Title: Midnight in Chernobyl
Author: Adam Higginbotham
Major Themes: Disasters, Ukraine, Soviet Union
Synopsis: A gripping recounting of the nuclear explosion at Chernobyl and the people affected by the disaster.
I’ve had a fascination with the story of Chernobyl for a year or two now, enough that one of my brothers has fun teasing me about it whenever I come up with another book, or documentary, or even just a fact about it. In my efforts to learn more about the story, I picked up Midnight in Chernobyl, expecting it would be a gritty, but hopefully informative retelling of that fateful night and the aftermath of the explosion. I wasn’t wrong—and this ended up being one of my favorite nonfiction reads so far this year!
Publisher’s description:
From journalist Adam Higginbotham, the New York Times bestselling “account that reads almost like the script for a movie” (The Wall Street Journal)—a powerful investigation into Chernobyl and how propaganda, secrecy, and myth have obscured the true story of one of the history’s worst nuclear disasters.
Early in the morning of April 26, 1986, Reactor Number Four of the Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station exploded, triggering one of the 20th century’s greatest disasters. In the thirty years since then, Chernobyl has become lodged in the collective nightmares of the world: shorthand for the spectral horrors of radiation poisoning, for a dangerous technology slipping its leash, for ecological fragility, and for what can happen when a dishonest and careless state endangers its citizens and the entire world. But the real story of the accident, clouded from the beginning by secrecy, propaganda, and misinformation, has long remained in dispute.
Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews conducted over the course of more than ten years, as well as letters, unpublished memoirs, and documents from recently-declassified archives, Adam Higginbotham brings the disaster to life through the eyes of the men and women who witnessed it firsthand. The result is a “riveting, deeply reported reconstruction” (Los Angeles Times) and a definitive account of an event that changed history: a story that is more complex, more human, and more terrifying than the Soviet myth.
My thoughts:
I have discovered, somewhat to my consternation, that I find survival stories deeply intriguing. And while this tale of what happened in Chernobyl isn’t your classic man-gets-stranded-somewhere-and-has-to-survive story, it is the story of a nation (and the world, really) staggering under an immense blow and finding a way to keep going despite the destruction. I find that inspiring—the courage of those who did the hard yards, even if they knew they would suffer for it later, as well as the courage of those who battled something they didn’t understand, obeying commands even when they did not know the danger they were placing themselves in (aside from the obvious “It’s bad.”).
I also found it fascinating to consider how the structure of the Soviet government contributed to this disaster. Because of the “perform or be ousted” culture, statistics and other critical information weren’t always reported correctly—inflated truths, or even lies, were sometimes served up so people could keep their jobs, rather than admit they failed. While this wasn’t a major portion of the book, that’s one of the biggest things I’ve taken away from the story—a more in-depth picture of how the Soviet Union operated, and where some of its failings lay. As a commentary on human nature, I found that fascinating.
Apparently, this book is based on a lot of different interviews, and you can feel that in the work. It is a longer story, but I found it gripping and easy to read. And, even more importantly, I didn’t have much trouble keeping all the different key players in the story separate—unlike with some of the other things I’ve read or heard about this disaster! I appreciated that. This is a sobering story, and it does touch on some very difficult things, but if you are at all interested in growing your knowledge of the disaster, I’d highly recommend you read Midnight in Chernobyl. I already have another Adam Higginbotham book on my to-read list; he’s a good author!
WARNING: Multiple mentions of lying. Prologue: You son of a bitch, fucking. Chapter 2: Mention of billions of years. Chapter 3: People have a party and get drunk. Chapter 4: Shit. Chapter 5: Fucking. Chapter 6: Fuck. Chapter 7: Shitting. Chapter 8: Shit. Chapter 10: To hell with it. Chapter 11: If you want to be a dad, cover your balls in lead. Chapter 12: You bastard, shit. Chapter 13: Damn, descriptions of radiation sickness and the effects on the body, people die. Chapter 15: Story of men who got drunk and then were accidentally killed in a horrific way, dammit, a piece of shit. Chapter 17: Fucking. Chapter 18: Man tries to commit suicide twice and succeeds on the third time, damned. Chapter 20: Damn him.
Age levels:
Reading Independently—Adults
Links to buy this book:
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle | Hardcover | Audible Audiobook (unabridged) | Audio CD (unabridged)
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