Darragh McKeon

Whatever one may think of Irish people, it is a matter of fact that they are good at writing.
Among the recent novels I read in the last few years, this is maybe the only one worth a mention by this point of view.
And it's a good novel under many other aspects, too. Plot is well devised and well developed, characters are beliavable and fascinating, the depiction of the terminal years of the USSR is realistic and honest, Chernobyl tragedy and its impact on the lives of normal people are decribed with sobriety and deep empathy at the same time. All in this story is great, lofty, tragic and deeply human, yet never rethoric; no undue enphasis comes to spoil the overall effect.
Maybe the ending is a bit mild. You know what? All that beautiful people full of love deserved a decent epilogue, at least for some of them if not, for the sake of realism, for all of them.
This is a story of human dignity and salvation.
Yes, five stars. This book is worth risking misjudgement on the bright side.… (more)

I really had no idea about the Chernobyl incident and it is scary with everything going on to read about what they did and what happened. Told throw a few characters this novel follows the aftermath of what happened after the nuclear accident in 1986 at the Chernobyl Power Plant. People had no idea what was happening- just that there were signs that things were not quite right; sky was a funny color, animals were acting odd and then there were military trucks giving them mere minutes to pack a bag a person and they were being transported by bus to some unknown city where they had to evacuate to with hardly any information at all. Others were convinced to stay behind and help bury and remove as many traces of the incident as possible but had no idea the harm that was upon them with the amount of radiation that was in the air. Thousands of people were harmed and eventually died from this and that area is still feeling the aftereffects to this day, in that no one or nothing is allowed near it due to the radiation still there. So scary, but a very good read about the event.… (more)