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A memoir of exile and rebellion—
from the Soviet underground to Portland’s streets
UKRAINIAN MONSTER
AN AMERICAN STORY
Viktoriya Volkov
About the Book
This is a memoir of tyranny, exile, and faith in
individual rebellion.
It is the story of an enduring fight for freedom—
carried across borders, generations,
and belief systems.
It is fought with endurance, absurdity, and
grace.
In Ukraine, my family stood against the Soviet empire—keeping their
faith through constant threats, exclusion, and surveillance. When we
immigrated to America as religious refugees, freedom carried its own
kind of exile.
My family stayed rooted in their traditional conservative church
community and tried to raise us in it.
I became a skater kid in Portland. I moved between church pews and
heavy metal concerts, long before I knew what it meant—or what it
would cost to figure out.
Then my brother descended into mental illness and disappeared onto
the streets of Portland. I had to face a deeper truth: neither the church
nor America could save him.
To get my brother off the streets, I searched for him in the darkest
corners of our country—and began the search for freedom all over
again.
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