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viktoriya's review against another edition
4.0
ARC provided by NetGalley.
This is powerful, heartbreaking, very sad, and strangely enough, uplifting. Both of my parents were children of war. Mom was born in July 1941 and she doesn't remember much, but she remembers hunger, constant hunger. Dad was born in 1938 and he lived on a border of USSR (his father was in the military and stationed on a border). My dad remembers running with his older brothers and their mom (my grandma) from the airplanes and their machine guns. My grandma actually kept a skirt she wore that day (it was a blue flowing maxi skirt that she made earlier that year) and it had multiple bullet holes in it. I decided to read this book because of them, to understand what their experience might have been like. Now, all I want to do is to hug and hold them...
This is powerful, heartbreaking, very sad, and strangely enough, uplifting. Both of my parents were children of war. Mom was born in July 1941 and she doesn't remember much, but she remembers hunger, constant hunger. Dad was born in 1938 and he lived on a border of USSR (his father was in the military and stationed on a border). My dad remembers running with his older brothers and their mom (my grandma) from the airplanes and their machine guns. My grandma actually kept a skirt she wore that day (it was a blue flowing maxi skirt that she made earlier that year) and it had multiple bullet holes in it. I decided to read this book because of them, to understand what their experience might have been like. Now, all I want to do is to hug and hold them...
samnathanson's review against another edition
5.0
Svetlana Alexievich back at it again with the excellent book
beneatthetrees's review against another edition
5.0
Svetlana Alexievich is one of the most powerful war writers I’ve ever come across. A truly chilling and eye-opening glimpse into the long-term effects of war during childhood. All first-person accounts, all deeply unsettling. Huge recommendation for anything she’s written.
lizmart88's review against another edition
4.0
This book was incredibly moving, and so important to remember.
The author - Svetlana Alexievich has collected oral histories from people who were children in the USSR during WWII. The book simply relates their oral histories, one at a time. There doesn't seem to be a specific order other than the first ones relate more to the starting of the war and later ones to the end of the war.
Some are very short (1 page) and others are 4-5 pages. Each one states the name of the person, how old they were when the war started, and what profession they hold now.
The stories are very difficult to read. The amount of trauma these children endured is almost unrelatable. It is so important for us to remember what the side effects of war are on children. It was painful to see how much pain these adults still carried. Many spoke of not being able to remember much or still struggling to deal with the aftermath, decades later.
Highly recommend.
The author - Svetlana Alexievich has collected oral histories from people who were children in the USSR during WWII. The book simply relates their oral histories, one at a time. There doesn't seem to be a specific order other than the first ones relate more to the starting of the war and later ones to the end of the war.
Some are very short (1 page) and others are 4-5 pages. Each one states the name of the person, how old they were when the war started, and what profession they hold now.
The stories are very difficult to read. The amount of trauma these children endured is almost unrelatable. It is so important for us to remember what the side effects of war are on children. It was painful to see how much pain these adults still carried. Many spoke of not being able to remember much or still struggling to deal with the aftermath, decades later.
Highly recommend.
merixien's review against another edition
5.0
Aleksiyeviç’in 2. Dünya Savaşı sırasında çocuk olan tanıklarla yaptığı görüşmelerin kaydı. Kimisi bütün ayrıntıları aklına kazınmışken, kimisi ise bir sese, bir koluya hapsetmiş savaşı. Ancak ortak noktaları ister 13 ister 2 yaşında olsunlar, savaş ile birlikte çocukluklarının bitip yetişkinliğe adım atmaları. Bu zamansız yetişkinliğin ilerleyen yıllara yansıyan donuk yaşam algısı. Çok sarsıcı bir okuma. Asla elinize alıp sayfalarca ara vermeden ilerleyemiyorsunuz. Her hikayeden sonra durup nefes almaya, başınızı kaldırıp gökyüzüne bakmaya ihtiyaç duyuyorsunuz. Kitaplar beni kolay kolay ağlatamaz ama bunu okurken zaman zaman gözlerim doldu. Koca bir nesil üzerinde ebeveyn kaybının sıradanlaşmasının korkunçluğunu aklım almıyor. Savaş çığırtkanlarına, savaşmayı çocukluğundaki “askercilik” oynunun aynısı sananlara mutlaka okutulması gereken kitaplardan. Mutlaka okuyun.
sewfrench's review against another edition
5.0
Powerful book. It brings everything else you've ever read into sharper focus.
paradaisboi's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
3.75
dhasenkampf's review against another edition
sad
4.0
I would definitely recommend listening to the audiobook for this. The interviews are transcribed probably word for word, including pauses, sentence fragments, run-ons. You know, the way people usually talk, not the cleaned up, perfected dialogue readers are used to. When I read the physical copy, it was distracting, but switching to the audio I was able to immerse myself in these stories. I could only listen for about an hour at a time because it was so brutal. Beautifully done.