Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'Voiced from Chernobyl'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • Actualités
    • Members and Guests Please Read This
  • Restaurants, Tourism, and Hotels - USA
    • Washington DC Restaurants and Dining
    • Philadelphia Restaurants and Dining
    • New York City Restaurants and Dining
    • Los Angeles Restaurants and Dining
    • San Francisco Restaurants and Dining
    • Houston Restaurants and Dining
    • Baltimore and Annapolis Restaurants and Dining
  • Restaurants, Tourism, and Hotels - International
    • London Restaurants and Dining
    • Paris Restaurants and Dining
  • Shopping and News, Cooking and Booze, Parties and Fun, Travel and Sun
    • Shopping and Cooking
    • News and Media
    • Fine Arts And Their Variants
    • Events and Gatherings
    • Beer, Wine, and Cocktails
    • The Intrepid Traveler
  • Marketplace
    • Professionals and Businesses
    • Catering and Special Events
    • Jobs and Employment

Calendars

There are no results to display.

Categories

  • Los Angeles
    • Northridge
    • Westside
    • Sawtelle
    • Beverly Grove
    • West Hollywood
    • Hancock Park
    • Hollywood
    • Mid
    • Koreatown
    • Los Feliz
    • Silver Lake
    • Westlake
    • Echo Park
    • Downtown
    • Southwest (Convention Center, Staples Center, L.A. Live Complex)
    • Financial District
    • Little Tokyo
    • Arts District
    • Chinatown
    • Venice
    • LAX
    • Southeast Los Angeles
    • Watts
    • Glendale
    • Pasadena
    • Century City
    • Beverly Hills
    • San Gabriel
    • Temple City
    • Santa Monica
    • Culver City
    • Manhattan Beach
    • Thousand Oaks
    • Anaheim
    • Riverside
    • Palm Springs
    • Barbecue
    • Breakfast
    • Chinese
    • Cuban
    • Diners
    • Food Trucks
    • Hamburgers
    • Korean
    • Mexican (and Tex
    • Taiwanese
    • Thai

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


Skype


AIM


Jabber


Yahoo


ICQ


Website URL


MSN


Interests


Location

Found 1 result

  1. Have you ever seen those old bumper stickers? The ones that said, "A little nukie never hurt anybody!" You haven't seen them in awhile now, have you. Yesterday, I finished "Voices from Chernobyl," one of the two masterworks by Belarussian journalist Svetlana Alexievich - winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature (her other notable work being "Zinky Boys" - a tragic nickname for Russian soldiers shipped home from the Afghanistan war in zinc coffins). The title, in Russian, is "Чернобыльская молитва," translating to "Chernobyl Prayer" (which is the British title; "Voices from Chernobyl" is the American title - both are appropriate, as the book is essentially a meditation on the aftermath). This book follows a pattern completely foreign to what I'm familiar with when it comes to Nobel Prize Winners in Literature: Not only is it non-fiction, but Alexievich didn't even write it; she instead spent several years interviewing hundreds of people affected by the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, and compiled their lightly edited anecdotes into a series of "short stories" - stories obtained, compiled, arranged, and presented by Alexievich, but not written in her own hand. Before reading this book, I had done virtually no research into Chernobyl, and that's why I chose it over Zinky Boys - all other things being equal, I viewed it as a chance to educate myself about what might become the single deadliest event in human history (up until now). The final death toll from Chernobyl will not be known for centuries, but it could conceivably be over one-million people, even though only 49 people died immediately. A United Nations study estimates 4,000 deaths as the final toll, but different reports vary wildly, as you might imagine. I will add that these aren't merely "deaths," but some of them are the worst types of deaths imaginable - I won't sicken you with pictures, but they're out there, on the internet: You'd be doing yourself an intellectual service if you searched for them, but I must warn you of their grotesque nature. "Deaths Due to the Chernobyl Disaster" on wikipedia.com "Chernobyl Death Toll: 985,000, Mostly from Cancer" by Prof. Karl Grossman on globalresearch.ca "25 Years after Chernobyl, We Don't Know How Many Died" by Roger Highfield on newscientist.com The Good If you haven't read "Voices from Chernobyl," the odds are probably pretty good that you don't know much about the Chernobyl disaster. The Soviet Union - only several years from complete collapse - did a magnificent job of covering up the meltdown, and it's only because they detected radioactivity in *Sweden* - many hundreds of miles away - that any problem manifested itself. Within days, scientists traced the problem back to the Soviet Union, based primarily upon no obvious faults in Swedish reactors, and wind patterns from earlier that week, blowing from the southeast. The Soviet Union confessed only when they were backed into a corner, and even then downplayed the magnitude of the calamity - even to its own people, some of whom suffered (and continue to suffer) the most horrific deaths and birth defects imaginable - some of these people simply do not look human, and you wonder how they could possibly be alive. To my knowledge, this is the most comprehensive work ever published about the after-effects of Chernobyl on its victims, and it was absolutely courageous, bare-knuckled journalism on the part of Alexievich that produced this incredibly important book, without which, Chernobyl might have been completely forgotten in future generations. There are dozens of anecdotes from "liquidators" (800-or-so workers who cleaned the ceiling of the core), widows, teachers, children, residents, exiles, farmers, scientists, and any other person you could imagine would be affected by proximity to "The Dead Zone." Alexievich did a masterly job of gathering and assembling anecdotes, and arranged them in a way that gave the book a steady progression - by the end, you'll have been hit with so many tales of tragedy and sorrow, that there's no way you'll emerge from this book unscathed. The gravitas of both the stories and the "positions" of people telling them seems to escalate as the book advances, lending a natural crescendo to the recollections. The final anecdote, only about ten pages long, is one of the most beautiful - and tragic - love stories I've ever read. The Bad I need to be careful how I say this because I mean absolutely no disrespect to Alexievich. The author did not ask to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, for this, or for any of her other works, so it's not her "fault" that she won. However, I feel it would be more appropriate to have awarded Alexievich the Nobel Peace Prize, rather than the Nobel Prize in Literature. The stories become bogged down towards the middle of this book - all starting to run together - and it's because of sheer quantity, even more than quality, that you come away from this tale a changed person. If enough people shoot enough paint balls at you, no matter how badly they shoot, you're eventually going to be covered in paint. Having finished Voices from Chernobyl, I could now read anything by Alexievich - anything at all - and I would have no clue that it was she who wrote it, because I have absolutely no idea what she writes like, or what her voice is. In removing herself almost entirely from this book, and allowing the words of the people to take center stage, she remains a complete unknown to me as a writer. Is that Nobel Prize-worthy - organizing the words of others, and presenting them in some semblance of order? Is what I do here Nobel Prize-worthy? The Ugly Literature or not, you really "should" read this book. It is an undeniably important presentation of information, and you will walk away enlightened and educated about the horrors of Chernobyl. And isn't that why she wrote it? You will need supplemental information, because this deals *only* with the aftermath of the meltdown, and not the actual mechanics or politics of the reactor or the government - you will almost surely have a desire to read additional material about what, exactly, happened, because this book just doesn't tell you. It is, in essence, a "tribute piece" to the victims of Chernobyl's fallout; it is not an indictment of the Soviet Union, nor is it a primer about nuclear physics. You will finish the book not having a clue what happened at the reactor, but you'll have painfully detailed memories of what happened to those who were near it. Voices from Chernobyl, despite not being enjoyable, is required reading. It's not as painful as I'm making it out to be - whatever suffering you incur will come from within yourselves, as the book merely presents memories from survivors; not cries from the dead.
×
×
  • Create New...