“Lichtman’s light touch is a welcome reminder of the humor and wit that, as he points out in a preface written after Russia’s invasion last year, pervades Ukrainian culture even now.” –New York Times

 

“[A] biting comedy.” –Vanity Fair

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“This is a dry-humored and self-aware book, and it’s precisely because the author isn’t a try-hard that modern, prewar Ukraine is allowed to come alive in its pages in its ramshackle, intoxicating glory.” –Natalia Antonova, Foreign Policy

 

“A slyly cerebral work…with a complete mastery of tone…A playful, incisive, and deeply human novel of cultural and personal disconnect that should appeal to fans of Ben Lerner’s Leaving the Atocha Station and Lauren Oyler’s Fake Accounts.” –Library Journal (Starred Review) 

“A stylish and often surprising American-expatriate novel for the not-quite-post-colonial age—and a portrait of Ukraine in the run-up to Russia’s 2022 assault... Perhaps most impressive is Lichtman's high-wire act of tone... A sometimes rollicking, sometimes tragedy-tinged novel about a not-so-innocent abroad.” –Kirkus (Starred Review)

 

“No good deed goes unpunished in this madcap dark comedy... Lichtman delivers a perfect send-up of the American abroad... This is devilish and energizing.”  –Publishers Weekly

 

“Sardonic, twisty.” –Booklist

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“This pure tragicomedy is worth every tear.” –Off the Shelf

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“Calling Ukraine is the funniest tragedy I've ever read, or maybe the saddest comedy.” – Garth Greenwell, author of Cleanness and What Belongs to You

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“A book full of unexpected laughter, strangeness and delight, plus one of the most demented workplace tragicomedies ever written.” -Gary Shteyngart, author of Our Country Friends

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“Lichtman’s delightful, gripping novel offers screwball banter, a send-up of American start-up culture, [and] an expat romance with a dark Hitchockian left turn.” –Caleb Crain, author of Overthrow and Necessary Errors

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“In his masterful second novel, Johannes Lichtman digs down into the wonders and banal horrors of what it means to be 'free.' Slim and subtle and sharply observed, this novel gripped me from its opening pages to its chilling dénouement.” –Laura Sims, author of Looker

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