The Ukraine

The Ukraine is a collection of twenty-six essays and stories that deliberately blurs the lines between nonfiction and fiction, leaving the reader wondering which of its pieces are true and which fictionalized. Consciously and facetiously playing with the English misuse of the article “the” in reference to Ukraine, Chapeye essentializes “the Ukraine,” which, for him, differs from “Ukraine” and captures a Ukraine as perceived from the outside, by foreigners. This pseudo-kitsch, often historically shallow, and not-quite-real Ukraine nonetheless resonates for both author and reader because of its highly engaging and brutally candid snapshots of ordinary lives and typical places. The Ukraine conveys to the reader an aroma of Ukraine that is distinctly Ukrainian—at times unglorifying and irreverent, at times loving and tender, at times uncomfortable and inconvenient. In defiance of its misused article, the author’s “the Ukraine” is every Ukrainian’s Ukraine and encompasses the country’s good, bad, obnoxiously ugly, and achingly beautiful. It is, quite simply, Ukraine.