In the invisible life of ivan isaenko scott stambach presents a hilarious heart wrenching and powerful debut novel about an orphaned boy who finds love and hope in a russian hospital 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 int. In the invisible life of ivan isaenko scott stambach presents a hilarious heart wrenching and powerful debut novel about an orphaned boy who finds love and hope in a russian hospital after chernobyl 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 . The invisible life of ivan isaenko is comic and staggeringly tragic often both in a single sentence ivan isaenko is one of the most surprising narrators i have encountered witty adolescent well read at times quite vulgar and confined to a life that seems nearly unlivable until he discovers that even at mazyr hospital love is possible. The invisible life of ivan isaenko by scott stambach release date aug 9 2016 ivan isaenko was born 18 months after the chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded near pripyat ukraine in 1986 and like many newborns from that region he came into the world with numerous health problems and physical abnormalities. The invisible life of ivan isaenko scott stambach st martins 2599 336p isbn 978 1 250 08186 5 buy this book stambachs impressive well structured debut is set at the mazyr hospital