In many ways, twelve-year-old Artem’s life in Chernihiv, Ukraine, is normal. He spends his days helping on his grandfather’s sunflower farm, drawing in his sketchbook—a treasured gift from his father, who works in America—and swimming in the river with his little brother, Yuri. In secret, Artem has begun wrestling with romantic feelings for his best friend, Viktor. In a country where love between two boys is unthinkable, Artem has begun to worry that growing up, his life will never be normal. Then, on a February night, Artem and Yuri are woken by explosions—the beginning of a war that will tear their life in two. The invading Russians destroy their home, killing their mother and grandfather, and leaving young Artem and Yuri to fend for themselves. Fleeing in hopes of somehow reuniting with their father, the brothers traverse the country their ancestors once fought and died for, with nothing but their backpacks and each other. Surrounded by death and destruction, Artem is certain of one thing—that whatever may come, he must keep himself and his brother alive.
Skillful ... Effective, efficient moments prop up the prewar section of the book, which is otherwise rushed. The main issue is Wachman’s choice to narrate the book in the present tense ... It is strange, after the intensity of this experience, to arrive at the novel’s denouement. Like the beginning, it unfolds as a blur. Wachman’s writing in a much more conventional mode; the opening provides guidance that’s not required and the closing mends tears that are better as they are. The Sunflower Boys starts too early and ends too late. These flaws are, nonetheless, outpaced by the novel’s successes. The line between a serious-minded confrontation with this pitch-black corner of humanity and an exploitive-seeming, schlocky book is thin as fishing line and he stays consistently on the right side.
Convincing and dramatic ... The novel works on multiple levels. It offers a historically specific look at Ukraine, a celebration of same-sex love, and a meditation on the pull of home. Surefooted in both its craft and its theme, the novel also lauds and exemplifies the power of art — Tato’s stories, Artem’s drawings and literary fiction itself — to help heal the trauma of war. The larger political forces may be inexorable, but, Wachman suggests, an individual can still save himself, and maybe a handful of those he loves.
Tender and poignant, shot through with deep sadness and wry humor, The Sunflower Boys is a bittersweet rendering of life in modern-day Ukraine, the effect of war on ordinary lives, and a young person discovering who he is.
