Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award
On April 26, 1986, the worst nuclear reactor accident in... read full description
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Mar 23, 2011
Manny
rated it: 
The Russian journalist Svetlana Alexievich spent three years interviewing people who had been involved in Chernobyl: villagers from the surrounding area, "liquidators" (members of the cleanup squad), widows and children, nuclear scientists, politicians, even people who, incredibly, had moved to Chernobyl after the accident. She presents their words almost without comment. Sometimes she adds a [Laughs]; sometimes [Stops]; sometimes [Starts crying]; sometimes [Breaks down completely]. I
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Jun 09, 2010
Pavel
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Undoubtedly, this was one the most, if not the most powerfull text written in Russian language for the last few decades. It's a doc book. Svetlana Aleksievich gave voice to dozens of ordinary people who suffered from Chernobyl disaster. They are telling their stories without author interferense, she only gives them opportunity to speak.
...How soldier was chasing radicative cat around trying to kill it and little girl, owner of the cat was running behind the soldier, screaming: "Run aw More...
...How soldier was chasing radicative cat around trying to kill it and little girl, owner of the cat was running behind the soldier, screaming: "Run aw More...
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Jun 09, 2010
Pavel
rated it:
Undoubtedly, this was one the most, if not the most powerfull text written in Russian language for the last few decades. It's a doc book. Svetlana Aleksievich gave voice to dozens of ordinary people who suffered from Chernobyl disaster. They are telling their stories without author interferense, she only gives them opportunity to speak.
...How soldier was chasing radicative cat around trying to kill it and little girl, owner of the cat was running behind the soldier, screaming: "Run aw More...
...How soldier was chasing radicative cat around trying to kill it and little girl, owner of the cat was running behind the soldier, screaming: "Run aw More...
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Mar 28, 2011
Andrew
rated it:
I read the book sometime in 2006, I think. I wasn't keeping track via goodreads.com then. I won't give much review here except to say that this book provided a very unique perspective from the people who were there and had to, one way or another, face the situation.
It's direct and "in their own words". The testimony is woven into a tapestry with backgrounders provided by the author's research. It's not so much about the mechanics of the disaster and its aftermath, as it is More...
It's direct and "in their own words". The testimony is woven into a tapestry with backgrounders provided by the author's research. It's not so much about the mechanics of the disaster and its aftermath, as it is More...
Aug 16, 2010
Sarah
rated it: 
While not a literary masterpiece, Svetlana Alexievich records the important and emotionally saturated remembrances of individuals affected by the devastating disaster in Chernobyl in 1986. When a nuclear reactor unexpectedly malfunctioned, an explosion of deadly radioactive particles showered down upon the many kilometers surrounding the area. At that time, the consequences of such a nuclear disaster were unknown to the general public and pertinent information regarding safety was concealed by g
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Aug 03, 2011
Harry
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Voices from Chernobyl was written in 1996, ten years after the reactor meltdown. It is an oral history of the disaster; that is, it’s presented as a series of ‘monologues’ by people who were involved in some way, with titles like ‘Monologue about War Movies’, ‘Monologue about the Shovel and the Atom’, ‘Monologue about Expensive Salami’. I’m actually a bit curious about exactly how they were collected; they are presented as verbatim transcripts, although I’m sure they’ve been tidied up somewhat.
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Dec 14, 2008
Kassandra
rated it:
I was a freshman in high school when the Chernobyl reactor exploded. I don't remember thinking much about it or discussing it with anyone. I was probably busy preparing for a French test, or listening to Madonna, or creating a hole in the ozone with my hair products, and didn't give the biggest nuclear and environmental disaster we silly humans could create a second thought. Well, reading this book made me have a second, third, fourth, and three-hundredth thought about this disaster more than 20
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Jul 06, 2011
Virginia
rated it: 
After hearing the author interviewed on NPR, I had to read this book. It is gripping and frightening and gives you a sense of how insidious invisible menaces like radiation are, how you are lured into complacency. While I find it inconceivable that someone would return to live in the areas contaminated by this disaster, after reading the book I understand how people could make that choice. I also admire the strength, integrity and courage of the author and the people she interviewed. At times I
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Apr 07, 2010
Wade
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This book was an compilation of visceral, intimate accounts of those people directly affected by the Chernobyl disaster, from the "Liquidators" to the cleanup crews who followed, and the wives who stood by their husbands as they lay on their deathbeds afflicted with acute radiation poisoning. Those Russians called upon to assist with the cleanup were essentially heroes of the state, but they were lied to, if by omission, of the peril they were being subjected to. In a society where "
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Dec 01, 2011
Nina
rated it:
I had to put this book down after a while, because the tragedy of the message was so powerful. The bottom line of this book was the cover-up. You hear not only from the victims and the victims' families, but you also hear from the politicians and leaders at that time. There were so many reasons people gave as to why appropriate precautions weren't taken and people weren't warned as much as they should have been. Of course, this is all retrospective, so there is a lot of anger and some self right
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Jun 26, 2007
Ben
rated it:
Stunning and profound book. Journalist prints monologues from
victims, some of whom resettled in Chernobyl or nearby. Poetic reflections on love, death, family, food. Some fascinating technical detail about the view from the plant, from engineers and firefighters and so forth, colored by a mass disbelief that invisible things can be poisonous.
victims, some of whom resettled in Chernobyl or nearby. Poetic reflections on love, death, family, food. Some fascinating technical detail about the view from the plant, from engineers and firefighters and so forth, colored by a mass disbelief that invisible things can be poisonous.
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May 31, 2010
Jessica
rated it: 
So, I loved this book in that it taught me some big themes associated with the Chernobyl disaster that I might not have thought about: Communism's focus on the collective as opposed to the individual, how at-risk an undereducated population really is, the conflict that arises when perfect looking crops and livestock are deadly, how many people moved TO Chernobyl from war-torn former Soviet nations because radiation is better than shooting, etc.
I thought some of the narratives were r More...
I thought some of the narratives were r More...
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Dec 28, 2011
Allison
rated it:
I found this book very moving and chilling. I've always been fascinated by large scale disasters, especially if they are covered up. Chernobyl has been a long standing interest and there is so little "known" by the average person about I try to gather as much as I can about the topic.
This book has an account the the events from individuals from the town. From firefighters, to their family members, to towns folk. It's told Through them and is very interesting read. I was often More...
This book has an account the the events from individuals from the town. From firefighters, to their family members, to towns folk. It's told Through them and is very interesting read. I was often More...
Apr 20, 2011
Bill
rated it:
This is probably going to be one of the few books written about the Chernobyl accident. Since Belarus is controlled by a dictator who wants to bury this story. 340,000 soldiers were volunteered to help with the fire and cleanup; many were given no protection. 2000 soldiers each did a few minutes on the roof of the reactor with lead vests but leather shoes and no protection of their private parts:they were given a certificate and 1000 rubles. Most died a horrible death. This is the story of
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Jun 25, 2011
Dolly
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I just finished reading Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster which my daughter recommended. It was an interesting read, and quite scary at the same time. I knew a little about this accident from when it actually happened back in 1986, but this is an eye opener to how truly horrible this disaster was for people. It certainly makes one see why the Japanese were/are in a panic about the damage done over there recently to the nuclear plants there. The monologue format made t
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Jun 01, 2011
Kate
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Powerful stories told by ordinary people who lived through a nightmare when the "peaceful atom" contaminated their lives. Workers, "liquidators" (clean-up crew members), peasants, bureaucrats, scientists, military members, and children are all represented in this book as they strive to make sense of the Chernobyl disaster and its radioactive fallout.
The interviewees often note how difficult it was to think of everything from the Zone, even the beautiful natural sce More...
The interviewees often note how difficult it was to think of everything from the Zone, even the beautiful natural sce More...
Apr 12, 2009
Sciolus
rated it:
A very insightful read. I think Alexievich tries to paint a full picture of the chernobyl disaster by getting anecdotes from various people with different occupations involved in the disaster. We realise that there was much more going on besides the nuclear disaster such as censorship on the disaster, the political situation at the moment in Russia, how the lives of the civilians had been affected. The book conjures different emotions as one reads different anecdotes from different people and ab
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Nov 12, 2011
Dachokie
rated it:
Powerful Book That Reveals the Real Legacy of Chernobyl ...
Having read a Soviet nuclear engineer's account of the Chernobyl accident (THE TRUTH ABOUT CHERNOBYL), followed by a reporter's pictorial coverage (CHERNOBYL: CONFESSIONS OF A REPORTER); I was still missing an angle of the accident that would bring my superficial education on the subject to a close ... personal accounts from the people who lived through it. With so few resources published on the event, Svetlana Alexievich's VOI More...
Having read a Soviet nuclear engineer's account of the Chernobyl accident (THE TRUTH ABOUT CHERNOBYL), followed by a reporter's pictorial coverage (CHERNOBYL: CONFESSIONS OF A REPORTER); I was still missing an angle of the accident that would bring my superficial education on the subject to a close ... personal accounts from the people who lived through it. With so few resources published on the event, Svetlana Alexievich's VOI More...
Jan 02, 2012
Aerin
rated it:
We don't need the destruction of entire cities to know what it's like to survive a catastrophe. Whenever we lose someone we love deeply we experience the end of the world as we know it. The central idea of the story is not merely that the apocalypse is coming, but that it's coming for you. And there's nothing you can do about it.
Dale Bailey, "The End of the World As We Know It"
The reason I like apocalyptic fiction so much is that it is, in fact, fiction. More...
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Jan 11, 2010
Davy
rated it:
This utterly devastating work of scholarship collects dozens of interviews--from soldiers, from widows, from stubborn resettlers in the Zone of Exclusion--and presents them without commentary or adornment. It's beautiful and tragic. I was reading bits and pieces of it at the playground today while my son ran around, and I choked up right there on the park bench when a father from Pripyat related his daughter's last words: "Daddy, I want to live, I'm still little." And then there was th
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Jul 10, 2010
Sonyatchka
rated it:
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster that happened in 1986 devastated a large part of the Soviet Union, the worst damage occurring in Ukraine (where the reactor was) and Belarus. As with anything Soviet, a lot of secrets were kept and lies were told. This is a collection of real accounts from people who were whose lives were dramatically changed by the disaster.
This was an amazing book with some very moving stories. We get to see how the effects of the disaster go on to cause problems even More...
This was an amazing book with some very moving stories. We get to see how the effects of the disaster go on to cause problems even More...
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Feb 13, 2011
Jennifer
rated it:
I finished this book weeks ago, but I keep forgetting to post my review. This is a must-read! It was written by a Ukrainian journalist who documented first-hand accounts of the disaster at Chernobyl. I had no idea that the disaster affected so many countries in Eastern Europe (i.e. Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, etc.). Some of the stories were very hard to read because they went into graphic details of how many of the people of Chernobyl died slow, painful deaths from radiation poisoning. The me
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Mar 08, 2009
Pancha
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I read this as a sort of companion to Wormwood Forest, which focused more on the landscape of Chernobyl. I wanted a more balanced picture, the human quotient. This book is both terrible and eloquent, a transcription of survivor interviews told in monologues and choruses. Alexievich includes voices of scientists, liquidators, teachers, re-settlers, widows, parents, children... Those who curse Chernobyl and those who uphold Communism. The translator did a wonderful job, the transcripts read like p
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May 12, 2011
Lisa
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Reads like science fiction, but heartbreaking & true. A book made up of many individual accounts of the people who lived the tragedy; from scientists to the common folks. A book full of excellent reasons why we should steer away from nuclear energy for the future.
Feb 16, 2011
Claire
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This amazing collection of personal accounts relating to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster gives readers not only a look into how the event permanently altered the lives and mindsets of multiple generations but also provides insight into the ways the communistic government responded to the catastrophe. Each monologue provides a unique perspective and a different outlook. They are horrific, heart-wrenching, heartwarming, graphic, ordinary, inspiring, and disturbing both separately and al
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Aug 21, 2010
Brian
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Reading this book gives you a completely different perspective on the day to day things we all bitch about. All of our day to day problems seem so small and petty when compared to the things these survivors of Chernobyl experienced. This is a great read with real-life stories from the people who were there, people who went there to help and people whose loved ones went there to help.
Aug 28, 2008
John
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Svetlana Alexievich's latest, very much in the tradition of her earlier "Zinky Boys" (the English translate of which was lousy--the translated excerpt in Granta, "Boys in Zinc," was much better). In Chernobyl she provides accounts of personal lives of those who lived in the village and who were evacuated or died from the nuclear disaster. The problem probably for most American readers is that this is a downer because it is, well, a downer. Sooner or later you have to come for
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Jun 30, 2009
Dawn
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As much as I already know about the Chernobyl incident, nothing I've read has affected me as much as the first monologue in this book. The widow of one of the first firefighters on the scene talks about the early days, her husband's illness and death, and the birth of her daughter. Very intense and emotional.
Jan 10, 2012
J.J.
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Reading the series of monologues in Svetlana Alexievitch's oral history of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, I felt the chill of looking into an open grave. "Voices from Chernobyl" is a collection of survivor interviews by the journalist, who is from the Ukraine. The stories that people tell her are as close to being there as you can get, without being contaminated by the ever present deadly radiation from the accident. Here are the memories of lost true loves and lost dear children, bes
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Nov 07, 2011
Amanda
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This was a very powerful book that told the story in a very personal way. It was a hard book to read though. I may have been the saddest book I have ever read.
