He might have lost some of his fanbase in the UK, but Boris Johnson remains a beloved hero to the people of Ukraine, according to the embattled country's most acclaimed living author. He’d read a copy of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s prohibited The Gulag Archipelago and wanted to know more about the gulag itself. Then he started writing his diary, the phone began ringing and he found himself too busy being a voice for Ukraine out in the world: “It’s a big responsibility. Often meandering, sometimes unfocused, his exposition of Ukrainian politics and culture at times seem unsure of its intended readership – domestic or foreign? Kurkov’s first entry in this diary is dated two months before the invasion begins, capturing a celebratory moment where anxiety about a possible war is eclipsed by New Year’s wishes for the future.

Diary of an Invasion by Andrey Kurkov | Goodreads

Throughout the diary Kurkov provides many examples of the repetition of history – many comparisons between Russia’s current destructive war to when Bolsheviks attacked Kyiv or when Nazi Germany attacked the USSR.From someone who was only moderately known outside of Ukraine, Kurkov suddenly became a literary superstar.

Diary of an Invasion | The Spectator Andrey Kurkov: Diary of an Invasion | The Spectator

The author describes how the illegal invasion of his homeland by Russia has changed his life and that of his friends , how being a refugee in your own country changes your thoughts and inner world. On Russian media, I read that a group of Ukrainian kids were taken to a Russian town and were making jokes about Putin, so the Russians started 're-educating' them. I hope people aren’t going to start displaying Russian flags as they worry about their bills,” he says, with a smile.The last time he was in the UK, Ukrainian flags were everywhere; this time, there are far fewer around. When the electricity went off that night in hundreds of villages because of the wind, tens, if not hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians burrowed into the drawers of their tables and sideboards looking for candles. I use the five volumes to rest my computer on, so that my Zooms and Skypes follow the rules of television, so that the laptop's camera is located at my eye level. I loved the rational explanations to somewhat complex reality it has become way too easy to simplify, the labor and emotional resilience this takes is commendable.

Invasion by Luke Harding and Diary of an Invasion by Andrey Invasion by Luke Harding and Diary of an Invasion by Andrey

Meanwhile, an opera-loving friend of Kurkov’s wept at the thought of not being able ever again to hear Eugene Onegin at Kyiv opera house. These are just two of the many fascinating, inspiring real-life characters who stride through the book. We saw a lot of military equipment driving in both directions on the right side of the highway, usually used by cars going to Kyiv. Not least, the extent to which actor-president Volodymyr Zelenskiy was seen, before the invasion, as too soft on Putin and too easily distracted by his feud with his own predecessor, former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko. This is the sort of book that you feel you need to take notes while reading because it is full of quotes that so perfectly and powerfully describe human reality, particularly human reality in the midst of tragedy.

Kurkov’s pen exudes a characteristic wit and spirit despite the tragedy of the war, and he remains resolved that Russia’s military campaign will founder on the shoals of Ukrainian resilience. I am sad to think that after this war, when children will be offered Russian to study at school, they will flatly refuse and say, ‘The Russians killed my grandad! But if the pen is a weapon, like a rifle, then – like a rifle – it is more effective at closer range.