I sometimes abuse ampersands

A review of an iconic Ukrainian novel that was recently translated into English: We Are All From The Camps: A Review of Oksana Zabuzhko’s Fieldwork in Ukrainian Sex — Brianna Berbenuik. While I do not agree with parts of it (Ukrainian language being almost dead by 1991? o rly?), it is a good review, addressing some of the points I found important about the book (though the crux of the novel is Ukrainian identity, the book is not exclusively about being Ukrainian. It’s about being on your knees under the weight of any culture). And it was such an important book for me at one point; I read it with a dawning sense of recognition and exhilaration; it effectively pins down so many things that come with being Ukrainian in the last couple of decades. Zabuzhko's latest novel, The Museum of Forgotten Secrets (English translation coming out in 2014, I believe), a 800-page long pile of mysoginistic crap, felt like a betrayal, so I do not have the courage to reread Fieldwork... and check if it was as vile, but I'm grateful to it, and I'm glad for the translation - one more Ukrainian book I can push on people!

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The first three chapters of Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan (coming out in September) are up online! They feature an intrepid high school journalist who won't let common sense get in the way of her big break-through story, a gothic manor presiding over a small town of Sorry-on-Vale, imaginary friends, and SRB's sense of humour. Why can't it be September right now?