Sam Wachman's beautiful, heartbreaking debut novel, The Sunflower Boys, follows a pair of young brothers whose world is upended by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. As they travel west, hoping to escape the chaos of war and reunite with their father, who has been working in the U.S., narrator Artem captures details of their journey in his sketchbook, creating a poignant account of what he has loved and lost.
Wachman begins his story in peacetime, when Artem's life in Chernihiv, north of Kyiv, is blessedly ordinary. He walks to school with his little brother, Yuri, and best friend, Viktor; he does his homework, draws, and swims in the River Desna; and he and Yuri talk to their tato (dad), sharing stories of their lives in different countries. Every fall, Yuri and Artem travel to a nearby village to help their grandfather, Did Pasha, harvest the sunflower seeds on his farm. Artem is mostly content, but he's starting to wonder two things: one, what it truly means to be a man, and two, if his growing feelings for Viktor will make him a fundamentally flawed man. When Russia launches its attack on Ukraine, Artem and Yuri flee their city, first heading to Did Pasha's village with their mother and grandfather, then further south and west on their own. The peaceful, almost pastoral, quality of the novel's early chapters serves to heighten the jarring contrast with the sudden upheaval destruction of war.
Wachman depicts the brothers' harrowing journey through small, stark details: blistered feet and clothes stiff with grime, Yuri's stuffed crocodile, and Artem's precious sketchbook, which he carries everywhere, even when he can't draw a thing. On their journey, the brothers encounter people both callous and kind: a family of villagers who welcome them in for the night; aid workers at refugee centers who help them find beds and showers; others whose promise of safe passages turns out to be a lie. Artem's primary focus is keeping Yuri safe, but he also worries for his friends, especially Viktor, who has also fled Chernihiv with his parents. As Artem searches for his tato and tries to care for Yuri, he continues to wrestle with his feelings for Viktor and his own identity in an increasingly chaotic and confusing world.
Tender and poignant, shot through with deep sadness and wry humor, The Sunflower Boys is a bittersweet rendering of life in modern-day Ukraine, the effect of war on ordinary lives, and a young person discovering who he is. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams
Shelf Talker: Sam Wachman's bittersweet, beautiful debut novel follows a pair of brothers displaced by the war in Ukraine, through the eyes and sketchbook of the older brother, an artist.