The Read Around The World Book Club discussion
NOVEMBER 2017 - Belarus
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Chapter 3 and the rest
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Melanie
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Oct 31, 2017 03:26AM
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This was not an easy read in that the subject matter was so tragic. I found it was best to read one chapter and put it aside for awhile then move on to the next. With that said I appreciate that the author allowed the stories to be told with it seems little editing. Each person is allowed to tell their story in their own way. Their stories make you angry and sad but many times their stories are so full of love for the people they lost there is a beauty to the stories too.
I have watched a couple documentaries on Chernobyl which dealt with the clean up and the disaster. None dealt with the impact to humans at this level.
In conclusion, I think this is a great account of the impact of the disaster and recommend the book.
The Choir of the Children was as hard to stomach this time as it was the first time I read the book... And I agree with MaggieChats that the book is so powerful because of all the different voices and the very personal take on the desaster people give. I think this approach, to let people talk and write it down, works extremely well with an event that is so unimaginable.
It's not an easy read, and I had to put the book down after each chapter but it's absolutely worth it & I am glad I re-read it.
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There is such power in letting people speak and getting their stories. The similarities of the lies, their faith in the union. Their loss of health and home and loved ones. And now it all seems so forgotten. I mean there was a bloody Eurovision not so long ago.
And yes, you can visit that like a tourist site. Too many thoughts.
Melanie agree too many thoughts. I was rather disgusted when I heard many westerners like the thrill of touring Chernobyl. It just seems so crass not to mention dangerous. Think the story of the children's choir will stay with me forever.
This book was very harrowing but I’m in the minority here who didn’t think it was that great and the reason for that is most of the monologues where the same and all blended into one, this at time made it a bit tedious and meant I didn’t want to pick it up. I think I would have liked something from the author to start off the monologues maybe some piece of history or a little something about who is speaking. My edition didn’t have a map and would have liked one with the exclusion zone highlighted just for some clarity of where places where. I found there was to much in here about the USSR’s history and it pulled me out the narrative as I didn’t have a clue about it but that’s my fault instead of the books,I definitely think the open and close of the book was the most powerful and will stay with me a long time!
This book had such an impact on me, I'm glad I read it although I had to take some breaths of fresh air inbetween because it was like a cold shower of feelings and situations so hard to even imagine going through. I loved the choice she made with the opening and closing stories both of them extremely emotional. I initially wasn't so sure about her choice to include in a single "monologue" multiple voices that you can't tell apart but as I went on I felt it made sense, as it maybe was the author's intention to portray these stories in a fragmented kind of way as if people were speaking all together, and I appreciated it. Overall a must read for everybody and one that will haunt me for a very long time.
Children's choir was such a strong way to end the book.I finally finished and I don't have anything to add that others haven't mentioned. I love the approach she took to telling this story. I loved/was heartbroken by this theme of how they, Chernobylites, have almost become a nation of their own because they share such a tragic past no one else ever has. The way the book is written is also just incredible. I loved it. I can't wait to read more of her work.
There are many quotes that have struck me, just a couple, " The first fear fell from the sky. It floated down with the water." " The only righteous thing on the face of the earth is death. No one has ever bribed their way out of that."
" What struck me most was the combination of beauty and fear. Fear could no longer be separated from beauty or beauty from fear."
I think there are deep and profound pieces of the stories. I can empathize with the situation and the horror of it, while still feeling that it's too horrific to be true.
I appreciate Svetlana giving a voice to people that have wanted to forget, and don't talk about it amongst themselves. I feel there are important human lessons there.
I just finished this and I just found everything so sad. I read this book over the course of a week. Parts of it were just so emotional that I needed to put it down at times. So many little things struck me. I’m so uneducated in this subject. I did not know how far radiation could spread and how the people had so little hope for their future because they couldn’t escape the radiation exposure even years after the incident. How children were resigned to the fact of having deformed babies. This made me tear up a little.
I was also struck by how communism was still so prevalent in these areas. I forgot that the USSR was still communist at that time.
I also thought the epilogue was strange in that it has become a popular tourist destination with tours and picnics. It seems so sad like having a picnic on someone’s grave.
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This is one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read! Wow just wow I am so overwhelmed be so many emotions. Beginning the book I wasn’t sure about how Alexievich “wrote” it, by allowing all of the voices to tell their own story. Now I wish I could find more books like this. I could have notated and highlighted every passage in this book. Completely heartbreaking.
I fully agree with Candace! The format of monologues was new to me, but I quickly became adjusted and found it quite enjoyable. And, again like Candace, I found it a commanding and important book. I knew Nothing About Chernobyl past it's name and that a nuclear reactor "exploded', which we now know doesn't explode, it burns. I did find that some monologues over- lapped others, causing the feeling that I'd read it before. This however, solidified the commonality of the experience, giving it more truth. Since I posted it on bookstagram, several commented on enjoying other works by Svetlana. I may consider exploring one at a later date.
Thank you for picking this book for this months read! It's devastating, but people need to read this. Those people deserve at least to be heard.My dad was recently diagnosed with leukemia and after seeing that he works with all kinds of machines (to simplify his job) and was as a young man in a war the doctors asked him if he was ever exposed to radiation and he doesn't know. We just don't know how he got it.
That was the thing that got me the most - that people just didn't know. Nobody told them what is going on, or rather explained them that properly.
Finnally I got around to read this "wonderful" book. I don't know, if I'd like to cry or to scream after finishing it. I remember the time when Tschernobyl happenend very vivid, even being a child. I remember the news, the fear, the insecurity. But regarding the situation described in this book, it was nothing compared to the people directly affected by this incomparable tragedy. And even that I already knew how terribly it was handled by the soviet government, I only now found out, that I had in fact no idea, what they really did to their own citizen. This is such an important book.
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So glad you had a chance to read it and loved it :)
