This is the best book I have read so far this year. In the past I have found Kurkov's novels enjoyable, but somehow not fully satisfying. But this one is outstanding. I've liked his central characters before, but I adore this one, Sergeyich, and his strange world in the deserted village, in between the Russian and Ukrainian lines. I found him and his inner world enchanting, and his surroundings and outer world shocking. He takes his bees (all six hives on a trailer behind his Lada) south for the...

I've learned so much more about what's happening in Ukraine in 2022, and why, from reading Grey Bees (and also The Orphanage by Serhiy Zhadan), than I have from any real time news source. As he describes in his Forward, Andrey Kurkov "witnessed the population's fear of war and possible death gradually transform into apathy. I saw war becoming the norm, saw people trying to ignore it, learning to live with it as if it were a rowdy, drunken neighbor. This all made such a deep impression on me that...

A brilliant novel about a beekeeper living in the grey zone between Ukraine and Russia. You learn a lot about bees (all correct, beekeeper speaking here) but also about Ukraine, the population (that is not just white and Christian!!!), politics, and the entire conflict (now war). Dubious female characters in this one, but apart from that: a wonderful book, I recommend you read it. The roadtrip also to Crimea is wonderfully done. 5 Stars

When Russian backed separatists in the Donbas region (Donetsk and Luhansk) declared their independence in 2014, and the border there separating the Ukrainian forces and the separatists turned into a permanent conflict zone, the people who lived in the villages between these two armies, abandoned their homes and left for one side or the other. But some hardy souls refused to leave. They just stayed put in their homes, grew vegetables in their garden, lived without electricity and sometimes watche...

A beautiful story. I could have stayed with Sergey the beekeeper indefinitely as he pottered around in his humble home in the war zone, fixing meals, looking after his bees, dreaming strange dreams and being kind to others. Such a gentle, passive character who somehow manages to show more human decency and bravery than most people he encounters. It's also a devastating commentary on Russian interference in Ukraine and the good old Soviet/Russian tradition of lying while oppressing people. Loved

I've been interested in whats been going on in Ukraine. My grandfather was Ukrainian so I think that has something to do with it. I read the news reports every day but wanted to read something that explored the individuals who suffer because of this conflict. Grey Bees was on every list of "what novel to read" to better understand Ukraine today. This is the first time I read Ukrainian literature. It has a pace much different than other novels I've read. In many cases it is very slow, focussing o...

I would put this only just behind The Good Angel of Death as the novel of Kurkov’s that I have enjoyed the most and certainly well ahead of the Penguin novels. This is partly because I like my magic realism to be very light touch and indeed, it’s practically absent here, save for the odd dream sequence (another literary device that I don’t like to see overdone).The setting is present day Ukraine along with the separatist Donbass region and Russian-controlled Crimea. The mood is absurdist rathe...

It took me a while to acclimatise to Andrey Kurkov’s story, the only books of his I’ve read before are his penguin novels and this is quieter, more introspective and stylistically conventional than those, lacking their surreal, absurdist appeal. But, like those, it’s very much focused on character, in keeping with Kurkov’s approach – he sees himself as the writer equivalent of a method actor. Here, his central character’s Sergey, forcibly retired from his job as a mining inspector after a diagno...

I asked for this book for Christmas after discovering it in a local independent book shop & now I might even say its one of my favourite books to date. Its not a crazy adventure that will have you hanging off of your seat. Grey bees is a very easy-going read, with glimmers of humour and relatable characters. This book is totally unique to anything else I have read before and I would certainly recommend

A brilliant book. Ive read a lot of Kurkov and I might like this one the best.

I can only endorse the other 5 star reviews of this book. After having spent the better part of 13 years in Ukraine and Russia, the books meant a lot to me. The simple life to which the main character Sergeyich aspires is very credible. Be it one of two habitants of a village, from which the population has fled, it being in the nomansland of eastern Ukraine between the warring fronts. He lives without electricity or running water. Then in spring, he heads, in his old Lada and a trailer with his

This book is a gem. Wonderfully written and great insight to the grey zone between Russia and Ukraine. Also sheds light on the awful and unjust treatment of Tatars in the Crimea.

REVIEW: Grey Bees by Andrey Kurkov translated from Russian by Boris Dralyuk•First I’d like to say that this book has a very special place in my heart. I bought it last year because I thought it would make the International Booker longlist. That it wasn’t even in the longlist is a travesty and the reasons why prizes are pointless. That’s a discussion for another time though.•Grey Bees centres around Sergey Sergeyich, a beekeeper from the so called grey zone in Donbas. This is basically a 400 km l...

Sergey lives in a small village in the grey zone, an area between the frontlines of the pro-Russian/separatist and Ukranian armies. He’s a retired mine safety inspector and beekeeper, living alone because he’s been left by his wife and child, and because he has so far refused to leave his village. His only neighbour is Pashka, a childhood frenemy. Because of circumstances, Pashka and Sergey are thrown together, but their politics do not always align.As the war drags on, and summer approaches, Se...

This is perhaps one of the most gentle war novels I’ve ever read. Taking place half in a village of only two occupants and half in Crimea, I constantly had the feeling that something extreme was going to happen to Sergey the beekeeper. However, this isn’t that kind of book and it’s honestly all the better for it.