Buy Book "American sniper" in Ukrainian

“American Sniper is a memoir by US Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, the most effective sniper in the history of the United States (160 officially confirmed successful shots). Kyle was deployed four times to Iraq, where a $20,000 bounty was placed on his head. After 10 years in the war, he returned to his wife and children, trained young snipers and organized rehabilitation activities for the military. In 2012, he published his autobiography. In 2013, he was killed by an Iraq War veteran whom Kyle had helped to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Even one American life is too much to lose,” writes Chris Kyle, and these are not empty words of blind patriotism.

Chris is an American military man by all canons and stereotypes. He grew up with a weapon in his hands, and grew up as a “can-do” person. “American Sniper is a story of life and death, told in a slightly fussy way, but quite openly and with a keen sense of camaraderie and a little bit of anger. It’s the way a friend would tell it to you after a good drink. That is: not quite coherently, losing some important details, too emotional and with a bit of tragedy. Yes, Chris is not a writer, and probably the book was difficult for him, because there is no coherence in the text. But autobiographies are interesting because even the author’s way of speaking helps the reader to draw a portrait. So Kyle’s voice is the voice of a man who is rough on the outside but vulnerable on the inside, with a sheepish persistence. The book says nothing about the politics of war. Not a word of regret, not a hint of other options, not a thought about personalities. But it is full of memorable moments and feelings, which, in the end, are what life is all about. Chris is open and funny, but disciplined and strict with others as well as with himself. Reading his book, despite such a controversial topic, is easy and enjoyable. Whenever someone tries to condemn the actions of another, I always think of Martin Eden and his words: “Everyone has their own wisdom, depending on their soul. Mine is as indisputable to me as yours is to you.”

In general, the translation is good, and I thank the translator for maximizing the approximation to Chris’s simple language. But I found a few ‘deleted’ phrases, altered phraseology (I don’t know how correct it is in the translation rules, but as a reader, a phrase like “beaten like a cider goat” seems out of place in an American text). Plus the editing (for example: ‘we found an old border outpost abandoned by the Iraqis’ and so on). Sometimes the interpretation of phrases is not entirely clear (why does ‘trying to get us’ become ‘trying to get us lard for our skin’?)

I recommend reading to anyone interested in the topic, but without high expectations.

The author of the book, in addition to being a qualified specialist in his field, has a decent literary talent. He describes the events that took place in Iraq in 2003. He often recalls his childhood, youth, and years of professional development. He writes in classical language. His thoughts are well formulated, extremely clear and understandable. This is one of those books that can be said to be read in one breath. Don’t be surprised by my advice to buy it for those who are learning English. The translation is very good. Idiomatic expressions have been accurately replaced by their Ukrainian equivalents. The structure and style of the original text have been preserved to the maximum extent possible. There are absolutely no places or paragraphs where the author of the translation simply retells in Ukrainian the essence of what is written in English. There are many resources with the original text online. I advise you to open one of them in pdf format, open one of the good online dictionaries next to it, and read the original, look up unfamiliar words and compare them with the Ukrainian translation. I personally bought this book for this very purpose. I am convinced that your English level will begin to grow rapidly.