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Life in Spite of Everything: Tales from the Ukrainian East
A cultural portrait of eastern Ukraine, and an urgent, essential read.
Since the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine in 2014, its eastern region – Donbas – has been synonymous with conflict. With the escalation of that war in 2022, its cities such as Bakhmut and Lysychansk have become familiar to us through the images and reports of brutal devastation. Victoria Donovan excavates a rich, multicultural history of this area, and paints a radically different picture.
Travelling from the dramatic, jagged peaks of Bilokuzmynivka to the marshland of Mariupol, from a warehouse rave to an abandoned gypsum mine, the physical world and its importance to this region’s identity is brought to vivid life. But above all else, by speaking to those whose lives are embedded there now – curators, artists, railway workers, young people who have grown up amidst instability and destruction – Donovan amplifies local voices and reveals the intensely personal lived reality of Putin’s war.
Revelatory, evocative and deeply humane, Life In Spite of Everything is a celebration of a country’s past and present, and its people’s tenacity, creativity and independence.
Since the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine in 2014, its eastern region – Donbas – has been synonymous with conflict. With the escalation of that war in 2022, its cities such as Bakhmut and Lysychansk have become familiar to us through the images and reports of brutal devastation. Victoria Donovan excavates a rich, multicultural history of this area, and paints a radically different picture.
Travelling from the dramatic, jagged peaks of Bilokuzmynivka to the marshland of Mariupol, from a warehouse rave to an abandoned gypsum mine, the physical world and its importance to this region’s identity is brought to vivid life. But above all else, by speaking to those whose lives are embedded there now – curators, artists, railway workers, young people who have grown up amidst instability and destruction – Donovan amplifies local voices and reveals the intensely personal lived reality of Putin’s war.
Revelatory, evocative and deeply humane, Life In Spite of Everything is a celebration of a country’s past and present, and its people’s tenacity, creativity and independence.
- GenresUkraineTravelNonfiction
224 pages, Hardcover
Published April 24, 2025
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December 25, 2025
East of Ukraine has many sides beyond the war. This book explored it beautifully - from the art scene to cults and the early colonial history.
Unexpectedly, there were even unique comparisons to Wales and their industrial past.
In particular, I loved the many photographs included and letters from the residents that gave a small insight into their lives. One of my favorite phrases from this book comes from a letter:
"The key word here is 'atmosphere'. That is, the ether that connects everything. I got this word from some kids that I met hanging out by a fence near a zabroshka on Gogol Street in Sievierodonetsk The boys were around ten years old. And I start laughing. And they start laughing, saying 'we've been busted' and all that. And so, I ask them: 'Why is it that you like climbing around these zabroshkas?' And they come back with, 'What do you mean why? For the atmosphere, of course.' And this 'atmosphere' is the key feature that distinguishes zabroshkas from non-zabroshkas, life from non-life, and the dying from the newly born.
Kateryna Syrik
Luhansk, Luhansk region (occupied since 2014)"
Unexpectedly, there were even unique comparisons to Wales and their industrial past.
In particular, I loved the many photographs included and letters from the residents that gave a small insight into their lives. One of my favorite phrases from this book comes from a letter:
"The key word here is 'atmosphere'. That is, the ether that connects everything. I got this word from some kids that I met hanging out by a fence near a zabroshka on Gogol Street in Sievierodonetsk The boys were around ten years old. And I start laughing. And they start laughing, saying 'we've been busted' and all that. And so, I ask them: 'Why is it that you like climbing around these zabroshkas?' And they come back with, 'What do you mean why? For the atmosphere, of course.' And this 'atmosphere' is the key feature that distinguishes zabroshkas from non-zabroshkas, life from non-life, and the dying from the newly born.
Kateryna Syrik
Luhansk, Luhansk region (occupied since 2014)"
Displaying 1 of 1 review