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Book Review - "Voices From Chernobyl" by Svetlana Alexievich
by Rachel Stoll
The fire and subsequent disaster in Chernobyl on April 26, 1986, was one of the largest nuclear disasters of all time. Located in the Ukraine, which was then a part of the Soviet Union, the Chernobyl incident was mismanaged and covered up by a weakening government. Svetlana Alexievich's Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster (translated by Keith Gessen) is a collection of stories and memories that are equal parts history and horror.
The story of the Chernobyl incident is grim at best. A fire started in the nuclear reactor, but there were problems putting it out and it was allowed to burn. The Soviet Union, unsure of what to do, sent in the military, first to construct a giant sarcophagus around the building to contain any radiation and pollution, and then to clean up the rubble and debris from the countryside. An immense amount of radiation was released, and people from the town of Chernobyl were recruited to help with the site cleanup after the fire and to drive trucks to and from the site. After the government realized what was happening, the area was evacuated in a panic, but people returned to harvest their now-contaminated vegetables.
This book is a collection of stories mostly from the widows of those who worked in the cleanup, and from survivors who tell the stories of their childhoods. The interviews are often interrupted with crying, silence, and distance. These pages are filled with descriptions of the barren land years after the disaster, and of the hospital visits between spouses who can no longer touch each other due to the radiation. Some of the most heart-wrenching stories happen in the small villages after the incident, when older women go back to eat their vegetables, which were unknowingly grown in contaminated soil, and when wives and mothers serve contaminated milk, trying to absorb the radiation. Tragic and moving, these stories center around how no one was told of the danger and how lives were lost due to the Moscow cover-ups.
This is one of the more personal books I've read on Chernobyl. (The Sky Unwashed by Irene Zabytko is another compelling story from that fateful April day.) Voices from Chernobyl is a fantastic set of interviews with people from all walks of life, including some former party members. However, it's not for the weak at heart or stomach, as the symptoms of radiation poisoning, and the resulting deaths, are described in graphic and accurate detail.
About the Author
Rachel Stoll writes for The Wisehart Review - movies, books, and more! Visit wisehartreview.com/
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