A Ukrainian-Canadian author's account of the Holodomor, the completely avoidable terror-famine of the early 1930s in Soviet Ukraine, as seen through the eyes of a fictional but representative farmer family. All farms were confiscated by the state in an ill-considered attempt to industrialize agriculture; the farming populace was exiled, executed, raped, and starved. True to form, the Stalin regime solved the famine crisis by declaring that it did not exist.

As grim as the depicted events are, there's a sweetness to the story. Over half the book is devoted to letting us get to know the family of protagonists, so that we understand the magnitude of what is lost. It's tragic but charming, and the ending that takes the family's story full circle is tender and happy. This is a surprisingly upbeat horrific-true-story.graphic-novels3 s Translator Monkey593 12

This will be an excellent book when completed. Right now, it's about 30 pages shy of completion, and the last half is penciled in and awaits final inking. The artwork is stark and brooding and takes the injustices of collective farms and Russian treatment of Ukraine in the late 1920s/early 1930s and shoves it in your face and down your throat. I look forward to grabbing a copy when it's published.

Sincere thanks to Edelweiss, the author Michael Cherkas, and NBM Graphic Novels for the digital ARC. 1 Rachel84

This story follows a family that is torn apart by the Holodomor. As a fictional story based on the genocide, the character choices certainly made sense. You really see how the family looks out for each other. This connects the reader to the characters and makes the devastation throughout the story all the more real and emotionally powerful. The scribbly art style is intentional and sets an emotional vibe for what's happening, but I had to reread the beginning to get a good sense of who is who since the art style is so wavy. I wasn't expecting a happy ending, but I appreciated the bit of hope and reckoning offered at the end.1 Online Eccentric Librarian3,107 5

Astute readers will recognize the themes that compelled George Orwell to write 1984. At the same time, this also gives strong insight into why the Ukrainians are fighting so hard to avoid Russian occupation. This story has plenty of heart underlying the bleak themes of mass starvation and desperation. It is not hard to find the parallels from Stalin's rule to Putin's.

Kolya is the only surviving member of his large Ukrainian family - all died in one way or other to Stalin's collectivization plans. Now elderly and living in Canada, he recounts the past horrors that haunt him: growing up in a prosperous faming village that was completely wiped out after 'voluntary' seizures of the farms and all their food taken to be sold and generate wealth for the soviet government (leaving them without enough to eat for themselves).

We see Kolya mostly as a young boy. His sister marries an idealistic man who supports the Bolsheviks, even at the expense of his Ukrainian homeland. When sister Nadya returns with her husband, they are there to enforce the 'voluntary' transfer of all farmlands to the Russian government, with anyone disagreeing to do so branded as traitors to the people and as greedy capitalists. As quotas steadily increase to beyond what people can produce, they are either sent into 'exile' (enforced labor camps in harsh climates where most died), shot, or starved to death. Most figures are in the millions of deaths - creating a strengthened Russia and a Ukraine so weakened, it could not stand up to Russian role.

The author touches on everything from corrupt officials, misguided idealism, the games of words to justify the mass murders, and the farms, religious leaders, and villagers caught in the middle. Each of Kolya's relatives die in different ways as direct consequences of Stalin's directives, leading poignancy to the story. It's a very good understanding of what is at stake right now in Ukraine.

The artwork is the classic "Dick Tracy" style - characters are easy to tell apart and the story not hard to follow at all. Most heartbreaking is to see all the traditional Ukrainian clothing throughout.

My advance reader copy was not quite finished, with sparse initial linework at the end. All the same, we know how the story does end, unfortunately, and certainly more people around the world should know better of the stakes right now in Ukraine. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher2 s Rick Ray2,550 9

A harrowing exploration into the famine induced upon the Ukrainian population by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin that would lead to at least four million dead within a year. The term holodomor is a Ukrainian word for killing by starvation, which is an apt description for the terror-famine launched by the Soviet leadership upon their fiefs, and even until this day the famine is remembered by Ukrainians all around the world in observation to the devastation reaped upon them. The story here is told from the perspective of Mykola Kovalenko, an elderly Ukrainian refugee who settled in Canada and is appalled when his grandson complains about finishing his meals. Kovalenko details his life starting from the late 1920s until the time when the famine struck in 1932. The narrative touches on exactly what Stalin was planning and how it lead to the rapid starvation of millions of Ukrainians in such a short span of time. But famine wasn't the only threat as the Red Army clamped down hard on dissidents and sent them to labor camps where they would be worked to death.

The story as laid out here does an excellent job dictating the history whilst also retaining a strong ground-level perspective on the events. Cherkas bounces between Kovalenko's perspective and that of a descriptive narration explaining what exactly Stalin was trying to achieve. It's a genuinely infuriating tale of how malice and greed can be exacted upon a population with such monumental precision, and how even top-down stupidity can lead to disastrous conditions. It's an engaging read from start to finish, but will also leave you with a growing pit in your stomach as the book leans in hard into the effects of mass starvation.

Cherkas uses a sketchy style of artwork that looks almost rushed, but it's very effective and expressionistic overall. There's a simplicity to the scratchy lines that doesn't make the pages look overly busy, even if the hatching looks a little haphazardly applied. There's a sparseness that Cherkas leans into handily that makes the setting seem appropriately bleak and morose.nbm Theediscerning7,451 99

I don't normally review books where I did not get to view the full thing, but here I was just a chapter or two shy of the end. And having been to Ukraine multiple times it's only my duty to flag this up as a vital read. This tells of the disastrous plans of Stalin to thrust Bolshevism on the Ukraine breadbasket, putting people in charge of collective farms that knew nothing about farming, and causing the starvation, deliberately or otherwise, of millions. Seed grain was robbed from people that were 'not Soviet enough', meaning nothing could replace the crops also taken for the 'common' 'good'.

An aged quiz book I looked at recently asked which country had the largest farms, and if its answer was correct then the USSR had larger farms than any Texas ranch or Australian establishment. And pretty soon they were a desert, yielding nothing. This is a fictional version, as we watch an elderly gent, in Canada, reflect with the help of an heirloom family photo, but that takes nothing away from the importance of knowing about this. I don't think Putin has added any spice to this – this narrative of criminally inept and murderous policies is rich enough, especially as we see it play out, and divide a family and village a. Told solely in well-hatched black ink on white, the style does not make all the men stand out as well as it might, but shows a memory for our old survivor that could never continue to have any colour. Potentially, when finally complete, a strong four stars.1 Eric Smith175 3

Between 1932 and 1933, millions of Ukrainians died as a result of famine. The Holodomor Genocide causes was a direct result of Stalin’s Soviet Union’s collectivization of small private farms. //Red Harvest// is the story of one family’s struggles during these chaotic times in the heart of the Ukrainian Breadbasket. Mykola’s nightmares haunt him. But as he plans to return to Ukraine to remember such a tragic episode in history, Mykola finds a family picture from his childhood, triggering the memories that make up his story of survival.

Red Harvest by author and artist Micheal Cherkas is a historical graphic novel about the Holodomor Genocide. As a Ukrainian growing up in Ontario, Canada, Cherkas was interested in the area’s history, including the darker episodes. He tells his story through the memories of a child growing up during that time. Working with only black and white, Cherkas portrays the tragedy and helplessness felt by millions of people at that time. The Holodomor Genocide is little known by many outside the Ukrainian community. With the recent war of Russia once again trying to force its dominance on the area, this is a crucial reminder of not letting history repeat itself.

this review was originally published at https://losangelesbookreview.com/revi... Tom663 9

The subject matter of this book is tragic, and something I have been rather ignorant of. Michael Cherkas presents one Ukrainian family's story of how the creation of collective farms in the early 1930s destroyed their family and their community in the Holodomor.

The author doesn't delve into all of the causes of the famine, such as possible effects of the weather. Several prominent main causes were shown. The exiling of farmers reluctant to be forced into the collectives led to a loss of agricultural knowledge. Issues of incompetence and corruption with outside Soviet officials with no agricultural knowledge were also shown. It seemed this was a situation were fealty to the party line superseded any technical skill in administration large farms. The grain quotas for exports were mentioned tangentially, and that struck me as having similarities to the Irish Potato Famine a century before. In both cases, the famine lands were exporting food, but with the population being political underclasses, they were viewed as very disposable by the power structure.

The author explained his art choice of things appearing hasty draft sketches. I didn't the art personally, but appreciated the reasoning behind that approach.comics history non-fiction ...more Alicia6,966 140

As Cherkas mentions in the beginning about finding the right illustrative approach to tell the story in images, I think he did a fine job. The tone of the story is so deeply connected to how he decided to approach it and I think it emerged as a compliment and element of how the story was told.

Based on fact, it's shared as a historical fiction graphic novel depicting the Holodomor over the course of more than a generation as a saccharine moment at the end brings the book full circle in a bittersweet way. To understand the struggles, the danger, the famine is one thing but to also humanize the willful destruction is another. Provided in the story is a family to follow and highlighting the atrocious behavior of the political regime and cooperation of a military to destroy lives including the vivid panels about what women did to feed their family.

A necessary read to continue to share more about what was hidden for so long.

"Translated from Ukranian, the term Holodomor ('killing by starvation' or 'death by hunger') refers to the starvation of millions of Ukrainians in 1932-33 as a direct result of the policies of the Communist Party and the Soviet state which targeted the Ukrainian peasantry. The Holodomore is commemorated each year on the fourth Saturday of November."adult biography-memoir dark ...more Jake M.186 6

This is a compact, personalized depiction of the Holodomor in the graphic novel format. The horrific effects of famine throughout a tiny village are explored through the memories of a man thought to be the only survivor in his family. Red Harvest is an important effort to increase awareness about the Ukrainian national experience over the last century. That said, this title should only serve as an introduction to this expansive topic. The writing includes some forced exposition which detaches the reader from the intimate misery at hand, and the visualizations lack variation, making it difficult to distinguish characters. Red Harvest is a solid pick for budding historians in the middle school and high school age brackets.non-fiction1 Hannah8


4/5⭐️

I start by stating I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway and am very appreciative I did.

This story/history is one that I was not very familiar with before reading this novel. The author did a great job of educating the reader on the history through approachable and emotional ties to the humanity of the people who lived through this tumultuous time. I love the art style and the way it felt so genuine to the story. It feels your grandfather is drawing as he explains your family’s history to make sure you get the full comprehension of the events.

Please read the content warnings. Ags 138

Educational and sad; both short/sometimes-rushed and dense.

I had some trouble keeping the characters straight. It was sometimes difficult to see what was going on due to the sketchy and sometimes dark, convoluted art style.

I really appreciated Nadya's development, and the depiction of her trying to turn around and do good for the village despite the sexual and domestic abuse she faced. Her story was a good example of a woman being complicit when her powerful husband is doing harm, and then being trapped/limited but still attempting to work for social change.graphic-novels-or-comics Uuttu544 6

Sarjakuva kertoo Venäjän aiheuttamasta nälänhädästä Ukrainassa.

Tämä oli ihan ok, mutta olisi voinut olla paljon parempikin. Tarina etenee selkeästi, mutta henkilöitä on liikaa, että heistä onnistuisi pitämään kirjaa. Tässä ei myöskään ole lopulta hirveästi tietoa: en ole holodomoriin tutustunut kuin muutaman lehtijutun kautta, mutta tämä ei tuntunut kuitenkaan tarjoavan mitään uutta.

Jos nälänhädästä ei ole koskaan kuullut, tästä sarjakuvasta saa perustiedot aiheesta, mutta se voi olla myös haastava tapa saada lisätietoa. Sara Beth135 3

many others I had not heard of the terror famine in 1930s Soviet Ukraine before reading this book. As a graphic novel, it made for a quick read while being informative. It's sad to hear what so many people had to suffer through, and I am grateful for the ones that survived. We never know how strong we are until we are forced to live through something as horrible as this. I am now even more thankful for all that I have, thank you.giveaways BiblioBeruthiel2,076 19

While I think this was a really well done book and was very interesting I personally could have used a little more handholding through the context surrounding the book. Additionally, I definitely understand the author's reasoning for using the art style that he did but I did find things to be a little less clear than I would have hoped (although it did create a vibe that was very appropriate to the story). Rick393 3

This was a harrowing story of the Holmodor that missed one thing, it was too soft. The graphics were soft and the story telling was soft to such an extent no clear horror was conveyed. This was a story about a genocide and one never gets the feeling it is about nothing more than a child revealing a story. That to me was a great disappointment.

A good story but told and drawn very poorly. disaster graphic-novels non-fiction ...more Pattie170

The words tore at my heart and the pictures will be in my mind forever. A very powerful, moving history lesson. Makes me question why are we allowing these awful mistakes to be repeated.....haven't we learned anything? Katie Haasch638 1 follower

During the early 1930s the Soviet Union suffered a massive Holodomor or famine. The Soviet Union was moving towards collective farming and kicking/ banishing or even killing anyone that refused to cooperate. This graphic novel followed a survivor retelling his story to his daughter in Canada.

Laura Anne175

I'm sorry to say I knew nothing about the Holodomor, and so I found this story very educational, especially in light of the current war in Ukraine. I enjoyed the graphic novel format, which makes it a quick read--but it's obviously quite bleak.fiction Eric424 7

In production for 15 years, the release of this book is shockingly timely. In a time when Ukrainian people once again face Russian cruelty, it's important to remember that the cycle just keeps on turning and people keep on oppressing whenever they get a chance. ArchaeoLibraryologist209

Difficult but important read. historical manga-graphic-novel non-fiction Richard Thornley131 2

A moving tale of the Holodomor.graphic-novels politics Mylesgorton221 2

Well written and drawn graphic novel covering a little known famine in Ukraine under Stalinism and how it affected Ukrainians past and present. Ellie223 3

Very informative, I unfortunately did not know that this had occurred in Ukraine. I knew Stalin was evil, but this was new to me. Robert Kenny353

Interesting subject matter, but it feels a rough draft - both the storytelling and the pictures. Brian169 6

Sketchy style of drawings rather matches the passage of memories and the gaunt nature of the experience. Annie Oosterwyk1,837 11

An excellent telling of one family’s/village’s experience of the Holodomor, a Russian produced famine in Ukraine during the 1930s. economics-politics graphic-novel history-and-exploration wildct20033,186 4

We’ll find but very grim Emily374 5

Holodomir. 1930s. Family history. Survival. graphic-novels Dave SchaafsmaAuthor 6 books31.8k

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