Título: I Will Die in a Foreign Land
Autor: Kalani Pickhart
Sinopse: * 2022 Young Lions Fiction Award, Winner.
* A BookBrowse "20 Best Books of 2022"
* VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, Longlist.
* An ABA "Indie Next List" pick for November 2021.
* "A Best Book of 2021" —New York Public Library, Cosmopolitan, Independent Book Review
* "October 2021 Must-Reads" —Debutiful, The Chicago Review of Books, The Millions
In 1913, a Russian ballet incited a riot in Paris at the new Théâtre de Champs-Elysées. “Only a Russian could do that," says Aleksandr Ivanovich. “Only a Russian could make the whole world go mad.”
A century later, in November 2013, thousands of Ukrainian citizens gathered at Independence Square in Kyiv to protest then-President Yanukovych’s failure to sign a referendum with the European Union, opting instead to forge a closer alliance with President Vladimir Putin and Russia. The peaceful protests turned violent when military police shot live ammunition into the crowd, killing over a hundred civilians.
I Will Die in a Foreign Land follows four individuals over the course of a volatile Ukrainian winter, as their lives are forever changed by the Euromaidan protests. Katya is an Ukrainian-American doctor stationed at a makeshift medical clinic in St. Michael’s Monastery; Misha is an engineer originally from Pripyat, who has lived in Kyiv since his wife’s death; Slava is a fiery young activist whose past hardships steel her determination in the face of persecution; and Aleksandr Ivanovich, a former KGB agent, who climbs atop a burned-out police bus at Independence Square and plays the piano.
As Katya, Misha, Slava, and Aleksandr’s lives become intertwined, they each seek their own solace during an especially tumultuous and violent period. The story is also told by a chorus of voices that incorporates folklore and narrates a turbulent Slavic history.
While unfolding an especially moving story of quiet beauty and love in a time of terror, I Will Die in a Foreign Land is an ambitious, intimate, and haunting portrait of human perseverance and empathy.
"Kalani Pickhart's timely debut novel, I Will Die In a Foreign Land, is about the 2014 Ukrainian revolution which provided a pretense for Russia to annex Crimea. The story follows the experiences of several characters whose lives intersect as the country's political situation deteriorates. There's a Ukrainian-American doctor, an old KGB spy, a former mine worker, and others, and these episodes are interspersed with folk songs, news reports and historical notes. The effect—kaleidoscopic but never confusing—provides an intimate sense of a country convulsing, mourning, and somehow surviving."
—CBS News, "The Book Report: Recommendations from Washington Post critic Ron Charles"
(Watch the full video on CBS News, February 6, 2022).
Contexto da obra
Como livro em inglês, esta obra costuma ganhar também uma camada própria de interesse editorial e linguístico. “I Will Die in a Foreign Land”, de Kalani Pickhart, publicado pela editora Two Dollar Radio, em 2022 e com 320 páginas, integra a categoria Livros em Inglês. Por isso, o interesse da obra tende a se ampliar quando o leitor considera também a relação com a língua em que ela circula.
Editora: Two Dollar Radio
Páginas: 320
Ano: 2022-05-10
Edição:
Linguagem: en
ISBN: 1953387306
ISBN13: 9781953387301
Sobre a editora
Os livros da editora Two Dollar Radio revelam uma escrita que mescla profundidade emocional com ambientações marcantes, muitas vezes em cenários pequenos ou periféricos, como cidades rurais, bairros urbanos ou regiões históricas. A experiência de leitura costuma ser intensa, com narrativas que exploram conflitos internos e externos, como lutas pessoais contra o isolamento, a memória ou a transformação social. O tom varia entre o lírico e o tenso, com uma prosa que pode ser tanto densa e poética quanto direta e visceral, sempre focada em personagens complexos e suas relações. O catálogo sugere uma preferência por histórias que desafiam o leitor a mergulhar em atmosferas específicas, ora mais contemplativas, ora carregadas de suspense e inquietação.
