Description
Book SynopsisMondegreen tells the story of a refugee from Ukraine’s Donbas region who has escaped to Kyiv at the onset of the Ukrainian-Russian war. Written in beautiful, experimental style, the novel shows how people—and cities—are capable of radical transformation and how this, in turn, affects their interpersonal relations and cultural identification.
Trade ReviewTrue to its title, Rafeyenko’s
Mondegreen is a tapestry of Soviet rock lyrics, traditional folk ballads, the poems of Taras Shevchenko, and contemporary literary memes, all filtered through the ears of a Ukrainian language learner…Given the complexity of the text, it’s astonishing how much Andryczyk was able to impart in his English version. Moreover, the translation leaves the reader not with a sense of loss but with a feeling that over the horizon there is a tantalizingly rich and vibrant world that one can only access if they too learn Ukrainian…
Mondegreen is truly indulgent, a lyrical celebration of words and their power, not just to express but to transform. -- Lillian Posner * Los Angeles Review of Books *
Playful and allusive, with bursts of fantasy and nightmare, in the tradition of magic realism. -- Luke Harding * The Guardian *
