Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster

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Investigative journalist Svetlana Alexievich interviewed over 500 eyewitnesses of the Chernobyl disaster over a period of ten years, and this book tells the stories of these people. It recounts the physical details of the nuclear accident as well as the psychological effect it had on those affected, and relates the tremendous impact that the event had on their lives. A beautiful, tragic, powerful, and moving work – at times funny, and often heartbreaking. The book was originally written in Russian, but this is an excellent translation. Alexievich has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time”.

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For anyone concerned with the fate of the planet at a very troubling geopolitical time for our country and the world, this book is an excellent reminder that technological and scientific disasters harm real people. The stories here are powerful, poignant, sad, and harrowing. And they are real.

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We might think of this terrible event as being removed from us, but in Portland I met a man from Chernobyl who had had six children, three of whom he had lost to radiation-induced cancer resulting from this disaster.

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The subtitle of this book is The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster and the voices from this time in history in Chernobyl are powerful. At times they are touching, at times painful, at times darkly humorous, and throughout, they are voices of people who, for the most part, are innocent victims of a government that cared more for politics than people. The author interviews people from school age children to elders and never interjects her views. Although the nuclear disaster occurred in 1986, this book is timeless as the effects of Chernobyl continue and the potential for future nuclear disasters is very real.

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Both terrifying and heartbreaking, this book chronicles the 1986 disaster in Chernobyl in detail. Written as a series of interviews or "monologues" with residents of Chernobyl and the surrounding areas, the author touches on many topics from the intimate details of death from radiation poisoning to the displacement people felt being permanently evacuated from their homes. "Liquidators" were sent to the nuclear site to clean up the mess, working in 45 second intervals in lead aprons. "Hunters" were ordered to go into evacuated towns to kill and bury all the animals to minimize the risk of spreading the radiation. The stories in this book are disturbing and haunting but they happened and by reading them we can honor the memories of many of the families and people who lost their lives and loved ones and the survivors who are still suffering today.