Grey Bees background, links and discussion questions

 

Grey Bees

 

Andrey Vuryevich Kurkov (born 23 April 1961 in Leningrad, USSR) is a Ukrainian author and public intellectual who writes in Russian. He is the author of 19 novels, including the bestselling Death and the Penguin, nine books for children, and about 20 documentary, fiction and TV movie scripts. His work is currently translated into 37 languages. Kurkov's most recently translated novel, Grey Bees, which has "elements of both the fable and the epic", dramatizes the conflict in his country through the adventures of a beekeeper. The novel was translated into French by Paul Lequesne as Les abeilles grises, which won the 2022 Prix Medicis etranger.

Kurkov lives in Kyiv with his English wife, Elizabeth, and their three children. After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, he became an internally displaced person and continued to write and broadcast about the war. A bilingual, native Russian speaker, in a 2022 interview Kurkov speculated that Russia's war on Ukraine, rather than suppress Ukrainian culture and identity, would potentially have the opposite effect, encouraging Ukrainian writers, especially those whose native language is Russian, to publish increasingly, or even exclusively, in Ukrainian. (Wikipedia)

 

Useful reviews and interviews

 

Frenemies in a War Zone: On Andrey Kurkov's "Grey Bees - LA Times –

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/frenemies-in-a-war-zone-on-andrey-kurkovs-grey-bees/

  A Humorous Ukrainian Writer, With Nothing to Laugh About- NYT -

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/25/books/andrey-kurkov-ukraine-war.html

A Ukrainian Novel Looks Between the Lines of War - New Yorker -

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/04/25/a-ukrainian-novel-looks-between-the-lines-of-war

A Beekeeper and his bees go on a road-trip across war-torn Eastern Ukraine - 

https://electricliterature.com/grey-bees-by-andrey-kurkov-novel-ukraine/

 

Some major themes of Russian Literature:

 

1.     Westernizers vs. Slavophiles - constant awareness of Russia's relation to the cultures of the West

 

2.    The superfluous man - men whose ambition is made irrelevant by the great power of the state

3.    The "enchanted wanderer"

4.    Hagiography - Saints' lives

        5.   Skaz - telling tales in an almost folkloric voice

 

Discussion Questions for Grey Bees by Andrei Kurkov

1.    What is Sergeich's relationship to the color grey? How does it change throughout the novel?

 

2.    Why was the name of Sergeich and Vitalina's daughter such a breaking point for their relationship?

 

3.    What is the significance or the vodka/lard (pig fat, not usually rendered)/onion ceremony in the book?

 

4.    Why does Sergeich feel so empowered by changing the street signs around?

 

5.    Who is the "great man" who comes to sleep on the bee bed, and why is Sergeich so moved by his coming?

 

6.    Why do  Pahka and Sergeich remain "friends/frenemies" despite their enormous differences?

 

7.    Why are bees, in particular, at the center of the story? Are they inside culture or outside of it?

 

    8.    From the point of view of art, why does Sergeich go to Crimea instead of further west in Ukraine? What does Kurka need him to find there?

 

    9.    What is the role of the comic scenes at the border?

 

10.  Are you surprised by Sergeich's ignorance of Tatar culture?

 

        11.  How does Sergeich's time in Crimea affect him?

        12.  Do you really have to know the history of this region to understand this book?

13.  What is the relationship between the three regions where Sergeich spends time in this book - the grey zone, "free Ukraine" and Crimea?

 

14. Towards the end of the novel, Sergeich could have chosen any one of three ultimate destinations: back to his wife, back to Galya, or back to Starohorodivka. Why does he make the choice he does?

 

15. How has Sergeich changed by the end of the novel?

 

Map of grey zone in 2015

 

    

 

May book

 

 Grey Bees

by Andrey Kurkov

Wednesday

May 24th at 1pm

At the library or on zoom.

 

  

 

 

Print copies are available.
Also available:

Hoopla audiobook

Hoopla ebook

Overdrive/Libby audiobook

Overdrive/Libby ebook

 

With a warm yet political humor, Ukraine's most famous novelist presents a balanced and illuminating portrait of modern conflict. Little Starhorodivka, a village of three streets, lies in Ukraine's Grey Zone, the no-man's-land between loyalist and separatist forces. Thanks to the lukewarm war of sporadic violence and constant propaganda that has been dragging on for years, only two residents remain: retired safety inspector turned beekeeper Sergey Sergeyich, and Pashka, a rival from his schooldays. With little food and no electricity, under constant threat of bombardment, Sergeyich's one remaining pleasure is his bees. As spring approaches, he knows he must take them far from the Grey Zone so they can collect their pollen in peace. This simple mission on their behalf introduces him to combatants and civilians on both sides of the battle lines: loyalists, separatists, Russian occupiers, and Crimean Tatars. Wherever he goes, Sergeyich's childlike simplicity and strong moral compass disarm everyone he meets. But could these qualities be manipulated to serve an unworthy cause, spelling disaster for him, his bees and his country?  

Original Ukrainian cover
By https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43597829, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71636017

 

 

 

April title

Afterlife
by Julia Alvarez

Wednesday April 26th at 1pm
at the library and on zoom

Copies of the book are available now!
Large print and audio CD available too.

Digital copies:

Overdrive/Libby ebook
Overdrive/Libby audiobook

hoopla ebook
hoopla audiobook

 

The first adult novel in almost fifteen years by the internationally bestselling author of In the Time of the Butterflies and How the García Girls Lost Their Accents

“A stunning work of art that reminds readers Alvarez is, and always has been, in a class of her own.” —Elizabeth Acevedo, National Book Award-winning author of the New York Times bestseller The Poet X

Antonia Vega, the immigrant writer at the center of Afterlife, has had the rug pulled out from under her. She has just retired from the college where she taught English when her beloved husband, Sam, suddenly dies. And then more jolts: her bighearted but unstable sister disappears, and Antonia returns home one evening to find a pregnant, undocumented teenager on her doorstep. Antonia has always sought direction in the literature she loves—lines from her favorite authors play in her head like a soundtrack—but now she finds that the world demands more of her than words.

Afterlife is a compact, nimble, and sharply droll novel. Set in this political moment of tribalism and distrust, it asks: What do we owe those in crisis in our families, including—maybe especially—members of our human family? How do we live in a broken world without losing faith in one another or ourselves? And how do we stay true to those glorious souls we have lost?

March title

The Next Ship Home : a novel of Ellis Island

by Heather Webb

Wednesday

March 29th at 1pm

Copies of the book will be available at the library starting on March 1st.  Also available as a hoopla audiobook, hoopla ebook, and as an Overdrive/Libby ebook. 

The book group will meet in the Local History Room as well as on Zoom. 

 

An unflinching look at the immigrant experience, an unlikely and unique friendship, and a resonant story of female empowerment."—Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author of The Woman with the Blue Star

Ellis Island, 1902: Two women band together to hold America to its promise: "Give me your tired, your poor ... your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."

A young Italian woman arrives on the shores of America, her sights set on a better life. That same day, a young American woman reports to her first day of work at the immigration center. But Ellis Island isn't a refuge for Francesca or Alma, not when ships depart every day with those who are refused entry to the country and when corruption ripples through every corridor. While Francesca resorts to desperate measures to ensure she will make it off the island, Alma fights for her dreams of becoming a translator, even as women are denied the chance.

As the two women face the misdeeds of a system known to manipulate and abuse immigrants searching for new hope in America, they form an unlikely friendship—and share a terrible secret—altering their fates and the lives of the immigrants who come after them.

This is a novel of the dark secrets of Ellis Island, when entry to "the land of the free" promised a better life but often delivered something drastically different, and when immigrant strength and female friendship found ways to triumph even on the darkest days.

 

February title

 These Precious Days

by Ann Patchett

Wednesday February 22nd

at 1pm

At the library and on zoom 

 

 

Copies are available at the library including large print and audio cd editions. Also available as a Hoopla ebook and Hoopla audiobook, as well as a Libby ebook.

 

The beloved New York Times bestselling author reflects on home, family, friendships and writing in this deeply personal collection of essays.  

"The elegance of Patchett's prose is seductive and inviting: with Patchett as a guide, readers will really get to grips with the power of struggles, failures, and triumphs alike." --Publisher's Weekly

"Any story that starts will also end." As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth in these wise essays that afford a fresh and intimate look into her mind and heart. 

At the center of These Precious Days is the title essay, a surprising and moving meditation on an unexpected friendship that explores "what it means to be seen, to find someone with whom you can be your best and most complete self." When Patchett chose an early galley of actor and producer Tom Hanks' short story collection to read one night before bed, she had no idea that this single choice would be life changing. It would introduce her to a remarkable woman--Tom's brilliant assistant Sooki--with whom she would form a profound bond that held monumental consequences for them both. 

A literary alchemist, Patchett plumbs the depths of her experiences to create gold: engaging and moving pieces that are both self-portrait and landscape, each vibrant with emotion and rich in insight. Turning her writer's eye on her own experiences, she transforms the private into the universal, providing us all a way to look at our own worlds anew, and reminds how fleeting and enigmatic life can be. 

From the enchantments of Kate DiCamillo's children's books (author of The Beatryce Prophecy) to youthful memories of Paris; the cherished life gifts given by her three fathers to the unexpected influence of Charles Schultz's Snoopy; the expansive vision of Eudora Welty to the importance of knitting, Patchett connects life and art as she illuminates what matters most. Infused with the author's grace, wit, and warmth, the pieces in These Precious Days resonate deep in the soul, leaving an indelible mark--and demonstrate why Ann Patchett is one of the most celebrated writers of our time.

 

January meeting

 

Due to a winter storm warning, we will be meeting on Wednesday January 25th at 1pm via ZOOM.  Please contact the library at info@hopkintontownlibrary.org to obtain the zoom link.

The program is made possible by New Hampshire Humanities and our program host is Carrie Brown. 

 

 

January title - Perspectives Book Group from NH Humanities

Perspectives Book Group

Hamnet: A Novel of the Plague

Wednesday January 25th at 1pm 

Hopkinton Town Library

Presenter: Carrie Brown

As part of New Hampshire Humanities' Perspectives Book Groups, we're reading "Hamnet," by Maggie O'Farrell.  In this imagined re-creation of the early life of Shakespeare, his wife Agnes is an extraordinary woman, a gifted healer, and a central force in her husband's life. Tragedy occurs in the family just as the young husband's career in the London theatre is taking off. 

Drawing on Maggie O'Farrell's long-term fascination with the little-known story behind Shakespeare's most enigmatic play, Hamnet is a luminous portrait of a marriage, at its heart the loss of a beloved child.

Warwickshire in the 1580s. Agnes is a woman as feared as she is sought after for her unusual gifts. She settles with her husband in Henley street, Stratford, and has three children: a daughter, Susanna, and then twins, Hamnet and Judith. The boy, Hamnet, dies in 1596, aged eleven. Four years or so later, the husband writes a play called Hamlet.

Award-winning author Maggie O'Farrell's new novel breathes full-blooded life into the story of a loss usually consigned to literary footnotes, and provides an unforgettable vindication of Agnes, a woman intriguingly absent from history.

Please contact the library at info@hopkintontownlibrary.org or 603-746-3663 to reserve a copy of the book.  The meeting will take place at the library.  There will be a zoom option; contact the library as above for a zoom invitation. 

This book is also available on Overdrive/Libby as an audiobook or ebook. Login to your Overdrive account to make sure you are seeing all copies available.