Scan barcode
girlglitch's review
4.0
The Rooster House is a captivating family memoir. Belim revists her birth-nation Ukraine after years abroad and explores how its Soviet past has touched her family. It's both an investigative journey and family epic, with Belim ultimately working towards a greater understanding of herself, her family and the secrets that have shaped them.
Belim describes everyday Ukrainian life and its conflicted culture with honesty and sensitivity, and though the events in this book all take place before 2022, in many ways it helps to contextualise the current conflict.
A perceptive family memoir told with care and compassion, The Rooster House is a thought-provoking read.
*Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*
Belim describes everyday Ukrainian life and its conflicted culture with honesty and sensitivity, and though the events in this book all take place before 2022, in many ways it helps to contextualise the current conflict.
A perceptive family memoir told with care and compassion, The Rooster House is a thought-provoking read.
*Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*
greenmachine31's review
3.0
Good read. Liked the main character and learned a lot about Ukrainian history.
kate66's review
4.0
4.5
This is a very emotional story of one family's experience in Ukraine dating back to the 1930s when an uncle of the author disappeared, along with hundreds of thousands of other during Stalin's reign of terror. The memoir is Victoria Belim's long and difficult search into exactly what happened and also to understand what caused her own father to take his life many years later.
This memoir gives you a truly terrifying insight into exactly how difficult it was to live during those times and, indeed, much more recent periods of Soviet rule in Ukraine. It certainly gives you a good look at the resilience and bravery of those still battling the Russians today.
When I think of how little it takes to upset our equilibrium here in the UK (a lack of petrol for a few days, no tomatoes for a week, the Internet crashed for 24 hours) you begin to realise just how very little we understand about Ukrainian mentality and it certainly made me aware of how tough these people truly are. If Zelensky says they will win then it'd be a brave person who would bet against them.
I found this a fascinating look at life in one small part of Ukraine and its people. I knocked off half a star because there were times that the narrator's Russian accent became quite difficult to understand.
I'd definitely recommend this to anyone interested in current or past Ukrainian history or even someone who is interested in any foreign political history.
Thankyou to Netgalley for the ARC audio version of this book.
This is a very emotional story of one family's experience in Ukraine dating back to the 1930s when an uncle of the author disappeared, along with hundreds of thousands of other during Stalin's reign of terror. The memoir is Victoria Belim's long and difficult search into exactly what happened and also to understand what caused her own father to take his life many years later.
This memoir gives you a truly terrifying insight into exactly how difficult it was to live during those times and, indeed, much more recent periods of Soviet rule in Ukraine. It certainly gives you a good look at the resilience and bravery of those still battling the Russians today.
When I think of how little it takes to upset our equilibrium here in the UK (a lack of petrol for a few days, no tomatoes for a week, the Internet crashed for 24 hours) you begin to realise just how very little we understand about Ukrainian mentality and it certainly made me aware of how tough these people truly are. If Zelensky says they will win then it'd be a brave person who would bet against them.
I found this a fascinating look at life in one small part of Ukraine and its people. I knocked off half a star because there were times that the narrator's Russian accent became quite difficult to understand.
I'd definitely recommend this to anyone interested in current or past Ukrainian history or even someone who is interested in any foreign political history.
Thankyou to Netgalley for the ARC audio version of this book.