Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Chernobyl Prayer: A Chronicle of the Future by Svetlana Alexiévich, Anna Gunin, Arch Tait

8 reviews

jhbandcats's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

“It was more like a conspiracy of ignorance and obedience.” Soviet citizens trusted in the power of the government, and refused to even consider that things might be different from what they were being told. 

This book was so hard to read. I kept having to stop and take a break. And then I procrastinated so I didn’t have to read any more of it. I’m relieved I finally finished. Of course, the struggles I faced reading it are farcical in comparison to what the people of the Chernobyl disaster experienced. 

I found the book hard to read because it was so painful, people describing the worst time of their lives. These memories were interspersed with the occasional gung-ho Soviet who, ten years later, in the face of all the evidence, refused to admit anything had gone wrong, that it was all Western propaganda designed to tear down the achievements of the great Soviet Union. And this five years after the Soviet Union collapsed. 

It was also hard to read because the chapters were all transcripts of people talking - and people talk in a very different way than they write, jumping from topic to topic, forgetting where they are in the middle of a sentence, saying something and then immediately backtracking. That said, this book is an essential chronicle of how people experienced the disaster that was Chernobyl. Anyone interested should find this compelling, if difficult and disturbing, reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Body horror, Cancer, Infertility, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Abortion, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Animal death, Classism, Death, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Gore, and Chronic illness

leahfoko's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

5.0

This book was fascinating to read, but also very sad. It was really interesting to hear the stories of people in and around Chernobyl and what they and their families experienced. It was often heartbreaking and really challenging to read certain parts so it is important to be aware of how some of the gruesome parts and the grief and loss that many people felt could be triggering for some. I think the author did a good job of including people’s stories as they wanted them to be told and being respectful of their stories and experiences. If you’re interested in what happened at Chernobyl, and if you enjoyed the show Chernobyl on HBO then I recommend this book. (I read it in large part because Craig Mazin said it informed a lot of his choices on the show and recommended people read it.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Child death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Cursing, Violence, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Murder, War, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

mmorenagomes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.5

Couldn’t handle the whole situation, couldn’t read a single story without crying. Even tough I have read Svetlana’s books about war, this one hits different, it changed my perspective of the accident, it made Tchernobyl real. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Body horror, Child death, Infertility, and Violence

samhackett's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Child death, Medical content, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Suicide

lola_milk's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Body horror, Death, and Terminal illness

myrdschaem's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Death, Grief, Medical content, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Infertility, and Injury/Injury detail

violade's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Cancer

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Suicide, Body horror, and Grief

Minor: Child death and Chronic illness

bettinablocksberg's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Terminal illness, Suicide, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Infertility, Grief, Chronic illness, Child death, Cancer, Body horror, Blood, Animal death, and Alcoholism

Minor: Vomit