On April 26, 1986, the No. 4 reactor at the Chernobyl power station in Ukraine blew apart.. Facing nuclear disaster on an unprecedented scale, Soviet authorities tried to contain the situation by sending thousands of ill-equipped men into a deadly radioactive maelstrom.
Twenty-nine years later, the horrors remain.
“Seen through the eyes of those who lived through it, real-life Chernobyl begins to seem like a nightmare, with feral cats who hunt humans in packs and children born missing fingers?or worse….The stories accrete across the pages like the radionuclides lodged in the bodies of those who survived.” ?The New York Times Book Review
“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?
