The Orphanage
Author: Serhiy Zhadan
UA Events review
A novel about a few days in the life of Pasha, a teacher who sets out to pick up his nephew from a boarding school in a frontline town in the east. Zhadan shows war not through battles, but through the bewilderment of an ordinary man who has long tried to stay "out of politics" — and suddenly has to choose. The language is dense, almost poetic; behind the everyday details lies a big question about responsibility and the coming of age of an entire country.
Who should read it: those who want to understand the war in the east from the inside, through the eyes of a civilian; fans of powerful contemporary prose and readers ready for an emotionally difficult but important book.
