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The Green Library
As one reviewer remarked, "Every once in a while, an author effects a haunting... In her new novel ... Janice Kulyk Keefer has managed such magic." The journey of a woman who is forced to abandon the restrictive safety of her life and travel back into a secret, disturbing, yet richly human family history, The Green Library is an unforgettable story about the profound need to remember and to belong - to the present and the past, to the familiar and the strange.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
2 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
About the author
Janice Kulyk Keefer
25 books23 followersShe is a Canadian novelist and poet.
Born in Toronto, she studied literature at universities in England and France. She teaches literature and theatre in the graduate studies department at the University Of Guelph.
Of Ukrainian heritage, Janice often writes about the experiences of first-generation Canadian children of immigrants. Her sister is the Canadian artist, Karen Kulyk.
Born in Toronto, she studied literature at universities in England and France. She teaches literature and theatre in the graduate studies department at the University Of Guelph.
Of Ukrainian heritage, Janice often writes about the experiences of first-generation Canadian children of immigrants. Her sister is the Canadian artist, Karen Kulyk.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 12, 2022
Janice Kulyk Keefer has titles to attract book aficionados, “The Ladies’ Lending Library” and from 1996, “The Green Library”. I got both for pennies and looked forward to portraits of book sharing and enchanting locations. Most of all, they feature Ukrainians: in Ontario and their homeland. This year in 2022, these strong people are at war and all our hearts around the world are praying for their safety, restoration, and peace. According to reviews, those libraries are in neither stories, squeezed out by sombre family treatises. I am sorry to say, reading this novel was a slog and I will not endure the other one similar to it.
The green library was only the site of a horrendous, sad, war betrayal. The modern protagonist was depressive and dry. The only thing that lifted her personality was sex with someone who had aroused her since they were teenagers. Is anyone’s life so bland? Couldn’t Eva take present pleasure in her Son, cat, and friends? The cat died, with hardly a rise in emotions from that block of ice.
A mystery was of interest but Janice never solidified a recognizable genre. A photo proposed a different biological Father. Eva’s Mom having dementia was a pretext for not providing the answers. She located their former housemaid’s family, wherein someone else could have explained everything and have omitted a bleak 272 page sojourn. Eva’s Father showed even less feeling, robbing us of the elation that every other book resolution would capitalize on.
I value learning how Ukraine was in the 1990s. I had to add a second star, to respect them and Janice’s passionate insight. It was rough, with low currency and mere toiletries hard to come by. Canadians understand language bitterness but I am sad that Russians attacked Ukrainians over their God-given heritage.
The green library was only the site of a horrendous, sad, war betrayal. The modern protagonist was depressive and dry. The only thing that lifted her personality was sex with someone who had aroused her since they were teenagers. Is anyone’s life so bland? Couldn’t Eva take present pleasure in her Son, cat, and friends? The cat died, with hardly a rise in emotions from that block of ice.
A mystery was of interest but Janice never solidified a recognizable genre. A photo proposed a different biological Father. Eva’s Mom having dementia was a pretext for not providing the answers. She located their former housemaid’s family, wherein someone else could have explained everything and have omitted a bleak 272 page sojourn. Eva’s Father showed even less feeling, robbing us of the elation that every other book resolution would capitalize on.
I value learning how Ukraine was in the 1990s. I had to add a second star, to respect them and Janice’s passionate insight. It was rough, with low currency and mere toiletries hard to come by. Canadians understand language bitterness but I am sad that Russians attacked Ukrainians over their God-given heritage.
June 25, 2012
This is my favourite novel of all time. I first read this novel when I was in my late 20s, around the time that I was starting a family. I loved it so much I passed it around to my workmates.
I read it again about 10 years later, and I found it to be sadder, deeper and much more complicated than when I had read it with younger eyes.
I have since loaned this book out and have never received it back, and it had been about 5 years now since my second reading. I will need to read it a third time to feel qualified to review it in detail.
I read it again about 10 years later, and I found it to be sadder, deeper and much more complicated than when I had read it with younger eyes.
I have since loaned this book out and have never received it back, and it had been about 5 years now since my second reading. I will need to read it a third time to feel qualified to review it in detail.
October 15, 2007
Janice Kulyk Keefer is the Ukrainian-Canadian writer. This distinction may not mean much to most readers, but I feel obligated to read her. As such, I started her memoirs Honey and Ashes several months ago but found the writing sluggish and inaccessible. I tried Kulyk Keefer again this weekend with her novel The Green Library.
At first, I found The Green Library equally difficult to read. I am not an expert on contemporary Canadian writers. However, my experience is that many of them favor stylistic writing. Kulyk Keefer is no exception. At first, her writing felt dense and self-conscious. I was more aware of the words on the page—of trying to decipher her meaning—than actually comprehending or enjoying the story itself.
Eventually, though, I grew more accustomed to Kulyk Keefer’s writing and found myself more absorbed in the story and less distracted by the writing.
Eva is a middle-aged woman who unexpectedly discovers she has Ukrainian heritage. She visits Ukraine and becomes reacquainted with a boy (now a man) she knew as a child.
Although I’m not as young as I’d like to be, I still have difficulty enjoying and relating to stories about middle-aged women who experience relationship crises. Kulyk Keefer continually describes Eva as an extraordinarily caring and sympathetic woman. Yet, she alienates her longtime lover, seems complacent about cutting off ties with her lover’s child whom she raised, and rarely appears concerned about her own biological son. As a person, I found her unattractive and unappealing.
But I am in love with Ukraine, and I enjoyed Kulyk Keefer’s descriptions of a 1993 Kiev. The book has too much Ukrainian history, something that could be incredibly boring to the average reader, but I was fascinated by it.
Ultimately, the book held my interest, but The Green Library may not be to everyone’s taste.
At first, I found The Green Library equally difficult to read. I am not an expert on contemporary Canadian writers. However, my experience is that many of them favor stylistic writing. Kulyk Keefer is no exception. At first, her writing felt dense and self-conscious. I was more aware of the words on the page—of trying to decipher her meaning—than actually comprehending or enjoying the story itself.
Eventually, though, I grew more accustomed to Kulyk Keefer’s writing and found myself more absorbed in the story and less distracted by the writing.
Eva is a middle-aged woman who unexpectedly discovers she has Ukrainian heritage. She visits Ukraine and becomes reacquainted with a boy (now a man) she knew as a child.
Although I’m not as young as I’d like to be, I still have difficulty enjoying and relating to stories about middle-aged women who experience relationship crises. Kulyk Keefer continually describes Eva as an extraordinarily caring and sympathetic woman. Yet, she alienates her longtime lover, seems complacent about cutting off ties with her lover’s child whom she raised, and rarely appears concerned about her own biological son. As a person, I found her unattractive and unappealing.
But I am in love with Ukraine, and I enjoyed Kulyk Keefer’s descriptions of a 1993 Kiev. The book has too much Ukrainian history, something that could be incredibly boring to the average reader, but I was fascinated by it.
Ultimately, the book held my interest, but The Green Library may not be to everyone’s taste.
March 9, 2022
I have now read this book again, which was published in English in 1996 and in German in 1999. Now, in the crisis of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has become deeply relevant again. This is a beautiful story about people in love and hope, suffering and pain between Canada and Ukraine. The arc is drawn between 1941 - 1993. It is a wonderful book, relevant for now and always, poetic and magical.
November 29, 2021
I read The Green Library ( borrowed from a friend in Ukraine) back around the time it came out and absolutely loved it. Since I was living in Kyiv at the time, it was doubly interesting to me. Recently I bought my own copy and am about to embark on reading it again. Will write more fully when I finish.
March 1, 2018
Ich habe im Flugzeug versucht, es zu lesen, hatte also nicht viel anderes zu tun. Und trotzdem fand ich den Schreibstil so schrecklich, dass ich es mitten auf einer Seite zugeklappt habe, weil es mir einfach so egal war.
September 27, 2017
Beautifully written!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews