Rudenko’s conversational narrative, written in a gossipy tone, chronicles Zelenkiy’s rise in short, staccato chapters, from his childhood in Kryvyi Rih, a centre of iron mining and metallurgy in the southeast, through his wildly successful career as an actor and comedian and his insurgent campaign for the presidency.

This is more a biography of a presidency than of the president.

Had Zelensky known then of the atrocities that would soon come to pass following his election victory four months later, would he have chosen to run? This kind of retrospective what-ifery features regularly in Serhii Rudenko’s hastily daubed portrait of a man still living through the most defining days of his life.

... the question still remains: who is Zelenskiy and what is he really about? Those looking for answers to the Zelenskiy enigma will be disappointed by this hastily written and translated book, which bills itself as 'A Biography'. Written by Serhii Rudenko, a Ukrainian political commentator, it’s not really a life story, but an account of his eventful three years in office.

Reading this biography now, in the wake of a war that upended our understanding of both Zelensky and Ukraine, presents his personal history in a new light.

... fast-paced.