Oksana Zabuzhko, trans. by Nina Murray, Halyna Hryn, Askold Melnyczuk, Marco Carynnyk and Marta Horban
RaveLos Angeles Review of BooksRich, lyrical descriptions lasso the reader into the lives of the characters and into the historical dramas of the past and present ... The gravity of the subjects differs from piece to piece, yet the seriousness of Zabuzhko’s tone lends all the characters dignity ... Zabuzhko herself seems fully in command of her language. We get a deep sense of the camaraderie that takes hold of strangers during uprisings, and of the way one comes to crave that feeling ... We are made to feel the lives of the sisters Hanna and Olenka, to dwell in their skins ... Yet the story that most effectively portrays the relationship between female protagonists is the appropriately titled \'Girls.\' In it, Zabuzhko’s gift for depicting female sensuality and interconnection shines like nowhere else ... The words she has found are nearly always perfect, one leading effortlessly to another. The reader moves through the text as if following the scent of flowers.
