to both of the aforementioned, is that there’s no war in the novel. Not that I needed extreme shock-value examples, but it was as if both stories were fully removed somehow from the reality of the situation. Okay, her life was definitely impacted (she did make money off the war given that she owned a media company though, right? Pure speculation, as I do not own a media company nor know how their finances work�). He scrolled the news (as we all have).
Overall, it just didn’t seem that these were the right people for what the author was trying to accomplish. Would gladly read another version of this if it were to feature stories grounded in the realities of war - maybe excerpts from soldiers, people who’s residences were bombed, people who went to jail in Russia for protesting, etc. Even pro-Russians to better understand what the hell they’re thinking/hearing in their very censored media to better know how to change that moving forward. Gimme something! Just not this�
August 30, 2024
This isn't the definitive, all-encompassing answer to how Ukrainians and Russians experience the war—of course not, that answer doesn't exist—but rather two voices trying to express something about how it's felt on a human level. When juxtaposed, what's most striking is how similar they are. Nora Krug’s contribution lies in the concept, initiative, staging, and the simple, small vignettes that accompany each brief message. It looks like a Nora Krug book. The book may serve as a contribution to affirming and/or understanding what war does to people, not just as the occupied, but as an unwilling part of the occupier. It is humanistic, and in that sense, important.
November 15, 2023
An interview between russian and russian propogandist. No ukrainian. Wow, just wow. Disgusting.
June 29, 2024
Non ho ancora letto sebbene ce l'abbia da tempo, ma questo reportage a fumetti è capitato davvero a fagiuolo per una challenge che sto seguendo.
L'autrice in questo diario racconta un anno del conflitto russo-ucraino visto attraverso gli occhi di due "persone comuni" ed offrendoci così una visione privata e soggettiva della guerra.
K. è una giornalista russa, naturalizzata ucraina che vive a Kiev mentre D. è un artista russo di San Pietroburgo che odia Putin, ma non lo manifesta apertamente. Entrambi hanno figli e famiglia.
La complessità delle emozioni e delle decisioni che i due protagonisti prendono nell'arco dell'anno, ci tiene in costante apprensione. Ho trovato K. particolarmente salda, infaticabile e determinata, una donna che cerca di trovare piccoli momenti di felicità sebbene sia sballottata da una parte all'altra dell'Europa.
D. invece è molto più introspettivo, sembra sempre brancolare nel buio e pare spesso indeciso sul da farsi.
Sebbene inizialmente provassi più empatia con K., davvero non si riesce a parteggiare per uno o l'altra. Ho cercato di immedesimarmi in entrambi e da entrambi ho percepito chiaramente lo straniamento di essere sradicati dal proprio Paese, dalla propria cultura, da ciò che ti è familiare. La fatica di imparare una nuova lingua e di esprimersi con essa, il non sapere cosa fare o come comportarsi per essere efficaci o anche solo per trovare un po' di serenità
Mentre leggevo ho pensato spesso a mia madre che ha vissuto in prima persona la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, la paura che provava quando passavano gli aerei amici e nemici, il non aver le parole per descrivere certe cose.
Ho letteralmente bevuto questa graphic novel, ed è stata una lettura importante.
Mi chiedo dove siano ora D. e K. ad un anno di distanza. Chissà se sono ancora vivi...
L'autrice in questo diario racconta un anno del conflitto russo-ucraino visto attraverso gli occhi di due "persone comuni" ed offrendoci così una visione privata e soggettiva della guerra.
K. è una giornalista russa, naturalizzata ucraina che vive a Kiev mentre D. è un artista russo di San Pietroburgo che odia Putin, ma non lo manifesta apertamente. Entrambi hanno figli e famiglia.
La complessità delle emozioni e delle decisioni che i due protagonisti prendono nell'arco dell'anno, ci tiene in costante apprensione. Ho trovato K. particolarmente salda, infaticabile e determinata, una donna che cerca di trovare piccoli momenti di felicità sebbene sia sballottata da una parte all'altra dell'Europa.
D. invece è molto più introspettivo, sembra sempre brancolare nel buio e pare spesso indeciso sul da farsi.
Sebbene inizialmente provassi più empatia con K., davvero non si riesce a parteggiare per uno o l'altra. Ho cercato di immedesimarmi in entrambi e da entrambi ho percepito chiaramente lo straniamento di essere sradicati dal proprio Paese, dalla propria cultura, da ciò che ti è familiare. La fatica di imparare una nuova lingua e di esprimersi con essa, il non sapere cosa fare o come comportarsi per essere efficaci o anche solo per trovare un po' di serenità
Mentre leggevo ho pensato spesso a mia madre che ha vissuto in prima persona la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, la paura che provava quando passavano gli aerei amici e nemici, il non aver le parole per descrivere certe cose.
Ho letteralmente bevuto questa graphic novel, ed è stata una lettura importante.
Mi chiedo dove siano ora D. e K. ad un anno di distanza. Chissà se sono ancora vivi...
October 27, 2024
leí heimat a principio de año y me encantó, así que nada más vi este libro me hice con él.
me gustó mucho, tanto las ilustraciones como la forma de contar las dos visiones de la guerra de forma paralela semana a semana - por lo que mi sorpresa fue mayúscula al leer las críticas que tenía en goodreads. entiendo que no es un libro a gusto de todos y que el tema va a ir acompañado de polémica, pero la mitad de las reviews muestran claramente i) que no se han leído el libro, ii) que la comprensión lectora brilla por su ausencia, o iii) que hemos leído cosas diferentes.
la autora deja claro desde el principio que uno de los entrevistados es un ruso que vive en rusia y que la otra es una periodista que nació en rusia pero que vive en ucrania desde pequeña. ambos entrevistados se muestran contrarios a la guerra durante TODA la historia. de hecho, él se ve obligado a huir de rusia para no ser reclutado por el ejército. cuentan sus vidas y sentimientos semana a semana durante el primer año de la guerra y en ningún momento defienden ni la guerra ni la ocupación ??????
lo que más me ha perturbado de los comentarios es equiparar las voces de estas dos personas con dos nazis durante la segunda guerra mundial, o decir que esto es como dar voz a un violador y a su víctima.
es más, los comentarios de ODIO hacia estas dos personas me parecen una de las razones principales por las que la autora decidió escribir este libro.
conclusión: hay que leer los libros antes de puntuarlos. o simplemente hay que aprender a leer.
me gustó mucho, tanto las ilustraciones como la forma de contar las dos visiones de la guerra de forma paralela semana a semana - por lo que mi sorpresa fue mayúscula al leer las críticas que tenía en goodreads. entiendo que no es un libro a gusto de todos y que el tema va a ir acompañado de polémica, pero la mitad de las reviews muestran claramente i) que no se han leído el libro, ii) que la comprensión lectora brilla por su ausencia, o iii) que hemos leído cosas diferentes.
la autora deja claro desde el principio que uno de los entrevistados es un ruso que vive en rusia y que la otra es una periodista que nació en rusia pero que vive en ucrania desde pequeña. ambos entrevistados se muestran contrarios a la guerra durante TODA la historia. de hecho, él se ve obligado a huir de rusia para no ser reclutado por el ejército. cuentan sus vidas y sentimientos semana a semana durante el primer año de la guerra y en ningún momento defienden ni la guerra ni la ocupación ??????
lo que más me ha perturbado de los comentarios es equiparar las voces de estas dos personas con dos nazis durante la segunda guerra mundial, o decir que esto es como dar voz a un violador y a su víctima.
es más, los comentarios de ODIO hacia estas dos personas me parecen una de las razones principales por las que la autora decidió escribir este libro.
conclusión: hay que leer los libros antes de puntuarlos. o simplemente hay que aprender a leer.
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