Weaving together their stories, Svetlana Alexievich shows us the truth of the Soviet-Afghan conflict- the killing and the beauty of small everyday moments, the shame of returned veterans, the worries of all those left behind. When it was first published in the USSR in 1991, Boys in Zinc sparked huge controversy for its unflinching, harrowing insight into the realities of war.
Svetlana Alexievich (Author)
Svetlana Alexievich was born in Ivano-Frankivsk in 1948 and
has spent most of her life in the Soviet Union and present-day
Belarus, with prolonged periods of exile in Western Europe.
Starting out as a journalist, she developed her own non-fiction
genre which brings together a chorus of voices to describe a
specific historical moment. Her works include The Unwomanly Face
of War (1985), Last Witnesses (1985), Boys in
Zinc (1991), Chernobyl Prayer (1997) and Second-Hand
Time (2013). She has won many international awards, including
the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature for "her polyphonic writings, a
monument to suffering and courage in our time".
Superbly translated... Alexievich's choice of truth as hero is the
right one for the age of Putin and Trump -- Giles Whittell * The
Times *
As shattering and addictive as Chernobyl Prayer, this is a
polyphonic tour de force that shines a light on war, the plight of
heroes, and why post-Soviet Russia is as it is -- Kapka Kassabova *
Herald Scotland *
A masterpiece of reportage * New York Review of Books *
Alexievich is like a doctor probing the scar tissue of a
traumatised nation -- Guy Chazan * Financial Times *
What Alexievich is doing is giving voice to the voiceless, exposing
not only stories we wouldn't otherwise hear but individuals as well
-- David Ulin * Los Angeles Times *
The least well-known wonderful writer I've ever come across --
Jenni Murray * BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour *
Alexievich serves no ideology, only an ideal: to listen closely
enough to the ordinary voices of her time to orchestrate them into
extraordinary books -- Philip Gourevitch * New Yorker *
Alexievich has become one of my heroes -- Atul Gawande
The Belarusian writer has spent decades in listening mode.
Alexievich put in thousands of hours with her tape recorder across
the lands of the former Soviet Union, collecting and collating
stories from ordinary people. She wove those tales into elegant
books of such power and insight, that in 2015 she received the
Nobel prize for literature -- Shaun Walker * Guardian *
Alexievich's "documentary novels" are crafted and edited with a
reporter's cool eye for detail and a poet's ear for the intricate
rhythms of human speech. Reading them is like eavesdropping on a
confessional. This is history at its rawest and most uncomfortably
intimate -- Andrew Dickson * Evening Standard *
Alexievich's artistry has raised oral history to a totally
different dimension -- Antony Beevor
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