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Oksana Zabuzhko
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Nina Shevchuk-Murray
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The Museum of Abandoned Secrets Kindle Edition

by Oksana Zabuzhko (Author), Nina Shevchuk-Murray (Translator) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 228 ratings
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Spanning sixty tumultuous years of Ukrainian history, this multigenerational saga weaves a dramatic and intricate web of love, sex, friendship, and death. At its center: three women linked by the abandoned secrets of the past—secrets that refuse to remain hidden.

While researching a story, journalist Daryna unearths a worn photograph of Olena Dovgan, a member of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army killed in 1947 by Stalin’s secret police. Intrigued, Daryna sets out to make a documentary about the extraordinary woman—and unwittingly opens a door to the past that will change the course of the future. For even as she delves into the secrets of Olena’s life, Daryna grapples with the suspicious death of a painter who just may be the latest victim of a corrupt political power play.

From the dim days of World War II to the eve of Orange Revolution, The Museum of Abandoned Secrets is an “epic of enlightening force” that explores the enduring power of the dead over the living.

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  1. Print length
    729 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Amazon Crossing
  5. Publication date
    October 9, 2012
  6. File size
    1262 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Oksana Zabuzhko was born in 1960 in Ukraine. She made her poetry debut in 1972, but her parents’ blacklisting during the Soviet purges prevented her first book from being published until the 1980s. She earned her PhD in philosophy from Kyiv Shevchenko University and has taught as a Fulbright Fellow and writer-in-residence at Penn State University, Harvard University, and the University of Pittsburgh. She is the author of seventeen books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, which have been translated into fifteen languages and have garnered numerous awards. Her novel Field Work in Ukrainian Sex was named “the most influential Ukrainian book for the fifteen years of independence.” She lives today in Kyiv, where she works as a freelance writer.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0049P1TZM
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Amazon Crossing (October 9, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 9, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1262 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 729 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 228 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Oksana Zabuzhko

    Oksana Zabuzhko

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Oksana Zabuzhko was born in 1960 in Ukraine. She made her poetry debut at the age of 12, yet, because her parents had been blacklisted during the Soviet purges of the 1970s, it was not until the perestroika that her first book was published. She graduated from the department of philosophy of Kyiv Shevchenko University, obtained her PhD in philosophy of arts, and has spent some time in the USA lecturing as a Fulbright Fellow and a Writer-in-Residence at Penn State University, Harvard University, and University of Pittsburgh. After the publication of her novel "Field Work in Ukrainian Sex" (1996), which in 2006 was named “the most influential Ukrainian book for the 15 years of independence”, she has been living in Kiev as a free-lance author. She has authored over 20 books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, which have been translated into fifteen languages. Among her numerous acknowledgments are MacArthur Grant (2002), Antonovych International Foundation Prize (2008), the Ukrainian National Award, the Order of Princess Olha (2009), the ANGELUS Central European Literature Award (2013), and many other national and international awards.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Nina Shevchuk-Murray

    Nina Shevchuk-Murray

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Nina Murray is a Ukrainian-American poet and translator. Her translation of Lesia Ukrainka's "Cassandra" won the 2021 Ukrainian Institute London Prize for Ukrainian Literature in Translation. She is the author of five collections of poetry.

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
228 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

l
5.0 out of 5 stars Topical and Rich
Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2024
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Multi-layered, complex story. I highly recommend this well-written compelling work of art.
One person found this helpful
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Bohdan Hodiak
4.0 out of 5 stars A fine novel, but...
Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2017
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` Not many novels of Ukraine get on Amazon. That this one made it is very good for it is a fascinating epic, providing a window into Ukraine. It skillfully ties together contemporary Ukraine with the World War II era. There is the dramatic story of Ukrainian nationalists, partisans, fighting the Soviets in Western Ukraine after World War II. And in today’s Ukraine, there is a heroic television journalist, Daryna, fighting against entrenched corruption. Wealthy investors want to create a beauty pageant on the journalist’s television station whose real purpose is to draw women into prostitution. I found both stories interesting, especially since the author says the resistance movement of the partisans was based on archives opened only after the fall of the Soviet Union. The leader of the Ukrainian resistance was only killed in 1954 in Lviv, by KGB agents. The novel is really about a people fighting for their soul. A people in the grip of oligarchs, a corrupt “elite” and Putin’s helpers.
The author is more a journalist and non-fiction writer than a novelist, though she is also a poet and there are many evocative passages. But some readers may be frustrated by her novel. It doesn’t gallop ahead but is more in the style of the Russian classics. It is too wordy, too long, with too many interruptions of the narrative. For example, there is a gripping, powerful scene where the KGB secret police have discovered and surrounded the hidden bunker of Ukrainian nationalists. The people inside must decide whether to surrender or die and they chose to die but in a way that tricks and kills many of the KGP agents surrounding the bunker. Instead of giving us a driving narrative Zabushko interrupts it with asides. Same goes for a long monologue where an old Ukrainian KGB colonel bares his soul. Too bad, for unknown to him but known to the reader, he reveals a shocking bit of information. Pacing is important. I read that when the movie western “High Noon” was previewed, audiences were not impressed. But then a genius editor re-cut the film and produced one of the greatest westerns ever made.
A good novel is written from the gut as much as the mind and Zabuzhko is too much of an intellectual here. Still, the book would make a great movie because all of the above can be corrected by a good director and scriptwriter. There is mystery, drama, noble characters and a world the West knows little of. I am grateful to Zabuzhko for excavating so much suppressed and repressed material that the Ukrainian people themselves are only now discovering. Slowly, their stolen history is being restored. (Zabushko has a bibliography of her sources in the back of the book.) Despite its faults, the book is unforgettable.
21 people found this helpful
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Dace
5.0 out of 5 stars Challenge worth completing
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2021
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It was a slow book to get into, in the beginning I could not understand how this book was structured, how these stories came together - she rambles on and you lose what she was talking about initially, the chapters are very long and there are large parts in parentheses. In the audiobook it is hard to understand these transitions and stories within stories.

However, almost half-way through, I started to love it, somehow all the mosaic pieces started to fall into their places, it became easier to understand when she had rambled off and to remember which place we were still at. As I got more familiar with the main actors, I started group very fond of them. The dream format sometimes made it like a mystery/thriller...

But most of all I loved the deep and sharp contemplation not only of the Ukrainian history and its present, but more widely of life, death, love - the big questions.

The highest praise for a book is that you can't stop thinking about it and this is this kind of a book.
6 people found this helpful
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ecritic
3.0 out of 5 stars The style is off-putting
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2017
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I'm finding the writing a tough slog. Put the book aside for the moment. Not sure if I will return to it. The gratifications were slight.
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A. Crawford
5.0 out of 5 stars Historical novel about Ukraine
Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2022
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This is a beautifully written, haunting and extremely enlightening historical novel about Ukraine written by a Ukrainian author. The stream-of-consciousness prose can be a bit long-winded at times, but the contemporary characters are noble, likable and funny. The post WWII characters are tragic, but the scenes from the past are the most suspenseful, and there is a supernatural element to the novel that is very emotionally powerful. Because of Soviet occupation, so many records have been destroyed and lost, so the ghosts of the past are left to speak to the present generation through other means. This novel is so insightful to the plight of Ukrainians, not only post WWII but throughout the 70s and 80s until their independence in 1991. But this is not a ‘beach-read.” I recommend this book to those who want a challenge and who wish to learn more about the culture and history of Ukraine.
6 people found this helpful
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Marilyn A. Hills
1.0 out of 5 stars The Museum of Abandoned Secrets by Oksana Zabuzhlo
Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2012
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I had difficulty getting into this book. The sentences were wordy and long. The whole experience became overwhelming. I passed the book on to a friend and will see if she was able to struggle with it.
2 people found this helpful
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Rolf Tollefson
5.0 out of 5 stars history as novel by a poet
Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2022
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I had just finished Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder when I happened upon this book. Ukraine for me was the “Uke” line of the Boston Bruins. I considered the county a part of Russia despite having read that Kyiv was established by east Vikings; Swedes without ships to go west. Perhaps The Museum of Abandoned Secrets was mentioned in a footnote in the Snyder book. The title promised something mysterious. It was written by a Ukrainian and a woman. What better to introduce me to the country. What I read is on homage to a people, a preface to todays headlines, and an intimate present tense narrative that absorbed me to the end,all 700 pages.
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Irene
5.0 out of 5 stars Oksana Zabuzhko is considered to be "a Ukrainian Thomas Mann"
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 13, 2023
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I bought two books as presents to my friends who wanted to understand Ukraine better. We discussed it later with them, and they both were impressed by the philosophical and historical depth of this novel. The author is a genius. Yes, It's worth any intellectual person's efforts and time to read it.
One person found this helpful
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Alexandra
5.0 out of 5 stars New Eyes
Reviewed in Canada on June 1, 2015
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This book is an epic tour de force. I am of Ukrainian heritage, fluent in my mother tongue and until this reading, was under the impression that I had a good grasp on what had happened in Ukraine during the 20th century. Zabuzhko's powerful novel, her focus on the lives and role of women brings a fresh perspective and opens an entirely new way of seeing the reality of what was.
5 people found this helpful
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rox
4.0 out of 5 stars Take time to read
Reviewed in Canada on October 8, 2020
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Great book but too thick! I liked it anyway but you need patience.
One person found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Museum of abandoned secrets
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 21, 2013
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An engaging and very interesting look at Ukrainian history through the eyes of a contemporary film maker. It has sparked my interest in a country of which I know nothing. I would recommend this book to anyone, it is very well written.
3 people found this helpful
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carolyn j
5.0 out of 5 stars A work of art that will not appeal to everyone, but others will cherish and re-read again and again
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 10, 2015
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The Museum of Abandoned Secrets - Oksana Zabuzhko
This is a book that readers will either 'love' or will give up on 'hating' it. It is rather niche both in content and style, and many will not like it. Others, like me, will be so pleased to have found a fictional (kind of) book by a living author that is so compelling and 'worthy' for want of a better word.
It is impossible to give a plot resume that justifies this epic, and any I read prior to buying are misleading. This is not a 'family saga' or a 'historical novel' in the sense of those that appear on my recommendations list or in the top 100 Best Sellers.Do not expect to 'solve a mystery' based on clues in the text and when you do (around 45% through) be disappointed it was so easy and that the unexpected twist was predictable. It really is not that kind of book. This is something far more serious, more literary, more everything. It is written in a stream of consciousness style, and although there is a beginning, middle and end, they are not necessarily in that order. It is a dreamscape, a journalistic narrative, a living, dying,feverish nightmare. It is partly abstract, partly figurative, partly a figurative abstract simulacrum, and partly raw,brutal, uncompromising realism. Metaphor and symbolism thread through every page, but fear not, it is mostly explained or obvious, it is the sheer weight of it all that is breath-taking. It is a love story, a ghost story, a political, psychological and historical dialectic, a polemic against betrayal both personal and on a world scale.
Above all, the book, all 750 or so pages of it, is a work of art- a collage, a tryptych icon, a girl's buried `secret', an embroidered peasant wedding shirt, an exquisitely crafted cigarette roller. As with all works of art , it will not be to everyone's taste, and many will not give it house room.I read it on Kindle, but now intend to buy a print copy for my real book shelves. The length of it will require a significant space there.
6 people found this helpful
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