【Book Review】The Ukrainian and Russian Notebooks: Life and Death under Soviet Rule

The Ukrainian and Russian Notebooks: Life and Death under Soviet Rule

    I received a free electronic copy of this book from the publisher to make an honest review. Great thanks to NetGallery.com and Simon & Schuster.

    As always, I judge a graphic novel or a comic book by two main points, which are its illustration and its plot. I give this book five out of five stars, and it will definitely be one of my favorite graphic novels in 2016. Here is what I think about this book.

    The artwork of this book is quirky and gloomy, sometimes even scary. Although this type of illustration is not the typical ones that I like, it does correspond well with the main theme. I especially love the font of the words, therefore I give the artwork four stars.

    As for the plot, the book is divided into two parts. The first part is the Ukrainian notebook which illustrates the great famine, which is a government-sanctioned act that kills millions of Ukrainians. The second part is the Russian notebook which talks about the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya, the journalist who speaks against Putin and the second Chechen War. This graphic novel is extremely different from other graphic novels I have ever read. Previously, I only read graphic novels about romance, friendship, family, and self-development. Though containing various key elements, they all comprise positive meanings and encouraging messages. After reading this graphic novel, I can only feel disturbing and sad. This is definitely not a happy-ending-everybody-lives-happily-ever-after book. It’s painful to read how the Ukrainians are suffered from such a great disaster. Personally, I am not very familiar with the Russian history, so it’s even more shocking for me to realize how poor the people are treated. Also considering the fact that the assassination of Anna didn’t happen hundreds of years ago, instead it happened just in the 21th century, it makes the story even more astounding. This is a book that can inspire people to have more thorough and deeper contemplation about human rights. I will give the plot of this book five stars because of the bravery of the author to write about this brutality.

    I enjoy the reading experience that I have while reading this book. Therefore, I will recommend this book to people who would like to read some provoking graphic novels and people who enjoy reading about Russian history.