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Reviews tagging 'Violence'
Rapazes de Zinco: A Geração Soviética Caída na Guerra do Afeganistão by Svetlana Alexiévich
3 reviews
nicoleisalwaysreading's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War, Death, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Blood
msaari's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Nobelisti Svetlana Aleksijevitš tunnetaan dokumentaristista romaaneistaan. Afganistanin sotaa käsitellyt Sinkkipojat ilmestyi alunperin vuonna 1991, pian sodan päättymisen jälkeen. Tämä Pauli Tapion suomennos perustuu vuonna 2013 ilmestyneeseen kirjan toiseen painokseen, joka lisää loppuun kuvauksen Aleksijevitšiä vastaan 1990-luvulla Valko-Venäjällä käydystä oikeusjutusta.
Sinkkipojat vyöryy päälle lohduttomana virtana todistajanlausuntoja. Ne jakautuvat kolmeen kategoriaan: on Afganistanissa palvelleita sotilaita, siviilinä palvelleita ja kaatuneiden sotilaiden äitejä. Kaikki kertomukset ovat yhtä lailla kammottavia. Kirja kuvaa sotaa kaikessa kauheudessaan, sekä taistelukokemuksia että niitä monia tapoja, joilla neuvostojärjestelmä sotilaita sorti ja alisti.
Järjestelmä nimittäin on läpimätä, se tulee selväksi. Välistävetäjiä on joka tasolla. Varusteet ovat suuren isänmaallisen sodan aikaisia ja ruokana on makrillisäilykkeitä vuodelta 1956. Sotilaita motivoi Afganistaniin mahdollisuus tuoda sotasaalista, kuten japanilaisia mankkoja ja uimahousuja, koruja tyttöystäville ja huiveja äideille. Monesti vain tullivirkailijat vievät kotiinpalaajilta tuomiset itselleen. Moni palaa kotiin sinkkiarkussa tai ilman jalkoja, käsiä tai silmiä.
Yhä useammin ajattelen – Tšernobylin ja Afganistanin ja Valkoisen talon tapahtumien jälkeen – että emme ole kokemuksiemme veroisia. Emme työstä menneisyyttämme, kaikki ovat aina vain uhreja. Ehkä juuri siksi kaikki aina toistuu.
Nämä Aleksijevitšin sanat oikeudenkäynnissään kaikuvat totuutta. Nytkin parhaillaan Ukrainassa toistuu Venäjän likainen sota, jonne nuoria miehiä kärrätään puutteellisin varustein ja olemattomalla koulutuksella kuolemaan syistä, jotka ovat vähintään epämääräisiä ja palvelevat jonkun rajallisen eliitin etuja. Näin Afganistaninkin sodan yhteydessä oli. Oikeudenkäynnissäkin Aleksijevitšiä vastaan ovat yksittäiset ihmiset, jotka järjestelmä on komentanut muuttamaan mielensä. Todelliset vastuulliset ovat jossain piilossa taustalla.
Sinkkipojat ei ole helppo kirja. Se on raskasta luettavaa, sen verran kamalia tarinoita sotilaat kertovat. Tarinoissa toistuvat samat asiat, mutta toisteisuus on paikallaan alleviivaamaan totuutta. Tietysti tämä kirja on Aleksijevitšin näkemys ja muotoilu haastatteluiden perusteella ja dokumenttiromaani on jo genrenä mielenkiintoinen sekoitus dokumenttia ja kirjailijan tulkintaa. Väkevästi tämä romaani silti sodan kammottavuudesta todistaa. Valitettavasti tämä kirja on edelleen ajankohtainen ja tarpeellinen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War
charleyroxy's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Zinky Boys (also published as Boys in Zinc) by Svetlana Alexievich was originally published in 1990 and translated from Russian in 1992 by Julia and Robin Whitby.
"I perceive the world through the medium of human voices." This book offers such a personal view of the Soviet Afghanistan War which lasted nine years from 1979 to 1989 and was kept secret from the public for a large portion of the time. It is about trauma and lasting effects on those who survived and those who were left behind by loved ones who died. There is little to no timeline of events just memories as memorials. Alexievich recorded the words of soldiers of all ranks, doctors, nurses, civilian employees, widows and mothers. "My aim is to describe feelings about the war, rather than the war itself." And so she does.
"I never did body-counts, I just ran; took aim, here, there ... I was a target too, a living target. No, you don't come back a hero from a war like that..." -a military advisor
"I gave my son to them and they didn't even bother to make a soldier of him... They were just raw boys, almost children, who were thrown into the fire and accepted it as a matter of honour." -a mother
"I wanted to smash the screen the first time I heard someone on television say that Afghanistan was our shame. That was the day I buried my husband a second time." -a widow
One of the things that stood out to me was how young many of the men were. Most were between the ages of 18-20 and some had as little as 3 weeks of training. One mother recounts how her son joined a paratroop battalion after one week and within a month he was dead. When the soldiers actually returned, they were just abandoned by the government with no help coming to terms with the things the had seen and done. This is a powerful piece of history and I am so glad I finally picked it up.
"I perceive the world through the medium of human voices." This book offers such a personal view of the Soviet Afghanistan War which lasted nine years from 1979 to 1989 and was kept secret from the public for a large portion of the time. It is about trauma and lasting effects on those who survived and those who were left behind by loved ones who died. There is little to no timeline of events just memories as memorials. Alexievich recorded the words of soldiers of all ranks, doctors, nurses, civilian employees, widows and mothers. "My aim is to describe feelings about the war, rather than the war itself." And so she does.
"I never did body-counts, I just ran; took aim, here, there ... I was a target too, a living target. No, you don't come back a hero from a war like that..." -a military advisor
"I gave my son to them and they didn't even bother to make a soldier of him... They were just raw boys, almost children, who were thrown into the fire and accepted it as a matter of honour." -a mother
"I wanted to smash the screen the first time I heard someone on television say that Afghanistan was our shame. That was the day I buried my husband a second time." -a widow
One of the things that stood out to me was how young many of the men were. Most were between the ages of 18-20 and some had as little as 3 weeks of training. One mother recounts how her son joined a paratroop battalion after one week and within a month he was dead. When the soldiers actually returned, they were just abandoned by the government with no help coming to terms with the things the had seen and done. This is a powerful piece of history and I am so glad I finally picked it up.
Content Warnings
Minor: Blood, Death, Grief, Medical content, Suicide, and Violence
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