lokroma reviewed Lucky Breaks by Eugene Ostashevsky
Review of 'Lucky Breaks' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Belorusets is a photographer (2 photo essays are included in the book) and it shows in her writing. She uses a documentary, part fact, part fiction style that at the same time incorporates fantastical elements, to explore the upended lives of mostly women in a series of interview-like stories set during the 2014 war in Ukraine.
Almost none of the stories deals directly with combat. Instead, through the views of a cosmetologist, a florist, a shilly-shallier, sisters, and others, whose lives have been thoroughly disoriented by a kind of civilian "fog of war," she threw me into the grayish limbo of women trying to make sense of and bring some order to their lives -- lives in which they've lost husbands, children, possessions, and often their homes. I was mesmerized by the stories and by the bravery of Ukrainian women who somehow find ways to carry on in a situation …
Belorusets is a photographer (2 photo essays are included in the book) and it shows in her writing. She uses a documentary, part fact, part fiction style that at the same time incorporates fantastical elements, to explore the upended lives of mostly women in a series of interview-like stories set during the 2014 war in Ukraine.
Almost none of the stories deals directly with combat. Instead, through the views of a cosmetologist, a florist, a shilly-shallier, sisters, and others, whose lives have been thoroughly disoriented by a kind of civilian "fog of war," she threw me into the grayish limbo of women trying to make sense of and bring some order to their lives -- lives in which they've lost husbands, children, possessions, and often their homes. I was mesmerized by the stories and by the bravery of Ukrainian women who somehow find ways to carry on in a situation which feels absolutely impossible.
