Buy Book "Tracks on the road" in Ukrainian

Everyone has their own life path and everyone leaves individual #Tracks on it

For 3 evenings, the writer knocked me out of the usual rhythm of life with his book and I was amazed by his story From the very first pages, the author’s sincerity/openness/honesty captures your attention and you begin to empathize with the main character. Pictures are drawn in your head and various emotions begin to overwhelm you: admiration, indignation, compassion, joy for lovers, fear, sometimes disgust… tears often come to your eyes….

What is the book about? In short, about how to go through the circles of earthly hell, namely, the war with the aggressor in your country, and most importantly, to remain human

The book is about the army, war, honesty, and priorities in life. It is also about the life of a young man born in a peripheral town and his path to self-identity and prioritization in the future.

Love is the main barrier that prevents us from going beyond humanity, and the only thing that is really worth being free for.

Freedom is the only thing we have from birth that is really worth fighting for.

This is neither the first nor the last book about modern warfare, and it seems that it is impossible to write something so new and original. But still, Valeriy managed to make us interested. “Footprints on the Road is not only about the war. It’s a kind of diary with memories from school age to the fiercest battles in the East.

We read about the author’s childhood, school years, family troubles, his desire to join the army and dreams of going to war. However, Valeriy dreamed of going to war in another country, and the war found him in his own country.

It was interesting to read about the army, the period of 2011-2013, the trash that was done there, the reaction to the Maidan, the beginning of the war. All this is supplemented by QR codes, which allow you to see real photos and videos of the events.

The book contains a lot of reflections on life, experiences from what he saw in the war, from the loss of friends.

Everything is written and shown on video, very emotionally, and shows the mood with which they went to war in 2014, and what kept the guys at war, what motivated them and what made them angry.

It is always difficult to read about the war, but it is necessary, because it is about our land and about us. We cannot just stand aside.

The book Footprints on the Road is a story about our present that defies common sense: about the war waged by a “brotherly nation” against its neighbor, about the war in eastern Ukraine, in which Ukrainians in the twenty-first century are forced to defend their land from their “sworn friend.”

The author is a young man who had to go through the crucible of this hell, survive, and remain intact against all odds to tell the reader the whole truth about this terrible part of our existence.

During his service in the ATO, Valeriy Ananiev kept a video blog, showing the army from the inside as it is: without excessive horror and unnecessary bravado, showing the shortcomings and mistakes of his commanders, publishing videos about shelling, army life, the aftermath of battles, etc.

The book is interesting, difficult and instructive, it reminds us that a few hundred kilometers from your apartment, where you go to sleep peacefully and have the opportunity to wake up to the sound of an alarm clock, not a machine gun, there is a real war going on, in which someone’s sons and daughters, husbands and wives, loved ones are dying…

The book’s peculiarity is its interactivity: the author has placed almost a hundred QR codes in it, which allow you to see documentary footage of the undeclared war.

“Footprints on the Road is definitely the best book not only about the war in Ukraine, but also about social life that I have read in recent years. In general, at first I did not perceive this book as something new and worth reading. Nowadays, there are a lot of soldiers who come home after the war and put their thoughts on paper. And after reading several such works/journalism, my head was spinning. I’m an emotional person, so it’s a little difficult for me to “move on” after such books. Especially when you live close to all the events that are the basis for the works of young authors.

Valeriy’s book really captivated me with QR codes. Because this is something new and unknown for us so far (perhaps there is already something like this in the world, but I see it for the first time in Ukraine). It is thanks to this innovation that the book is literally alive. You read a certain piece of text and immediately see a real video of a particular adventure. The only pity is that these are not very funny adventures:( The author’s thoughts are really very strong. If at the beginning of the book we see just an average boy, at the end we see a real man who has grown up before your eyes.

The book reads very quickly, written in a really lively language. Often I could not understand whether it was fiction or reality.

I am very glad that Valeriy wrote this book, even though he worked for a very long time and had no material support. The book was published at his own expense. So I recommend reading it to everyone. It is worth your attention. And Valeriy Ananiev is now a kind of “Ukrainian Remarque” for me.)

I don’t like paper books, but this is one case where the book stays at home on the shelf rather than being donated or resold.

For me, Valera Ananiev is not just a soldier of war, not a media man, not a PR man, and not even a hair-trigger afterthought. Although in all of these areas he has done a great deal, and in some much more than the whole state.

“-Why the fuck are you laughing all the time?! Are you laughing?!

-Dude, my hands and feet are fine, I’m alive, that’s why I laugh.” (с)

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In addition to the fact that the book is on paper, it is entirely in Ukrainian. Ironically, this is the first book I read completely in Ukrainian. And it was read in one evening, voraciously. Almost 400 pages – I really can’t tear myself away.

Completely published at my own expense, without the involvement of publishers and promoters. What it cost, you can understand at least because Valera personally called and clarified the details of delivery to customers (or is it just me so lucky?) – And sent today as I understand 2500 copies.

I wonder if there were those who did not recognize who called?

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The book has three parts:

1. Childhood and adolescence.

It’s amazing how many similarities I found with myself. Including my relatives living in Russia, and the same Domostroyevsky Dida, with whom there was exactly the same life-affecting “fight”. True, we called him “Daddy”.

Chapters are coming sequentially, so lively and entertaining, without the falsehood and pathos, with real joints and sins, which I am sure everyone has, but that usually “superheroes” prudently “forget” to describe in their biography.

Not here. And although, of course, “every man’s life described in a short time looks dramatic,” the details and experiences are written so vividly that the pages turn simply one by one without stopping. The effect is added by the insertion of QR codes that show videos and pictures, and you are forced to put your thoughts in a line – heck yes!, we are talking about a living real person, not an invented character.

Boxing, alcohol, school farce, fights, PTU – all without embellishments and attempts to hide behind a made-up past.

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2. the Army.

And here is a striking déjà vu, with the terms “PCB, takeoff, checkpoint, beluga, collar, handout” re-emerging in my memory …

And, unfortunately, with the same memories, what a thoroughly rotten, nasty and rotten state was the whole echelon of the command that called itself “officers”.

The same stupid and aggressive petty officers and warrant officers. They were drunk all the time and their faces were swollen from gorging; they were absorbed in fat and stupidly spent their time doing useless work and creating a semblance of their own importance. Though the time and type of service are different, enlistment and contract, the more so in Airborne Forces, they are different things, but the general features are simply identical. At that time this tumor probably affected all kinds of troops.

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3. War.

There is no propaganda or politics here. There is no philosophy or reflection on taking sides as in the same Cyborgs. There is no bravado or heroism, exploits or sp