Red Famine

Earlier this year I read The Lost Year: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine by Katherine Marsh. This was a fiction story told from three perspectives about the famine in Ukraine. Fascinated by the tales described in the book, I wanted to know more, so I decided to listen to Red Famine. I had always known that Stalin was often considered more horrible than Hitler, but I never knew to what exact extent. This book opened my eyes to the horrors of Stalin and his five-year plan, as well as the terrible consequences that would last for generations and would affect Ukraine's relationship with Russia up to today.

The best aspect of this book is Applebaum's writing. She is able to deliver to you the horrors that people experienced in such a way that you feel as though you are right there with them, and you understand, through her numerous examples, how people suffered. What surprised me was how she was able to juggle the different stories and examples without getting the reader lost as to what was going on overall. We have people who starved to death, as well as those who were driven to madness, and those who were driven to murder their friends and family for some grain from Soviet officials. All of this is told in such a way that the author gives maximum impact to each small tale, delivering an overall book that will last with you if for no other reason than it describes how things can so quickly spiral out of control, and how a whole country can descend into chaos. This made the book difficult to read in the best way. This book is to be slowly read, as you consider not only the horrifying events themselves but also what lead up to these events.

And Applebaum does include a copious amount of background info. Almost half the book is made up of a description of Ukraine and how it had fought for independence in a failed Revolution, as well as the Russian Revolution in general. This part of the book could have been written better. What annoys me is I cannot explain why. Maybe it was because the connective tissue linking all of these events together is mostly left up to the reader, but for me, this was the part that dragged the most.

Still, I wouldn't let that scare you, as this book is overall very well done. It offers a personal look into the famine of Ukraine as well as expands on the issues linking this event to the current conflict surrounding Russia and Ukraine. I give this book a three out of five.