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Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster Paperback – April 18, 2006

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Svetlana Alexievich (Author)
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Svetlana Alexievich (Author), Keith Gessen (Translator)
4.7 out of 5 stars 192 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Picador; Reprint edition (April 18, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312425848
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312425845
  • Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (192 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,347 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsMesmerizing and chilling
By M. Grigsby VINE VOICE on May 3, 2005
Format: Hardcover
This book is a translation of interviews with survivors 10 years after Chernobyl. The first-person descriptions of living in the "Zone" after the disaster, and the implications of living in radioactivity is chilling and compelling. The book is full of heartbreaking stories of Russian people who survived WWII but then were confronted with another disaster of unbelievable magnitude. I absolutely couldn't put this book down, and feel that it should be promoted as one of the best books of the year. As we are now approaching the 20th anniversary of this event, I keep wondering how many of those people interviewed in 1996 are still alive. This book deserves a huge audience!
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5.0 out of 5 starsWe didn't know that death could be so beautiful...
By Julee Rudolf VINE VOICE on September 24, 2006
Format: Paperback
says an evacuee in Voices of Chernobyl, an absolutely riveting collection of oral histories of people from all walks of life, affected for eternity by the nuclear accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor on April 26, 1986. "A Solitary Human Voice," the prologue, recounted by a woman whose husband was one of the first on the scene as a firefighter, will lure you in and, once there, you'll feel compelled to continue to the end, painful as it may be. She's pregnant, newly married and very much in love when she hears the news. The doctors and nurses and try to no avail to keep her away from her husband once he's done his duty at the plant and then sent to a special hospital in Moscow for victims of radiation poisoning, along with six other firemen. Her baby dies. Her husband dies, horribly, the last of the seven of his crew.

These stories of "Chernobylites," the stigmatized and disdained victims of the accident, share a common theme. The government was neither truthful nor forthcoming about the level of danger that those living near the area of the Chernobyl plant experienced. They did not provide the victims with information on treatment in a timely manner, because it would have meant admitting that a horrible accident had actually occurred. Those who tried to warn others of the danger were silenced or mocked. Men were sent to clean up the site and were given extra pay in exchange, ultimately, for their lives. Because people could not see the radiation, they kept on eating contaminated food, breathing contaminated air, using contaminated clothing and living (approximately 2.1 million people) on contaminated land. Immediately afterwards, men were sent to kill the domestic animals, evacuate the people and, using shovels and minimal protective gear, remove the contaminated soil.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsDeeply disturbing
By Stephen Balbach on November 30, 2006
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Occasionally I'll read first-hand accounts about human catastrophes in the modern world, such as Sudan or Rwanda or Katrina, because it offers a window into what I as a middle class American normally would never see or experience, hopefully making me a better and wiser person without becoming numb or a "dark tourist". Books are more subtle and rich than film and more rewarding in the end.

As an oral history this is a frightening experience (the term "experience" emphasized). Chernobyl has been largely hushed up and kept quiet, the scope of it is worse than most know or understand (occasionally we hear a few hundred or thousand people died and certain cancers are slightly up, don't believe it, much worse). Only about %5 of the nuclear material escaped so it was a minor accident on the scale of things. There is a %50 chance of another meltdown happening elsewhere in the world over the next 40 years (sourced in book). Had Chernobyl been a full meltdown much of Europe would be dieing off as we speak. 16 more Chernobyl-type reactors are still in operation (14 in Russia). As Alexievich says in her epitaph: "These people had already seen what for everyone else is still unknown. I felt like I was recording the future."

The disaster of Chernobyl is still going today, it never ended, it is like AIDS - it just keeps getting worse, there is no cure for radiation which lasts 100s of 1000s of years. The radiated material is finding its way outside of the "Zone" and spreading slowly around the world. Down the rivers into the seas, blown on dust, carried out by hand by bandits in the form of trucks and TV's and scrap metal sold to Asian scrap metal firms which build the goods we buy, grown in food and sold on the world market.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsNo Nukes
By Amazon Customer on July 1, 2005
Format: Hardcover
READ THIS BOOK! First, I am a retired career military officer and veteran combat fighter pilot who once flew aircraft armed with nuclear weapons. This compilation of personal histories is heart-wrenching and soul-searching. The mostly free and honest recitations are emotionally searing. The first chapter brought tears to my eyes before I was half-through. These histories are also an indictment of the cover-your-tail, follow the party line, system of government and a stern warning that nuclear power must be under the closest of controls - forever. I finished the book about 1100PM but was unable to fall asleep until after 0130AM. I am, after reading this book, totally against the commercial use of atomic energy since the drive for profit must inevitably result in lowering of standards in maintenance and operational control as has already been manifested in, say, Three-Mile Island. I only wish I had the funds to send a copy of this book to every Congressperson. George Soros, are you there?

Walter E. Bjorneby, Lt/Col, USAF (Ret)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsThe book is very informative about the Chernobyl disaster and ...

The book is very informative about the Chernobyl disaster and gives many personal accounts to give a well rounded view of how people were impacted and how little they were told at... Read more

Published 5 hours ago by Melissa A. Sheesley
5.0 out of 5 starsThis is an oral history tracing most memorably the initial ...

This is an oral history tracing most memorably the initial attempts at dealing with the Chernobyl disaster. Read more

Published 11 days ago by rd
5.0 out of 5 starsWrenching and vital

An extraordinary account of an epic nightmare. Gorgeously framed, harrowingly delivered. That there is so much beauty to be found in such staggering ugliness is a testament to the... Read more

Published 11 days ago by D. Noto
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Excellent product, just as described, and prompt shipping. Highly recommended to all!!!

Published 12 days ago by Gary Learmonth
2.0 out of 5 starsNuclear disaster.

Whether poor editing or translation had a big part to play in the overall structure of Voices from Chernobyl I have no idea but I was a very dissatisfied reader. Read more

Published 18 days ago by Annie
4.0 out of 5 starsGood Book

Good book. Neat to hear the stories of survivors and those directly involved. Would highly recommend.

Published 25 days ago by Katherine Staley
5.0 out of 5 starsHaunting and intense, but highly recommend

I highly recommend this book, although it's intense and not for the faint of heart. So much of what happened at Chernobyl and the aftermath is not readily known to most. Read more

Published 26 days ago by Amy Woolf
5.0 out of 5 starsanother great read from Alexievich

another great read from Alexievich. if this happens anywhere again, we all are doomed. great first hand accounts from people who witnessed this and from those that helped clean... Read more

Published 26 days ago by frank oldrant
5.0 out of 5 starsIntense, amazingly written. Should be required reading in ...

Intense, amazingly written. Should be required reading in Academia.

Published 1 month ago by nanosecond
4.0 out of 5 starsIntetresting

Interesting information

Published 1 month ago by Elaine

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