The Book

The story of a happy little boy at his granparents' farm driving the mini tractor, but becoming very unhappy at school where he was the only one with darker skin, and had to suffer gravely for it. At 18 he ran away, enrolled in the Foreign Legion in France and disappeared for months. He was determined to be the best, and so he always was. He graduated with  medals and honors.
In the spring of 2022 he went to Ukraine.
And a year later the well known writer Tuomas Kyrö went to Ukraine with the mission that he must do something.

The writer won the trust of the soldier, and it became this book where Aleksi, the soldier and the I, the author, have their chapters, and the Mother her own.

The story has become a sensation. Here we have a soldier, trained for five years at the Foreign Legion, having fought in Afghanistan, and for a year in Ukraine tell us what the war in Ukraine is every day, bombs, grenades, buildings hit and coming crumbling down, heart breaking sights of lost and hungry dogs and goats, and self being face to face with enemy troops.

I guess that this young (33-34) man is so strong and pure because he has a loving trusting mother and loving grandparents, and a safe loving childhood.  We should all read this book to have look to the inside of a good man, and to have a look to the inside of a horrible war where a small country is fighting against a huge enemy.

Tuomas Kyrö. Aleksi Suomesta.  WSOY. 2023.