Chernobyl Prayer: Voices from Chernobyl
Apr 2016 · Penguin UK
4.8star
28 reviewsreport
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About this eBook
A startling history of the Chernobyl disaster by Svetlana Alexievich, the winner of the Nobel prize in literature 2015
On 26 April 1986, at 1.23am, a series of explosions shook the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Flames lit up the sky and radiation escaped to contaminate the land and poison the people for years to come. While officials tried to hush up the accident, Svetlana Alexievich spent years collecting testimonies from survivors - clean-up workers, residents, firefighters, resettlers, widows, orphans - crafting their voices into a haunting oral history of fear, anger and uncertainty, but also dark humour and love. A chronicle of the past and a warning for our nuclear future, Chernobyl Prayer shows what it is like to bear witness, and remember in a world that wants you to forget.
On 26 April 1986, at 1.23am, a series of explosions shook the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Flames lit up the sky and radiation escaped to contaminate the land and poison the people for years to come. While officials tried to hush up the accident, Svetlana Alexievich spent years collecting testimonies from survivors - clean-up workers, residents, firefighters, resettlers, widows, orphans - crafting their voices into a haunting oral history of fear, anger and uncertainty, but also dark humour and love. A chronicle of the past and a warning for our nuclear future, Chernobyl Prayer shows what it is like to bear witness, and remember in a world that wants you to forget.
Ratings and reviews
4.8
28 reviews
Jacqueline Giordano
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8 June 2019
I was riveted by all these stories. Laughing at some, weeping at others. The last one is especially poignant. Such suffering and such spirit. My heart hurts for these people.
1 person found this review helpful
Lucia
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30 August 2019
This book will change how you look at atomic power and the world in general. It will change who you are. Chernobyl is the biggest cover-up in history which could have ended all life in Europe if it weren't for the Soviet men and women who extinguished the burning reactor and picked up pieces of plutonium-coated graphite from the roof of the power plant. It cost their lives. Some of the most memorable moments in HBO's Chernobyl come from this book. And man saved only himself, left the animals to die.
2 people found this review helpful
Wesley Branton
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11 August 2020
The story of Chernobyl told from the perspective of the people. It adds a human connection to the event. Some of the stories are dry, but others are sad. Together, they help paint the tragic picture of Chernobyl and the Soviet Union of the time. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the human side of history or the Chernobyl disaster, especially if you have watched the popular HBO series (which is heavily based on this book).
About the author
Svetlana Alexievich (Author)
Svetlana Alexievich was born in Ivano-Frankivsk in 1948 and has spent most of her life in the Soviet Union and present-day Belarus, with prolonged periods of exile in Western Europe. Starting out as a journalist, she developed her own, distinctive non-fiction genre which brings together a chorus of voices to describe a specific historical moment. Her works include The Unwomanly Face of War (1985), Last Witnesses (1985), Boys in Zinc (1991), Chernobyl Prayer (1997) and Second-Hand Time (2013). She has won many international awards, including the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature for 'her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time'.
Svetlana Alexievich was born in Ivano-Frankivsk in 1948 and has spent most of her life in the Soviet Union and present-day Belarus, with prolonged periods of exile in Western Europe. Starting out as a journalist, she developed her own, distinctive non-fiction genre which brings together a chorus of voices to describe a specific historical moment. Her works include The Unwomanly Face of War (1985), Last Witnesses (1985), Boys in Zinc (1991), Chernobyl Prayer (1997) and Second-Hand Time (2013). She has won many international awards, including the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature for 'her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time'.
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