Voices From Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster

“Svetlana Alexievich’s Voices from Chernobyl (Dalkey Archive) is a collage of oral testimony that turns into the psycho¬biography of a nation not shown on any map: the poisoned territory where live Belarusians, Ukrainians and Russians who are forever changed by the catastophe. The book – by this year’s Nobelist – leaves radiation burns on the brain.” -Julian Barnes, The Guardian, Best Books of the Year

“Grim and grotesque, the stories accrete across the pages like the radionuclides lodged in the bodies of those who survived.” –Nicholas Confessore, The New York Times Book Review

“A chorus of fatalism, stoic bravery, and black, black humor is sounded in this haunting oral history . . . The result is an endelible X-ray of the Russian soul.” – Publishers Weekly

“Shocking accounts of life in a poisoned world. And what quintessentially human stories these are, as each distinct voice expresses anger, fear, ignorance, stoicism, valor, compassion, and love. 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 (Starred Review)

“Svetlana Alexievich’s remarkable book, recording the lives and deaths of her fellow Belarussians, has at last made it into American bookstores. (…) Hers is a peerless collection of testimony.” -Andrew Meier, The Nation

“Grim and grotesque, the stories accrete across the pages like the radionuclides lodged in the bodies of those who survived.” -Nicholas Confessore, The New York Times Book Review