Ukrainian Books: Kaharlyk by Oleh Shunkarenko

Hello, Stranger.

Let's talk about Oleh Shunkarenko's Kaharlyk.

This is part of a short excursion into Ukrainian SF and fantasy literature, for obvious reasons.

The Short of It

Plot: Chaos remains after a Russian invasion of Ukraine, and Oleksandr's fragmented memories push him to find Olena. Originally published in Ukrainian as a series of 100 word Facebook posts.

Page Count: 176

Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)

Bechdel Test: Fail
Technobabble: Lots.
Review: Intriguing if difficult read. Lots of cool SF concepts tossed around, but combined with the 100 word block style, often confusing. Equal parts baffling and engaging. Extremely deliberate but sometimes difficult translation choices add to the mess. Nonetheless fascinating and chock full of clever ideas.

The Medium/Long of It

This is extremely hard to discuss without spoilers, and I'm not going to try. 

The book kicks off with a note from the author and another from the translator, both of which are essential to having even a semblance of understanding of what is going on. To whit:

Oleksandr Sahaidachnyi is, of course, the descendant of that enigmatic Hetman who besieged Kaluga with the warlord Gagarin, but who, for some reason, did not take Moscow. In the novel he has lost his memory due to his consciousness being brutally copied by the Russian invaders. Subsequently he operates as a trinity akin to that of the Christian religion. The first element of this trifold persona is simply Oleksandr Sahaidachnyi in his human form. The second element in his operation is that of an uploaded mind, the rebellious satellite known as Funny Russian Sputnik (FRS), which opposes the power of the Kremlin. The third element consists of Sahaidachnyi operating again as an uploaded mind known as Yuri Gagarin and controlling a satellite which is hostile to FRS. This element is completely loyal to the Kremlin and espouses a simple, primitive orthodox fundamentalism.

There's more to it than that: there are also lots of copies of other people, recorded for posterity, but dicey copying makes them dubiously accurate. I'd love to say what page number that note is on, but this book does not have page numbers. Let's make things messier.

• Chunks are instead labeled by their hundred word unit, as originally published on Facebook. 
• All three members of the trinity have chunks from their own perspectives. Satellites (both FRS and YuRi) have their chunks in italics.
• Other characters tell stories, which is to say, the recording of that person's mind relates information. Sometimes we only learn who is telling the story after they've told it, which can mean a few chunks with no indication as to who or what is speaking.
• Some characters speak in dialects. The translator notes that this is to maintain the feel of a character speaking Old Church Slavonic - and so in English he speaks a la Canterbury Tales.
• There's one section with things written in broken text using both Cyrillic and Roman letters.
• Multiple poems and songs are included.

This book is (according to Goodreads) 176 pages long. That's a lot of stuff to fit into it. 

A quick note on translation. This is a professionally translated work, and it shows. The obtuse aspects of the writing seem to be a question of the original material, as opposed to poor translation. Most of the writing itself is good, and there's a quiet humor to much of it. There are odd turns of phrase but they tend to work well:

Death is no obstacle to warm relations, but often they do not reach too high a temperature.

There is something oddly captivating about this whole book. It is wildly unpredictable. The basic story is Oleksandr trying to find Olena, his wife of whom he has fragmented memories. The actual meat of it are the different vignettes each time he gets to a new town. Some of these are truly brilliant. There are underground towns, people on Mars, and new religions. There are time anomalies, different areas where time runs at varying speeds, or loops, or stutters. One of my favorite lines is from a character in one such locale:

Next Tuesday my godmother was at ours and she ate all the bread.

The matter of fact delivery is perfect - yes, things are chaos, but it is only what it is. People find a new equilibrium when things break, and search out things to hold on to for the sake of sanity. Another character is out doing survey work on Mars. He has three colleagues. Upon going to visit one, it becomes clear to both that the colleague is not real - he is just a recording as well. This does not change their friendship.

It's pretty much impossible to judge this as a book. It was written in 2014, in the wake of the invasion of Crimea, and as a peek at mindset it is quite something. A propaganda leaflet Oleksandr stumbles upon:

The Russian Liberation Army is not an occupier. It advanced into the south-western province at the Ukrainian government's request, based on a national referendum.

A Russian nationalist (well, his mind) singing a song:

"Soldiers, brave lads, where are the kids you rue? Mykhailo sings, "Our kids are bullets aimed so true!"

FRS (the anti-Kremlin satellite) musing:

The Kremlin hopes to launch at least one loyal satellite. The problem is that as soon as the psyche gains free access to information it stops trusting official propaganda.

And a line that jumps off the page:

The main characteristic of any war is that it is never ending. 

Even with all of the notes here, it's still worth a read. This is not a book that you read for its story, its something to muddle through, an artefact, a window into a different perspective. And, especially now, one that is very worthwhile. 

I lieu of the usual affiliate book link, here are a few organizations doing work related to Ukraine. Consider donating if you can! 

Heart to Heart International

International Relief Teams

The UN Refugee Agency

Also open to other suggestions of Ukrainian books in English. Hit me up if you know of any! I'll continue with a few more of these as a brief interruption to your regularly scheduled reviews of awarded books.

And don't forget to read a book!