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A review by boggremlin
Last Witnesses: An Oral History of the Children of World War II by Svetlana Alexiévich
5.0
Alexievich's journalism remains some of the final oral history I've ever read. Chronicling the recollections of survivors who were children during WWII, Last Witnesses allows one to experience the sense of loss and confusion--and the fleeting joys and terrors--that shaped an entire generation. It's not a military history at all, but a human one, and those kinds of stories have so much resonance.
Originally published in 1985, the English translation feels more timely than ever. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky have done amazing work with this edition, and certain lines--"I no longer believed in my mother's hobgoblins crouching behind the stove, and she stopped mentioning them" and "I believed I was brave"--are heartbreaking, because they are such clear depictions of a child leaving childhood behind.
Originally published in 1985, the English translation feels more timely than ever. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky have done amazing work with this edition, and certain lines--"I no longer believed in my mother's hobgoblins crouching behind the stove, and she stopped mentioning them" and "I believed I was brave"--are heartbreaking, because they are such clear depictions of a child leaving childhood behind.