The UnSimple
2005
First Published
3.85
Average Rating
172
Number of Pages
Taras Prokhasko’s The UnSimple is a strange, poetic journey through a little-known corner of Europe. It tells the story of Anna, a woman who is reborn several times, being both daughter and wife to the same man, Sebastian. It is the story of the mysterious UnSimple, a group of beings with unusual powers who wander through the war-torn landscapes of Europe, collecting stories and weaving the fates of individuals, and who want Anna for themselves. It tells the story of a place, the small town of Ialivets, and of the mountainous region that surround it. It weaves history with folklore and fantasy, politics with poetry, ethnology with botany and philosophy. Yet the resulting text is striking for is spare, simple beauty. This is a work of magical realism inflected with the distinct, melancholy, yet ironic poetics of Central Europe, a story that is both hyper-local and yet universally accessible, and is one of the finest works by one of Ukraine’s most enthralling writers.
Avg Rating
3.85
Number of Ratings
1,243
5 STARS
38%
4 STARS
29%
3 STARS
19%
2 STARS
9%
1 STARS
6%
goodreads
Author
Taras Prokhasko
Author · 15 books
Taras Prokhasko studied Biology at Lviv University. He has worked as a radio operator, an editor, a bartender, the host of a radio program, a forester, a teacher, a gallery proprietor, a screen writer, a video operator and a gardener. For the past ten years he has worked as a journalist. He is the author of Inshi dni Anny (Anna's Other Days, 1998), FM Halychyna (FM Galicia, 2001), Neprosti (The UnSimple, 2002), Leksykon tayemnykh znan (Lexicon of Secretive Knowledge, 2005), Z tsyoho mozhna bulo b zrobyty kilka opovidan (Could Have Made a Couple of Stories from This, 2005), and Port Frankivsk (2006). He has also published a number of books in his Inshiy Format series featuring interviews he conducted with leading Ukrainian intellectuals. Several of Mr. Prokhasko's books have been translated and published in Poland, Russia and Germany. His novella Necropolis and novel The UnSimple have been translated and published in English. Taras Prokhasko is the recipient of the Joseph Conrad Award (2007) as well as Korrespondent magazine's Best Ukrainian Book Award (2006, 2007).
