The War Came to Us
Life and Death in Ukraine
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The War Came to Us
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Narrated by:
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Craig Van Ness
About this listen
Bloomsbury presents The War Came To Us by Christopher Miller, read by Craig Van Ness.
A WATERSTONES AND IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
A breathtaking exploration of Ukraine’s past, present, and future, and a heartbreaking account of the war against Russia, written by a leading journalist who has lived and worked in Ukraine for over a decade.
'Vivid… Shocking… [Miller] brings a seasoned, personal perspective to his account of both the 16-month conflict and its wider roots.'
Daily Telegraph
'A beautiful blend of memoir, reportage and history...superb.'
Irish Times
'...powerful and insightful...Miller provides a human dimension to a bloody conflict.'
Kirkus Reviews
When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine just before dawn on 24 February 2022, it marked his latest and most overt attempt to brutally conquer the country, and reshaped the world order. Christopher Miller, the Ukraine correspondent for the Financial Times and a foremost journalist covering the country, was there on the ground when the first Russian missiles struck and troops stormed over the border. But the seeds of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the West were sown more than a decade earlier.
This is the definitive, inside story of its long fight for freedom. Told through Miller’s personal experiences, vivid front-line dispatches and illuminating interviews with unforgettable characters, The War Came To Us takes readers on a riveting journey through the key locales and pivotal events of Ukraine’s modern history. From the coal-dusted, sunflower-covered steppe of the Donbas in the far east to the heart of the Euromaidan revolution camp in Kyiv; from the Black Sea shores of Crimea, where Russian troops stealthily annexed Ukraine’s peninsula, to the bloody battlefields where Cossacks roamed before the Kremlin’s warlords ruled with iron fists; and through the horror and destruction wrought by Russian forces in Bucha, Bakhmut, Mariupol, and beyond.
With candor, wit and sensitivity, Miller captures Ukraine in all its glory: vast, defiant, resilient, and full of wonder. A breathtaking narrative that is at times both poignant and inspiring, The War Came To Us is the story of an American who fell in love with a foreign place and its people — and witnessed them do extraordinary things to escape the long shadow of their former imperial ruler and preserve their independence.
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What listeners say about The War Came to Us
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 30-09-23
Excellent book, terrible narration
As others have said, while the book is excellent, the narration on the audiobook is terrible, with major mispronunciations.
Bafflingly, Yanukovych is pronounced correctly as ‘Ya-nuh-KOH-vych’ the first time he comes up - but after that the narrator settles on the very annoying ‘Ya-NOO-kuh-vych.’
Hryvnia is mispronounced as ‘hervnia’ and Artemivsk (the central location of the book’s first 3 chapters) is repeatedly butchered as ‘Artem-visk.’
Please don’t hire this narrator for another book with an Eastern European setting!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ali H
- 01-11-23
Informative and Educational
Excellent listen and fascinating insight and build up to the war in Ukraine. Very informative and educational.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- William
- 06-08-23
Strong depiction of events on the front
The author tells how he fell into journalism almost by chance. He has found his vocation as he tells lots of gripping stories from the most dangerous and difficult parts of the battle front.
He makes no secret of his love and commitment to Ukraine and knows the country and its people very well.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr Vincent de Graaf
- 10-09-23
Fantastic book, must read (but don’t listen to it - narration spoils it!!)
Fantastic book by an author who knows Ukraine inside out, has lived there for many years and really understand the different complicated facets of history, culture and politics. Fun for every reader, whether new to Ukraine and the war, or not.
BUT. Don’t listen to the audiobook, the narrators really did a dog’s breakfast out of this. How can one be a professional narrator and not take the slightest interest in WHAT you are narrating, how words are pronounced or names are spelled. How did any editor let this pass. If I were the author I would be majorly upset at them F-ing up my work…
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Alexander Wright
- 04-09-23
Mispronounciation distracting but a moving book
A moving and heartbreaking book, hearing about Chris seeing the destruction of his former home as a Peace Corps volunteer, Bakhmut.
However, you'd have thought the narrator might have at least googled how to pronounce Ukrainian towns and names - especially "Bucha" - before embarking on this project, or that phonetic guides may have been added to the script, given how important that town is.
It's "Bucha" with ch pronounced as in chain, rather than "Buka" or "Bukha" as pronounced here.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Smccoull
- 10-10-23
An essential read/listen
It's an incredible book that is perfect for explaining the background to russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine. Chris Miller goes about debunking many of the lies that the kremlin spread about who the Ukrainian people are.
Chris lived in Ukraine for some time before the 2014 russian invasion, so much of what he tells you is his first hand experiences, or experiences of very trusted sources that he's built up relationships with over a number of years.
The only negative about this book, and it's not the book itself, is that the narrator, whose voices is good to listen to, doesn't pronounce Ukrainian words well or consistently. It took me some time to work out that he was talking about Viktor Yanukovych, the former president of Ukraine, and it was a little frustrating.
Despite that I strongly recommend this book.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Reba Linden
- 20-08-23
Great book; terrible pronunciation
The book is wonderful. But the reader can pronounce neither Ukrainian nor Russian. Getting the stress wrong on oft-repeated names such as Yanukovich, and pronouncing Bucha Buka, is very distracting for the listener.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr S
- 29-07-23
An excellent book, let down by chronic mispronunciation
This is an important piece of writing, and I look forward to reading it. Unfortunately, the narrator mispronounces Ukrainian words badly, throughout, and in a book all about Ukraine that is a fundamental flaw. Not just a bit wrong, but entirely different vowels, consonants in the wrong order and stresses on the wrong syllable. The impression given is carelessness and disrespect to the Ukrainian language. Given how important their language is to their identity, and how it has been systematically suppressed for centuries, I’m amazed that the author allowed this to happen in the recording of the audiobook. Such a shame, as the author himself is evidently extremely respectful of the Ukrainian culture and language. I have returned the audiobook and will order the print edition instead.
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1 person found this helpful