I have started this book many times and I just never make it through. I even tried it on audio and still wasn't enjoying it. Something does not connect with me and I don't really know why. I think the voice of Ivan just feels off to me? I instantly didn't like him and had a hard time caring enough about him to want to read on. Which then makes me feel bad because he is clearly a boy who has dealt with so much crap since the day he was born. This could just be a case of the wrong book at the wrong time for me because the synopsis made me think this was a book I would love. So at this point, I may revisit in the future, but for now I just think I need to let it go. Since I did not finish the book I won't be posting this review on any other sites, but felt that since I did give it a try I should let you know how I was feeling.

This book was really interesting and really shines a light into what assisted living homes for children must be like in former Communist block countries. I found it to be sad, funny, and interesting all at the same time.

I didn't see the appeal of this book like so many others, and just couldn't get into it.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Seventeen-year-old Ivan Isaenko is a life-long resident of the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children in Belarus. Born deformed, yet mentally keen with a frighteningly sharp wit, strong intellect, and a voracious appetite for books, Ivan is forced to interact with the world through the vivid prism of his mind. For the most part, every day is exactly the same for Ivan, which is why he turns everything into a game, manipulating people and events around him for his own amusement. That is until a new resident named Polina arrives at the hospital. At first, Ivan resents Polina. She steals his books. She challenges his routine. The nurses like her. She is exquisite. But soon, he cannot help being drawn to her and the two forge a romance that is tenuous and beautiful and everything they never dared dream of. Before, he survived by being utterly detached from things and people. Now, Ivan wants something more: Ivan wants Polina to live.

Let me say that I can understand why people loved this book. The writing is excellent, it has glimpses of humour - and of sadness. It makes us think. It brings people together (as I have seen through other reviews.)

I just didn't like it. Simple, really. The atmosphere was too dark, to sad...I read for enjoyment and to escape the negatives in the world around me. This book, while light in tone at times, was just too depressing for me.


Paul
ARH

Unfortunately this one wasn't for me and I didn't continue reading for any significant time therefore, do not feel justified to comment.

It may have been just bad timing but I couldn't get into the style of writing.
Although I did not finish the book and don't feel justified to give feedback or a review I will still be able to recommend it to customers visiting our bookstore.

I rarely stop reading a book when I've already reached 100 pages, but the masturbation details were just too much. No thank you.

confusing and unclear
hard to follow
I was lost and confused

Sorry, requested but did not find the time to review.

I got to 57% and have given up. I don't like the character's voice and I don't like the book. I will not post a negative review though.

An unusual, inventive, funny and moving love story with a spiky and often unsympathetic protagonist.

4.5 stars

This was an excellent book, one with a unique story and completely unlike anything I've read to date. I was immediately drawn into Ivans story which tells of his stark life as a mutant at the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children. The author writes flawlessly and as though he really were an adolescent boy with one arm and stumps for legs, a boy who has all manner of psychological and social issues yet one who is intelligent and self taught. A boy who has never experienced love, except perhaps that shown to him by nurse Natalya - the closest thing he's ever had to a mother. A boy who has never truly felt anything for another person, until he experiences the feeling of nurturing young Max and then meets and becomes besotted with Polina.

The last paragraph of the epilogue summarised the book perfectly for me <blockquote><i>"There are as many themes in Ivans story as there are pages. It is at once a love story, a revelation of the dark legacy of the Soviet experiment, a conversation on medical ethics, a reproach of religious hypocrisy, and an admonition against choosing fear over purpose. But, ultimately, it is simply the story of a single human life, within which so much can be held" </i></blockquote>

I'm ashamed to admit this was the first time I've ever really considered the ongoing impacts resulting from the Chernoble nuclear reactor disaster but very glad to have broadened my horizons through this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing this free electronic copy of The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko.

'The Invisible Life of Ivan: Isaenko: A Novel' by Scott Stambach introduces an unusual narrator and a set of unfair and tragic circumstances. I quite liked Ivan.

Ivan is 17 and lives in the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children in Belarus. He is a lifelong resident of the home and a prisoner in his own deformed body. His mind is keen and he observes and catalogues the things he sees around him. From an American doctor who brings him baseballs to his fellow residents to the nurses that work at the home, both cruel and kind. He is well read and incredibly cynical. Ivan sees many other patients come and go, but one day a girl named Polina shows up.

The story feels predictable in a lot of ways, but that doesn't make it any less poignant. Ivan is likeable and mean at the same time. He suffers more than he should because of who he is and the reactions that his sharp tongue causes. Ivan and Polina seem like pretty unlikely friends at first, but their relationship feels natural enough. My favorite character is Nurse Natalya who treats Ivan like a real person, and has all the compassion to go along with it. It's not a perfect book by any means, but I enjoyed reading it.

I received a review copy of this ebook from St. Martin's Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

I have never read anything like this book. I kept trying to pigeon-hole it, thinking this is what Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward would look like as a YA book, but that wasn't quite right so I thought, this is a Russian version of Palacio's Wonder but it was so much more than that. It's a coming of age story for children who won't have the opportunity to come of age.

What do you say about a hospital in Belarus that exists to serve children born with birth defects following the Chernobyl meltdown? The beginning is a little awkward as our narrator Ivan, born with multiple birth defects, introduces his fellow "asylum inmates." The hospital staff are less than admirable with the exception of one extraordinary and wonderfully compassionate nurse. Ivan and leukemia-patient Polina strike up an unlikely friendship followed by romance in the face of their devastating odds, and it is their pluck and determination to live and thrive that are at the heart of this book. Given the subject matter, it's surprisingly easy to read.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/creating-in-flow/201701/6-new-novels-unexpected-unforgettable-characters