๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ: Sunflower Underground: A Kyiv Memoir ๐
๐๐๐๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ: Richard W. Coad โ๏ธ
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Sunflower Underground: A Kyiv Memoir is an account of a young Englishmanโs journey into post-Soviet Ukraine in the mid-1990s, a country still finding its identity amid political uncertainty, cultural awakening, and underground power structures.
From the beginning, the reader is drawn into a world of bone-chilling journeys, unfamiliar languages, and the quiet tension of crossing borders. The background setting is done well. Ukraine itself becomes a living, breathing character in the story.
As an English teacher navigating daily life in Kyiv, the narrator moves between classrooms, family kitchens, metro stations, and secretive social spaces. These encounters, whether with students, host families, diplomats, or dubious โbusinessmenโ offer an intimate look at ordinary lives shaped by extraordinary political change. The warmth of Ukrainian hospitality sits alongside the ever-present undertone of danger, corruption, and uncertainty, creating a constant sense of tension.
While the book is based on true events, its fictionalized elements made it more interesting. Readers interested in Eastern European history, travel memoirs, or personal stories set against geopolitical change will be delighted to read this book. The author has done an amazing job in this book.
- ๐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด: 5/5
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Sassy Reviews 