In a stunning sequel to The Genius Under the Table, Eugene Yelchin’s graphic memoir depicts his harrowing journey from Leningrad’s underground art scene to a state-run Siberian asylum—and to eventual safety in the US.
No longer the creative little boy under his grandmother’s table, Yevgeny is now a young adult, pursuing his artistic dreams under the constant threat of the KGB’s stranglehold on Russia’s creative scene. When a chance encounter with an American woman opens him up to a world of romance and possibility, Yevgeny believes he has found his path to the future—and freedom overseas. But the threat of being drafted into the military and sent to fight in Afghanistan changes everything in a terrible instant, and he takes drastic measures to decide his fate, leading to unthinkable consequences in a mental hospital. With bold art bringing a vivid reality to life, National Book Award Finalist and Newbery Honoree Eugene Yelchin’s sequel to the acclaimed memoir The Genius Under the Table returns to Yevgeny’s saga, balancing the terror and oppression of Soviet Russia with the author’s signature charm and dark wit. I Wish I Didn't Have to Tell You This shines a stark spotlight on history while offering a poignant, nuanced, and powerfully resonant look at growing up in—and ultimately leaving—Cold War Russia in the early 1980s.
With this book, Eugene Yelchin joins the community of author-artists who have dared to examine their troubling pasts with honesty, insight, and cleansing humor. Yelchin’s true story—as dark and satirical as a tale by Gogol or a Bulgakov novel—is matched by his art: strong black-and-white line drawings against washes of pervasive gray, as gray as the wintery steppes, as gray as Soviet Russia, which he depicts with uneasy familiarity. His characters speak the silent language that only an illustrator with the instincts of a fine actor can bring to the page. Their gestures and facial expressions tell much more than their words. Yelchin’s book is as much a storyboard for a film as it is a graphic memoir, precisely envisioned and carefully crafted to bring the reader directly into the author’s experience. —David Small, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller and National Book Award Finalist Stitches: A Memoir
This book—this book! By turns heartbreaking and gut-wrenching, Eugene Yelchin’s eloquent memoir I Wish I Didn’t Have to Tell You This is both a cautionary tale about the sacrifices demanded by a government that lies, denies, conceals, and coerces its citizens into compliance and a poignant love letter to his past. Its resonance is inescapable. So is its beauty. —Candace Fleming, author of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winner and Los Angeles Times Book Prize winner The Family Romanov
“Yelchin’s bold and unblinking memoir explores the moment when the typical longings of youth everywhere—to create, to express yourself, to fall in love—slam into the brutal realities of the Soviet state. Timely, poignant, and unsettling—a remarkable life rendered in stark black and white by an artist unafraid to explore the gray uncertainties of where love stops and self-preservation begins. —M. T. Anderson, author of National Book Award winner and Michael L. Printz Honor Book The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party
Eugene Yelchinis the creator of The Genius Under the Table, a Sydney Taylor Honor Book that earned seven starred reviews and mention on numerous Best of the Year lists. He is also coauthor and illustrator of the 2018 National Book Award Finalist The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge, co-written with M. T. Anderson, and he received a Newbery Honor for his novel Breaking Stalin’s Nose. Born in Leningrad, Russian-American Eugene Yelchin now lives in Topanga, California, with his family.
In a stunning sequel to The Genius Under the Table, Eugene Yelchin’s graphic memoir depicts his harrowing journey from Leningrad’s underground art scene to a state-run Siberian asylum—and to eventual safety in the US.
No longer the creative little boy under his grandmother’s table, Yevgeny is now a young adult, pursuing his artistic dreams under the constant threat of the KGB’s stranglehold on Russia’s creative scene. When a chance encounter with an American woman opens him up to a world of romance and possibility, Yevgeny believes he has found his path to the future—and freedom overseas. But the threat of being drafted into the military and sent to fight in Afghanistan changes everything in a terrible instant, and he takes drastic measures to decide his fate, leading to unthinkable consequences in a mental hospital. With bold art bringing a vivid reality to life, National Book Award Finalist and Newbery Honoree Eugene Yelchin’s sequel to the acclaimed memoir The Genius Under the Table returns to Yevgeny’s saga, balancing the terror and oppression of Soviet Russia with the author’s signature charm and dark wit. I Wish I Didn't Have to Tell You This shines a stark spotlight on history while offering a poignant, nuanced, and powerfully resonant look at growing up in—and ultimately leaving—Cold War Russia in the early 1980s.
Praise
With this book, Eugene Yelchin joins the community of author-artists who have dared to examine their troubling pasts with honesty, insight, and cleansing humor. Yelchin’s true story—as dark and satirical as a tale by Gogol or a Bulgakov novel—is matched by his art: strong black-and-white line drawings against washes of pervasive gray, as gray as the wintery steppes, as gray as Soviet Russia, which he depicts with uneasy familiarity. His characters speak the silent language that only an illustrator with the instincts of a fine actor can bring to the page. Their gestures and facial expressions tell much more than their words. Yelchin’s book is as much a storyboard for a film as it is a graphic memoir, precisely envisioned and carefully crafted to bring the reader directly into the author’s experience. —David Small, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller and National Book Award Finalist Stitches: A Memoir
This book—this book! By turns heartbreaking and gut-wrenching, Eugene Yelchin’s eloquent memoir I Wish I Didn’t Have to Tell You This is both a cautionary tale about the sacrifices demanded by a government that lies, denies, conceals, and coerces its citizens into compliance and a poignant love letter to his past. Its resonance is inescapable. So is its beauty. —Candace Fleming, author of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winner and Los Angeles Times Book Prize winner The Family Romanov
“Yelchin’s bold and unblinking memoir explores the moment when the typical longings of youth everywhere—to create, to express yourself, to fall in love—slam into the brutal realities of the Soviet state. Timely, poignant, and unsettling—a remarkable life rendered in stark black and white by an artist unafraid to explore the gray uncertainties of where love stops and self-preservation begins. —M. T. Anderson, author of National Book Award winner and Michael L. Printz Honor Book The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party
Author
Eugene Yelchinis the creator of The Genius Under the Table, a Sydney Taylor Honor Book that earned seven starred reviews and mention on numerous Best of the Year lists. He is also coauthor and illustrator of the 2018 National Book Award Finalist The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge, co-written with M. T. Anderson, and he received a Newbery Honor for his novel Breaking Stalin’s Nose. Born in Leningrad, Russian-American Eugene Yelchin now lives in Topanga, California, with his family.
