Review: Kostya
My review of a book based on a true story. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Reality can hit harder than fiction
There's a saying along the lines of "No one would believe this story if it weren't true." The book, "Kostya," falls into that category of story. The book is based on the recollections of an old Ukrainian man who lived through the Ukrainian famine called the Holodomor, the murderous barbarity of the Nazis in World War II, and the post-war bureaucratic evil of the Soviet era. If these events were not so well documented, they would be unbelievable. Yet we know the major events described in the book happened, so the story presented rings true. Knowing this makes the events of the book shocking, because they aren't fiction; they are history.
The antagonist, Kostya, is a survivor. Throughout the book, he faces starvation, and once WWII starts, he does hard labor while hungry. Casual cruelty is the norm, either through direct violence or the banality of paperwork that dehumanizes people at scale. As the years go by, he faces betrayal and beatings. Yet, while he learns to be careful of who can be trusted, he never gives in to the darker side of human nature.
The prose is strong. The descriptions in particular enchanted me. I felt like I was in each place Kostya visited. The author really did a good job presenting the world of the time periods presented. Dialogue is also quite good. Conversations flowed well, and the difference in speaking voices between characters was quite fun to read.
I found the romantic relationship Kostya experienced quite charming. Sometimes the closest relationships are the ones formed by chance. Their youthful willingness to love in a world of cruelty was quite well done.
If there is a flaw I can point out, there were a few places when Kostya understood a non-Ukrainian language around him, when it wasn't clear if he knew the language. The book is in third-person, and it doesn't hurt the story, but in a few places it was jarring. I hope this is corrected in future editions of the book and addressed in the sequel.
In summary, this is a fun and exciting read. If all this happened to the real Kostya, he lived a hard yet amazing life. Even if there is embellishment, a fraction of the story would make for an amazing life. While not in the dark fantasy genre I often prefer, the foundation in history makes the dark aspects of this book hit hard. I look forward to more from the author.