Daily Podcasts Video Research

Amid the terror of war in Ukraine, a stirring debut novel demonstrates the power of love and art

JL;DR SUMMARY Sam Wachman's debut novel, "The Sunflower Boys," unfolds amidst the turmoil of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, offering a poignant narrative centered around the experiences of 12-year-old Artem. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

JL;DR members get full summaries of all articles in the archive, including this one. Donate & start reading »

Tags

FamilyUkraineRefugeesLoveArtSurvivalComing Of AgeAdolescenceSam Wachman

Places mentioned

Chernihiv, Chernihivshchyna, Ukraine
"The narrative begins in the riverside town of Chernihiv, north of Kyiv, in what feels like peacetime."
Kyiv, Ukraine
"The narrative begins in the riverside town of Chernihiv, north of Kyiv, in what feels like peacetime."
Lviv, Lvivshchyna, Ukraine
"As Artem leads Yuri west across Ukraine, from Kyiv to Lviv, he dodges dangers and discovers unexpected reserves of resiliency and strength."
Vasyukivka, Kharkivshchyna, Ukraine
"They decide to flee to the village, Vasyukivka, where Artems maternal grandfather, Did Pasha, lives."
Poland
"At this point, their only goal is to reunite with their father, who is on his way to Poland."

Support this source

This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 58763
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2025-08-07 05:31:00 UTC
Curated 2025-08-07 08:31:31 UTC