Chernobyl Prayer: A Chronicle of the Future
The cover of this book immediately attracted me to read it. Carnations. I remember my grandmother planting carnations year after year in front of her house. It was her favorite flower. She, just like the people from Chernobyl, was forced to leave her home. There were no carnations where she came. She was sent, during World War II, along with her entire family to a fascist concentration camp.
The author has been writing this book for almost three decades. She took notes and recorded conversations she had with witnesses and participants in the Chernobyl tragedy. The author says she deals with what she calls missed history.
Since April 26, 1986, everything has changed.
This book is not about Chernobyl, but about the world of Chernobyl. About those who left and about those who stayed. It describes the life of an ordinary day of ordinary people. Because everything here is unusual. Chernobyl is a secret we have yet to discover.
“And when we send the aid to the contaminated areas… We started sharing it… Young family…Like everyone, they were given bottles of baby food and bags filled with juices. The man sat down and cried. Those bottles and bags couldn't save his children. He cried because they were not forgotten. Someone still thinks of them. So there is hope. ”
"We could have left here, but my husband and I thought about it and gave up. We are afraid of other people. Here we are all - the Chernobyl people. We are not afraid of each other. If someone treats us to apples or cucumbers from their orchard and garden, we take them and eat them, not shyly hiding them in our pockets or bags so that we can then throw them away. We all have a common memory. We share a common destiny. ”
"There was a reporter here. I saw he was thirsty. I brought him a glass of water but he took his water from the bag. He was embarrassed. He was afraid to approach my glass, but he expected me to give him my soul. ”Svetlana Aleksievich was born on May 31, 1948. She is a Belarusian investigative journalist, essayist and historian. In his documentary books, he talks about the great historical traumas of the people of the former USSR, giving voice to the witnesses of the time. She has won numerous awards, the most important of which are: the Leipzig Prize for European Understanding, the Herder Prize, the Erich Maria Remarque Peace Prize, the National Award of American Critics and the Peace Prize of the Association of German Critics. She is the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature for 2015.
See you on Tuesday!
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