A profound account of the experiences of people in Belarus to the accident and aftermath at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine. This book is a really good example of how oral history can be used to capture stories that professional historians would miss. Read it. ( )

This is a difficult book to read. I’m not sure I’ll ever stop thinking about the stories these people told, their memories, their life and the horrible suffering after the disaster. “There’s nowhere to hide. Not underground, not underwater, not in the air.” ( )

A harrowing collection of interviews - in the form of monologues - by people connected with the Chenobyl disaster, from the widows of those involved in the cleanup, to an official who participated in the cover-up, people who moved to the restricted area after the disaster to escape genocide elsewhere, one of the hunters tasked with killing animals within the zone, and those who were children at the time. They make clear the ignorance of radiation and thus the terrible danger of all concerned due to the culture of secrecy and cover up in the Soviet Union. This was compounded by the corruption at all levels which led to vast amounts of radioactive goods and food being taken out of the zone and sold for profit in areas that hadn't been evacuated.

The book doesn't set out to describe the chronological timeline of the disaster or the explanation of why it happened. But it forms a companion volume to 'Midnight at Chenobyl' which provides all those and which I read quite recently. The present volume is the personal stories in their own words and a grim tale it makes. A book that will definitely be worth another read, though for me it is surprisingly short given the wealth of material and the hundreds of interviews which we're told the author (really an editor) carried out. Therefore I'm awarding it 4 stars. ( )

a people's history of chernobyl ( )

This was an astonishing read that shed light on the often neglected human angle surrounding the Chernobyl disaster. The common theme among typical Chernobyl content revolves around the ruins, the cover-up, the immensity of the initial reactor exposion and immediate aftermath. Missing from those narratives are stories of the villagers, the liquidators, families of the many who were sick or dying from radiation, intelligentsia the government ignored systematically in their desire to shield the world from the extent of the tragedy. This book is filled with first-person accounts, often emotional, touching and horrifying, that detail the days, weeks and first few years after the April 1986 explosion. In character vignettes, those who lived through the Chernobyl disaster in the many nearby villages give insight into their struggle with the Soviet mindset in postwar Ukraine, losing their homes and communities, living and dying with radiation, grieving their old lives. If you liked the HBO series, which heavily pulls from Alexievich’s book, you’ll be engrossed. The way she structures the monologues is poetic.

Many pages detail disturbing accounts regarding humans of all ages — and animals, so definitely avoid if you don't want to end up crying on the subway like I did. ( )