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Under This Unbroken Sky
Evocative and compelling, rich in imagination and atmosphere, Under This Unbroken Sky is a beautifully wrought debut from a gifted new novelist.
Spring 1938. After nearly two years in prison for the crime of stealing his own grain, Ukrainian immigrant Teodor Mykolayenko is a free man. While he was gone, his wife, Maria; their five children; and his sister, Anna, struggled t...more
Spring 1938. After nearly two years in prison for the crime of stealing his own grain, Ukrainian immigrant Teodor Mykolayenko is a free man. While he was gone, his wife, Maria; their five children; and his sister, Anna, struggled t...more
Hardcover
Published
by George Weidenfeld & Nicholson
(first published January 1st 2009)
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This novel had me glued to it until I finished it in one sitting. We follow Teodor Mykolayenko and his family from the spring of 1938 until the spring of 1939. The Mykolayenko's are immigrants from the Ukraine, who have settled in Alberta.
Teodor has just returned to his family after a year spent in jail for stealing his own grain. His wife and children have been living in a shed on the land of his sister Anna and her family. Anna has agreed to pay the fee to homestead the land beside her own, wi...more
Teodor has just returned to his family after a year spent in jail for stealing his own grain. His wife and children have been living in a shed on the land of his sister Anna and her family. Anna has agreed to pay the fee to homestead the land beside her own, wi...more
Historical novel set in Canada's northern prairies in the late 1930s. Ukrainian immigrants Teodor Mykolayenko, his wife Maria and their five children have escaped the oppression of Stalin's Soviet Union and settled on a homestead in western Canada. Having served a two-year sentence for stealing grain that belonged to him, Teodor returns to his family, which includes his sister Anna and her two children, and with demonic resolution sets out to clear the land and ensure his family's future in this...more
This may be the first distinctly Canadian book I've read in awhile. (I mean, I love Margaret Atwood, but as far as I know, she hasn't come out with anything new recently.) The story takes place in Alberta, Canada (!!) during the Great Depression, and follows the lives of a Ukrainian refugee family who have fled their home and settled in the bitter, unyielding prairies. When the book begins, the father has just been released from prison, where he served a sentence for stealing a bag of grains tha...more
The struggle and tragedy that befell the Ukrainian immigrants to Canada is portrayed with gut wrenching precision. This story may be fictional, but the truth behind its telling could be repeated by those who lived and died in similar circumstances.
Ms. Mitchell jumps into the story with an overload of characters that are a challenge to keep clear. The first few pages appear difficult, leaving the reader a little lost. With the passing of time, the story unfolds like a movie and individuals emerge...more
Ms. Mitchell jumps into the story with an overload of characters that are a challenge to keep clear. The first few pages appear difficult, leaving the reader a little lost. With the passing of time, the story unfolds like a movie and individuals emerge...more
In the spring of 1938, Theo Mykolayenko returns home after a year in prison for the crime of stealing grain to feed his family. Having escaped Stalin's Ukraine, Theo refuses to be beaten. Unable to purchase land under his own name, he comes to an arrangement with his sister to buy a quarter land in her name with the understanding that he will pay her back once the grain is sold. Theo takes to the land with unbending resolve, clearing, ploughing and harvesting grain. As the first shoots sprout an...more
The story begins with the description of a black-and-white photograph. A man, a woman and five children. The date on the photograph is 1933, the place Willow Creek, Alberta.
There are times when I pick up an old photograph of my grandparents or my parents and I spend time thinking about the history behind the faces. What were their desires? What heartbreak did they experience? What hopes and dreams did they have and were those fulfilled or abandoned? Why?
Shandi Mitchell addresses these questions...more
There are times when I pick up an old photograph of my grandparents or my parents and I spend time thinking about the history behind the faces. What were their desires? What heartbreak did they experience? What hopes and dreams did they have and were those fulfilled or abandoned? Why?
Shandi Mitchell addresses these questions...more
I received this book as part of Barnes and Nobles First Look Book Club. I found out about First Look by becoming a B&N fan on Facebook and I am very glad that I did. This was the first selection I received but I had a very tough time getting into it. Some books grab you right from the start and others are slower to lure you in. This one falls into the latter category. For me part of it was for summer I wasn't in the mood for such a heavy book. For awhile at the beginning it felt like nothing...more
I've read bleak depressing books before and this one is one of them. There are a few light hearted moments but not many. Living on a farm in the 30's was extremely hard and twice as difficult if you were immigrants. This book stresses the family dynamic and without the cooperation of everybody then nothing would work and everybody would starve. You have Teodor and Myron (father and son) who work the fields and do the majority of the heavy duty work. Maria (the mother) and her daughters help in t...more
Wow. This is a tough one. Not because I didn't like this book-- I loved this book-- but because it was so gut-wrenching at times that I question: Did I enjoy it?
But the verdict is "yes", for the most part, I did enjoy it. Even though there were moments in the book when I would sit with the book held in my hands, still closed, and take a deep breath and prepare myself to read on. Because I knew. I knew what was about to come was going to be hard to read. And I dreaded reading the words, even thou...more
But the verdict is "yes", for the most part, I did enjoy it. Even though there were moments in the book when I would sit with the book held in my hands, still closed, and take a deep breath and prepare myself to read on. Because I knew. I knew what was about to come was going to be hard to read. And I dreaded reading the words, even thou...more
Set in 1937 Canada, Under This Unbroken Sky tells the story of two families at odds. Ukrainian immigrant Teodor Mykolayenko, his wife, and their five children are struggling to farm the prairie land they hope to someday own. Due to Teodor's recent incarceration (because of him "stealing" his own grain), he is uneligible to own land in his own name. Agreeing to help him out, his partially unhinged sister Anna buys the homestead, with the arrangement that after he pays her back the land will be hi...more
This is a tightly woven story about two immigrant families who attempt to break ground and farm in Canada. Teodor and Anna are siblings, both of their families have fled the horrors of their homeland under Stalin and have landed on the Canadian prairie. It’s the 30’s and like the US, the depression and weather issues of the time take their toll in Canada. Teodor is unable to own land after being accused and arrested of stealing his own grain. His wife Maria, one of the strongest characters in th...more
Jul 23, 2009
Bridget
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Historical fiction lovers
Shelves:
2009-reads
I had an Advance Readers' Copy of this title, so thought I'd give it a try. The basic story happens in the 1930s. A family who has emigrated from the Ukraine and are homesteading in Alberta, on the Canadian prairie, see their father who has been imprisoned return home. During his absence, his wife has done a good job of holding the family together, but they are terribly poor, as are his sister and her family who live nearby. The sister's husband is a drunk, abusive, troublemaker who has periodic...more
This a story of a family of immigrants who have left the persecution of Stalin in the Ukraine of 1938, to start a new life on the Canadian plains. As many immigrant families have found through out history, the promised land seldom lives up to it's promise. Maria and her five children, along with her sister-in-law, Anna, with her two children and scoundrel husband , establish a homestead on the prairie, while waiting for Maria's husband, Theodor, to get out of prison. He had been jailed by the lo...more
In the north Canadian prairie lands, Ukrainian immigrant Teodor Mykolayenko was sent to prison for two years for ‘stealing’ grain that he cultivated. When his family, which includes five children, could not pay for their land, they had to vacate it despite all of the work already done on it. When Teodor tried to take some of the grain to replant somewhere else in order to give his family the start they needed, he was imprisoned for theft. With him gone, his family had no choice but to make ends...more
I was immediately taken by this book, especially by the prologue's announcement that one person in a family photo will die and two people not there will be murdered. This had me wondering all the way through who these people would be and why -- an effective way of keeping the reader engaged. My interest never floundered and while the book was terribly sad -- almost devastating -- the writing was often rivetting with some brilliant description and action, and Mitchell really brought to life the h...more
This book is…wonderful, tragic, joyous, disturbing. It made me smile, cry and want to scream in anger. I fell in love with certain characters and despised others. It has been a while since a book has sparked so many emotions. Ms. Mitchell’s writing is so vivid, stark, truthful, beautiful and painful. I could hear the wind, smell the grasses during the spring and summer and feel the quilts the children slept under during the harsh winters. Each character in this book came alive in my mind. They a...more
The tension building in this novel was superb. It would build slowly like a roller coaster going up, up, up....but then it would coast a bit before building up, up, up again. The interim periods emphasized the bleakness of the families conditions in Canada as homesteaders, poor and foreign as well as outcast. I would have to say that as a debut novel, this one takes the best ribbon!
The story of Teodor and his sister Anna, along with their families struggle on the northern Canadian prairie in 19...more
The story of Teodor and his sister Anna, along with their families struggle on the northern Canadian prairie in 19...more
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From the description of the photograph on the first page, you know that something terrible will happen to these families trying to make a life for themselves in the Canadian Wilderness. You find yourself loving some characters and despising others so intensely that you don't want to continue reading. But then again you want to see them make it so you continue reading in the hopes that something good will happen to them. Although, you might technically know what happens, the twists and turns this...more
They say that a picture speaks a thousand words but what do you see when the description is presented first? Shandi Mitchell's first novel,
Under This Unbroken Sky
, tackles this question head on. The novel starts with the description of a 1933, black-and-white photograph of a family. Although there are specifics listed (how each member of the family looks), the reader is free to draw his/her own conclusions about what type of life they have and what brought them to this time/place. Additionally...more
For Barnes and Noble Book Club
"There is a black and white photograph of a family: a man, woman, and five children. Scrawled on the back, in tight archaic script, are the words Willow Creek, Alberta, 1933. This will be their only photograph together"
It goes on to describe the picture, how they are posed, what they are wearing and their future.
As soon as you read it, your hooked. The curiosity is so strong that I couldn't put it down, I had to see what happens to this family.
It’s a story of 2 f...more
"There is a black and white photograph of a family: a man, woman, and five children. Scrawled on the back, in tight archaic script, are the words Willow Creek, Alberta, 1933. This will be their only photograph together"
It goes on to describe the picture, how they are posed, what they are wearing and their future.
As soon as you read it, your hooked. The curiosity is so strong that I couldn't put it down, I had to see what happens to this family.
It’s a story of 2 f...more
Under This Unbroken Sky is the story of the families of Teodor, and his sister Anna, Ukrainian immigrants to the northern Canadian prairie. Set in 1938, farming life on the cold prairie was harsh and their very existence was a struggle to survive.
Drought, greed, starvation, child abuse, murder, rape, - Incredibly dark and depressing you struggle through their daily hardships with tragedy after tragedy. The descriptions in the book are well done, but I did not care for the mostly present tense w...more
Drought, greed, starvation, child abuse, murder, rape, - Incredibly dark and depressing you struggle through their daily hardships with tragedy after tragedy. The descriptions in the book are well done, but I did not care for the mostly present tense w...more
This book met all the criteria for an excellent book, according to Readers Advisory Goddess Nancy Pearl. The characters were well drawn; the plot was riveting; the setting was unique and well-described; and the literary quality of the writing was stellar. The first page gives a hint of what is to come. As I came to know the characters, I wondered who would die, and who would survive. I had favorites, especially Letya, the girl with the crippled foot who adopts a precocious chicken with a cripple...more
Great. Little House on the Prairies, for grown ups. Used a great device, right at the beginning of the book. She described a family photo taken in 1933, and said that 5 years later, one would be dead, and two of which there was no picture, would be murdered. The book then starts 5 years later. So you are wondering the entire time who and when the characters were going to die. It pulls you along through the entire book. You are waiting — is it now? — at every point in which you could imagine a de...more
From my book review blog Rundpinne.
"...Under This Unbroken Sky is masterfully written and the hardships and betrayals are so well written and vividly detailed that the reader, while not truly being able to ever know what it was like, certainly is able to grasp the sensations of the hard life that faced those moving to the Canadian Prairie. Under This Unbroken Sky will evoke many emotions in the reader and while the story is a bleak one, the book is mesmerizing and difficult to put down."
The co...more
"...Under This Unbroken Sky is masterfully written and the hardships and betrayals are so well written and vividly detailed that the reader, while not truly being able to ever know what it was like, certainly is able to grasp the sensations of the hard life that faced those moving to the Canadian Prairie. Under This Unbroken Sky will evoke many emotions in the reader and while the story is a bleak one, the book is mesmerizing and difficult to put down."
The co...more
Under This Unbroken Sky is an incredible debut. The author tells the story of an Ukrainian family who immigrate to Canada in the 1930's, and face hardships, tragedy, poverty, prejudice and discrimination. Despite their hard lives, they often shine through with strength and determination. The author takes each character, including the children, and fleshes them out with substance and authenticity. The reader knows each person, seeing how they think and how they see the world. Each character is an...more
Apart from a few old photos and stories, the past often just doesn't exist in a real, tangible way that we can appreciate. This novel brings it to life with vivid characters facing real struggles of life on the prairies during the depression.
This is a story about a Ukrainian family settling and making a new life in Canada in the 1930's. There is struggle to survive, yet, despite the sadness, the story is interwoven with remarkable human spirit and inner strength, and the small wonders of life fr...more
This is a story about a Ukrainian family settling and making a new life in Canada in the 1930's. There is struggle to survive, yet, despite the sadness, the story is interwoven with remarkable human spirit and inner strength, and the small wonders of life fr...more
Under this Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell might be the saddest book I've ever read. It also might be one of the most beautifully written. It is the story of a family of Ukrainian immigrants living on a homestead in Canada in the 1930s. Teodor's sister, Anna, takes out the homestead and shares the land with his family while he spends two years in jail for stealing grain. The story begins with his return to the family. As he turns their fortune around, one tragedy after another befalls the family...more
This is a beautifully written book about family, betrayal and greed - but it took me an incredibly long time to finish it. The gut-wrenching suffering portrayed in this unforgettable story made it a tough read for me. The book is broken up into seasons rather than chapters and it begins in the spring of 1938. It is the story of two Ukrainian families who escape Stalin's regime to build a home on the Canadian prairie, but the dream of a new life is plagued by obstacles from the beginning.
My entir...more
My entir...more
I read this book for the B&N First Look book club. Shandi Mitchell is a first-time author, but also produces documentaries. It was tough to get started with the story - not my style of writing, but I continued to the end. There are moments when you are part of the story, moments when you are watching a documentary. This review is difficult because Ms. Mitchell has a lot of talent, but this book was filled with misery, mishaps, anger, and then death. I found myself very sad (some tears) and a...more
The writing was beautiful, very descriptive. The characters came to life- Some characters I loved and some I hated. One of the most interesting characters of all, and very dominant, was Mother nature herself -her weather and her creatures. I thought it was a real page turner because I kept hoping things would get better for this family. The book really brings out the enormous struggle & odds faced by immigrant farmers during the Depression. The relentless depressing series of hardships and b...more
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May 09, 2013 04:29pm