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Start discussion here for Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster by Svetlana Alexievich.

Book Summary (from Book Browse)

Voices from Chernobyl is the first book to present personal accounts of what happened on April 26, 1986, when the worst nuclear reactor accident in history contaminated as much as three quarters of Europe. Svetlana Alexievich--a journalist who now suffers from an immune deficiency developed while researching this book--interviewed hundreds of people affected by the meltdown. Their narratives form a crucial document revealing how the government masked the event with deception and denial. Harrowing and unforgettable, Voices from Chernobyl bears witness to a tragedy and its aftermath in a book that is as unforgettable as it is essential.

About the Author (from The Guardian)

The winner of the 2015 Nobel prize in literature, Svetlana Alexievich, is an unfamiliar name to many English-speaking readers. But her work has given voice to survivors of conflict and disaster all over the former Soviet Union, shedding light into the emotional lives of people she has met from Chernobyl to Kabul.

Alexievich was born 31 May 1948 in the Ukrainian town of Ivano-Frankovsk into the family of a serviceman. Her father is Belorussian and her mother is Ukrainian. After her father’s demobilization from the army, the family returned to his native Belarus and settled in a village where both parents worked as schoolteachers. She left school to work as a reporter on the local paper in the town of Narovl. She went on to a career in journalism, and has written short stories and reportage, in which she’s covered the Chernobyl catastrophe, the Soviet war in Afghanistan and many other events – all based on thousands of interviews with witnesses.

She has been persecuted by Alexander Lukashenko’s dictatorial regime, which made her leave Belarus in 2000. She went on to live in Paris, Gothenburg and Berlin, and could only return to Minsk in 2011.

I am reading this (published as Chernobyl Prayer: A Chronicle of the Future in the UK). It is exceptionally good, though of course very harrowing. I think the way it is told in short snippets from people affected in different ways is so effective at conveying the confusion and disarray and bewilderment people felt.

I read this earlier this year, and I found it extremely moving. I wasn't sure at first that I could read story after story of so many people who had been through such a disaster, but the accounts are so varied that it wasn't as bleak as I thought it would be. The whole situation was terrible, and I don't mean to make it sound as if it wasn't. But these are people who lived through an unimaginable thing and have survived in various ways.

Here is My review

It was definitely eye opening for me, too. I have always been curious about the aftermath of Chernobyl, but knew so little before reading the book. This is the best documentary-type book I have ever read. I highly recommend it.

I checked this out and should get to start it tomorrow or Friday. I read Ghosts of the Tsunami a month ago and, similarly, feared it going in, but a skillful writer can take the harrowing and make it readable, and that's what I'm expecting here, particularly from your comments. OTOH, tissues are right next to the book, just in case.

I read this in 2016. Definitely recommended if anyone is on the fence about reading it.

I started to read the book and, before I had finished the translator‘s foreword, I headed down the black hole of Internet searches, particularly to find a map showing the location of the plant in relation to Belarus. I’m still not terribly good on the borders and stories of the various countries created when the USSR broke up.

In any event, this article from 2016 was particularly strong and also concerning.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chernoby...

Carol wrote: "I started to read the book and, before I had finished the translator‘s foreword, I headed down the black hole of Internet searches, particularly to find a map showing the location of the plant in r..."

That article is quite scary. The Belarussian government is effectively helping spread cancer-causing food and dairy products across their nation and Russia. How incredibly naive the farmers interviewed are to think the soil is safe just because they don't see mutations in animals. It just goes to show that people still should not trust the government regarding Chernobyl and the affects of the radiation.

Laurie wrote: "Carol wrote: "I started to read the book and, before I had finished the translator‘s foreword, I headed down the black hole of Internet searches, particularly to find a map showing the location of ..."

And, dear Lord, Putin knows better, so why Belarussian food goods are permitted to enter Russia is a mystery.

Finally, since Belarus likely won’t track meaningful data about deaths tied to government actions, we will never have facts detailing the scope of this atrocity.

I started reading this book last night. This is the second book by Svetlana Alexievich that I've read (first was the unparalleled Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War), and I've been thinking that her work represents a female point of view. She writes a lot about the lived consequences of state actions, and even though she has many men's voices, I feel like this story needed a woman (uniquely Alexievich, because I do think she's brilliant) to think that this was an important story to tell and focus on.

Viv wrote: "I am reading this (published as Chernobyl Prayer: A Chronicle of the Future in the UK). It is exceptionally good, though of course very harrowing. I think the way it is told in shor..."

Thank you for sharing this.

I have read about 30 pages so far and find the stories engrossing and heart-breaking.

I am in part 3, which talks about misinformation, both deliberate and unintentional, mis-communication, lack of knowledge about nuclear contamination and generally criminal behaviour on the part of the government.