Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

Ivan Isaenko was born 18 months after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded near Pripyat, Ukraine, in 1986, and like many newborns from that region, he came into the world with numerous health problems and physical abnormalities.In Ivan's case, he's missing legs and has just one three-fingered hand. But his brain works perfectly, and his sharp mind brings him to places dark, brooding, and inventive. The only home he's ever known is the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children in Belarus, and he detests the other patients, most of whom lack the ability to communicate with the intellectual rigor he craves. On top of this, Ivan has never met his parents and has never had a visitor. He has no friends, save for elderly Nurse Natalya, who not only treats him as a worthy conversationalist, but brings him books, puzzles, and games to keep him occupied. It's not much, but it helps. Then, when he's 17, a new patient enters the mix. Orphaned Polina is everything Ivan is not—beautiful, able-bodied, lively, and full of teenage curiosity and sass. She's also suffering from leukemia. As she and Ivan bond, their deep conversations and passionate exchanges rip the boy from his solitude, and, for the first time in his life, he finds camaraderie and connection with a peer. Not surprisingly, he falls in love with Polina, and the pair's unfolding relationship is both tender and tragic. At the same time, their interactions are seasoned with humor, wit, and astute observation, and the hospital itself is as full a character as Ivan and Polina. What's more, despite the presence of a corrupt health care bureaucracy, the story highlights the ways random acts of kindness can illuminate individual lives and make the seemingly unbearable tolerable, if not wholly acceptable. An auspicious, gut-wrenching, wonderful debut.

ALA Booklist

At 17, Ivan Isaenko has spent his entire life as a patient at the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children in Belarus. Born severely challenged gless and with only one arm and a hand with three fingers is a fixture at the hospital and an acute observer of all that transpires there. Intensely self-aware and highly intelligent, Ivan records his daily life in a journal, his voice sardonic as he introduces his readers to the hospital's population, the children, the nurses, and the hospital administrator. The dreary sameness of his days changes dramatically when a 16-year-old girl named Polina, who suffers from leukemia, is admitted, and the two begin to fall in love. But hope, like prayer, almost never works, Ivan thinks bleakly. A story overshadowed by the inevitability of death is necessarily a sad one but not always uninteresting, as Stambach's appealing characters come alive on the page. At first uneasy, their relationship gradually deepens and becomes a memorable celebration of humanity in the face of desperate odds.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Ivan Isaenko was born 18 months after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded near Pripyat, Ukraine, in 1986, and like many newborns from that region, he came into the world with numerous health problems and physical abnormalities.In Ivan's case, he's missing legs and has just one three-fingered hand. But his brain works perfectly, and his sharp mind brings him to places dark, brooding, and inventive. The only home he's ever known is the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children in Belarus, and he detests the other patients, most of whom lack the ability to communicate with the intellectual rigor he craves. On top of this, Ivan has never met his parents and has never had a visitor. He has no friends, save for elderly Nurse Natalya, who not only treats him as a worthy conversationalist, but brings him books, puzzles, and games to keep him occupied. It's not much, but it helps. Then, when he's 17, a new patient enters the mix. Orphaned Polina is everything Ivan is not—beautiful, able-bodied, lively, and full of teenage curiosity and sass. She's also suffering from leukemia. As she and Ivan bond, their deep conversations and passionate exchanges rip the boy from his solitude, and, for the first time in his life, he finds camaraderie and connection with a peer. Not surprisingly, he falls in love with Polina, and the pair's unfolding relationship is both tender and tragic. At the same time, their interactions are seasoned with humor, wit, and astute observation, and the hospital itself is as full a character as Ivan and Polina. What's more, despite the presence of a corrupt health care bureaucracy, the story highlights the ways random acts of kindness can illuminate individual lives and make the seemingly unbearable tolerable, if not wholly acceptable. An auspicious, gut-wrenching, wonderful debut.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Stambach-s impressive, well-structured debut is set at the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children in Belarus. Seventeen-year-old Ivan Isaenko has lived there all his life. Due to the Chernobyl disaster just before his birth, Ivan has no legs, one arm, a hand with a thumb and two fingers, and a droopy face that makes it difficult to speak or smile. Unlike many of his fellow patients, Ivan is self-aware and stubborn, as he describes in one of his amusing short lists: -There are two things I-ve learned... (A) I can eventually... learn to do just about anything with only one arm... and (B) if there is a God, then I should thank Him for my thumb, since it is the only thing that makes (A) possible.- Ivan-s clever, bleak observations about life at the hospital-an underfunded post-Soviet hell mitigated only by the inexhaustible kindness of the maternal nurse Natalya Beneshenko-make up the book-s first half. In the second, he narrates his love affair with Polina Pushkin, a recently orphaned 16-year-old dying of leukemia. Through their romance built on mischief, Russian literature, and a need for recognition, Ivan begins to grapple with his fears and take responsibility for his future. Stambach-s surprising, empathetic novel takes on heavy themes of illness, suffering, religion, patience, and purpose, with a balanced mix of humor and heart. Agent: Victoria Sanders, Victoria Sanders & Associates. (Aug.)

School Library Journal

The story of 17-year-old Ivan Isaenko's tragic existence is revealed through an abandoned notebook. He was born with severe disabilities as a result of the Chernobyl disaster and uses a wheelchair. Abandoned by his parents at birth, Ivan has lived his entire life at the dismal Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children in Belarus, where meals consist of watered-down cabbage soup. Human contact is limited to the nursing staff and other "mutant" patients in the hospital. Despite his limited physical abilities and small world, Ivan is extremely bright and imaginative. He spends his days observing those around him, reading, and spying on the hospital staff. The protagonist's inner voice and crafty dealings with the hospital personnel bring levity to the narrativeparticularly when he pretends to slip into a comalike sleep so that he can better eavesdrop. Ivan longs for a connection to a mother he never knew. He falls in love with a clever leukemia patient named Polina, a bittersweet experience, and his inevitable heartache will resonate with readers. Many teens will appreciate the humor and the realistic interactions between Ivan and Polina. Unlike many of the characters in YA novels, who appear confident and wise beyond their years, these adolescents are awkward and self-conscious until they develop a comfortable rapport. VERDICT Highly recommended. Though the setting may be unfamiliar to readers, teens will be charmed by this most unusual protagonist who remains hopeful despite his bleak situation.Sherry J. Mills, Hazelwood East High School, St. Louis