Author: Matyáš Namai
Year published: 2024
Category: Adult nonfiction (graphic novel)
Pages: 112 pages
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Location: (my 2025 Google Reading map): Ukraine
Summary: This graphic and harrowing account of nuclear catastrophe at Chernobyl in April 1986 follows the dozens of human stories cruelly affected by disaster.
From the engineers and firefighters to doctors and soldiers, the children and families in the surrounding towns and villages to the animals in the forests - they all make up the story of Chernobyl, a mosaic of victims who paid the price for distant politicians’ ambitions and arrogance.
Review: This book is personal for me. You are probably surprised to hear that given that I live in Southern California, but in April 1986, I was a college student living in Vienna, Austria. We were within the 600-mile limit of Chernobyl when the meltdown happened (rumor has it I am not supposed to donate blood because of this). We traveled soon after to Yugoslavia and were told to avoid salad, fruit, fresh vegetables, sitting on the grass. We were individually geiger-countered upon our return to Austria. Children's sandpits were covered up, and more. It was intense.
So, during Nonfiction November, I thought I'd tackle this topic via this graphic novel (surely some blogger has recommended it, but for the life of me, I cannot remember who). I'll say up front that there is a bit too much science and detail for me at the beginning, but I understand why it's there. It shows us how nuclear reactors work, how the building of this particular one was faulty (think Soviet over stating of production and bypassing safety in the building to meet unattainable deadlines), and the magnitude of the disaster.
Interviews with people who lived and worked at Chernobyl make this book have more weight than it would if it were just facts. We get to know the people and the individual as well as the collective impact: radiation burns, how food, health, and their livelihoods were affected. Temporary removals from their town became permanent (still no one lives at the site). And we see the massive cover up by the Soviet officials who downplayed the effects, didn't tell their population what was going on, etc.
Challenges for which this counts:
- Literary Escapes--Ukraine
- Nonfiction
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