In Ordinary People Don't Carry Machine Guns, Artem Chapeye reveals his war, intimate and senseless, withholding nothing about his motivations, his nightmares, his new relationship with the world. Here one man, a pacifist turned fighter, a story writer turned soldier considers the reasons for and reactions to war on a very personal level.

Chapeye investigates his role in the Ukrainian people’s defense against the Russian army and his responsibilities as a father, a writer, a soldier, and a man of conviction. An avowed pacifist until 2022, Chapeye joined the Ukrainian army in the first days of the invasion. He tries to understand the large-scale decision-making that has a defining impact on both individual citizens and society-at-large: many of his fellow soldiers never considered enlisting before finding themselves at war; others fled the country. He wonders what his young children at home are doing and what they’re feeling.

The book has three parts, offering historical analogies and literary references throughout.

— “When Darkness Comes” relates the first days of the full-scale invasion in February 2022 when lives and the peace were shattered.

— “It’s Necessary to Cultivate Your Garden” details the experience of the everyday people of Ukraine, workers and peasants, who look forward to returning to simpler lives.

— The last section, “People Aren’t Divided into Brands,” critiques the elitism of those who consider themselves above those who “simply” fight.

Deeply thought-provoking, intelligent, and heartbreaking, this is an essential book for anyone who wants to understand the ways that war can change everything.

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"Chapeye represents a modern-day Ukrainian counterpart to classic American writers like Mark Twain or O. Henry, capturing the dignity and respect his characters might not get but nonetheless long for and deserve. . . . —Kate Tsurkan, Los Angeles Review of Books

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