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Book Summary and Reviews of Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich

Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich

Voices from Chernobyl

by Svetlana Alexievich

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  • Published:
  • Apr 2005, 240 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

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.

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Book Awards

  • award image National Book Critics Circle Awards, 2005

Reviews

Media Reviews

"[A]n indelible X-ray of the Russian soul. " - PW

"Starred review. Alexievich put her own health at risk to gather these invaluable frontline testimonies, which she has transmuted into a haunting and essential work of literature that one can only hope documents a never-to-be-repeated catastrophe." - Booklist

This information about Voices from Chernobyl was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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