newishpuritan's review against another edition
3.0
This is clearly the result of a lot of work. Not only extensive and meticulous research, but the effort required to synthesise all this into a coherent narrative, with much attention paid to the scientific and political culture of the time. It also considers the long-term fallout of the disaster in the break-up of the Soviet Union and the formation of Ukraine as an independent state. If I was reviewing this for an academic journal I might give it a higher rating. But as a general reader, this was a little too dry in its tone and Olympian in its perspective. It starts off with a lengthy account of the 1986 Communist Party Congress, a couple of months before the disaster, and that seems symptomatic. There are lots of interesting individuals in the story of Chernobyl, but all of them struggle to impress themselves on the reader's imagination in this account.
captaincocanutty's review against another edition
5.0
Extremely well written and engaging account of Chernobyl. I was reaching for it daily, which is pretty difficult for a nonfiction book to do. As a bonus I retained a lot of what I read without requiring rereading, and was able to keep the various names and bureaucracies straight.
minnie_ken435's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
mcrammal's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Very informative, one of the more in depth novels about Chernobyl I’ve read so far. Plokhy gives you a very in depth picture of what Soviet culture looked like and why people were influenced to make the decisions that they did. He also went into how the disaster influenced the dissolution of the USSR and how it’s impact can still be felt today.
linguisticali's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.5
Really interesting. I felt like I got some good insight into the politics and bureaucracy around the disaster but less so its impact on people. I also found the epilogue to be a bit alarmist about population growth in Africa and Asia and the use of nuclear power by developing countries.
brettcarl's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.5
Meticulously-researched, objectively-investigated, and written-respectfully, Serhii Plokhy's Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy earns the right to be the foremost historical account on the Chernobyl Nuclear disaster. By the end of it, you'll be fully-informed of exactly what did and didn't happen during this catastrophic event, as well as being able to comprehend the causes and consequences of the disaster too. From the irrational, delusional commitment to the Soviet Union and communism to the competitive, inherent nature of geopolitics, Plokhy proficiently points to how many factors influenced not just the causes of the disaster, but also the reaction to it as well.
However, Plokhy's impressive historical account does have drawbacks too, those which are a by-product of his account's strengths. Specifically, Ploky's objective approach and meticulous research, leave little room for emotion. Thus, the account is at times missing a human element which would be easily addressed by Plokhy focusing on the cast of individuals at his disposal meaning the account would be more intimate and emotive too. Furthermore, as Plokhy takes a more objective and broad approach to the event, his account can feel too detail-heavy and does become quite sluggish and less exciting to read, which would also be fixed by a more intimate approach too.
Yet, these criticisms do not take away from the fact that Plokhy has produced an accurate, objective, detailed and respectful account of one of world history's most significant and catastrophic events. And now having read it, it has also made me reevaluate the quality of the HBO/Sky Atlantic TV series, Chernobyl, which despite the creator's - Craig Mazin - claims to be about the fragility of truth and how easily it can be distorted and manipulated to serve the immoral and unethical intentions of individuals, communities and states, actually ends up becoming the very thing it's critiquing due to the excessive amount of historical and scientific inaccuracies in its adaptation. Fortunately though, Serhii Plokhy's account speaks truth to power and critically conveys how the distortion, manipulation and erasure of truth facilitated one of the worst nuclear disasters in world history, and jeopardised the health and wellbeing of millions of innocent individuals and the vital environment that surrounds them and us.
However, Plokhy's impressive historical account does have drawbacks too, those which are a by-product of his account's strengths. Specifically, Ploky's objective approach and meticulous research, leave little room for emotion. Thus, the account is at times missing a human element which would be easily addressed by Plokhy focusing on the cast of individuals at his disposal meaning the account would be more intimate and emotive too. Furthermore, as Plokhy takes a more objective and broad approach to the event, his account can feel too detail-heavy and does become quite sluggish and less exciting to read, which would also be fixed by a more intimate approach too.
Yet, these criticisms do not take away from the fact that Plokhy has produced an accurate, objective, detailed and respectful account of one of world history's most significant and catastrophic events. And now having read it, it has also made me reevaluate the quality of the HBO/Sky Atlantic TV series, Chernobyl, which despite the creator's - Craig Mazin - claims to be about the fragility of truth and how easily it can be distorted and manipulated to serve the immoral and unethical intentions of individuals, communities and states, actually ends up becoming the very thing it's critiquing due to the excessive amount of historical and scientific inaccuracies in its adaptation. Fortunately though, Serhii Plokhy's account speaks truth to power and critically conveys how the distortion, manipulation and erasure of truth facilitated one of the worst nuclear disasters in world history, and jeopardised the health and wellbeing of millions of innocent individuals and the vital environment that surrounds them and us.