JOURNEY TO CHERNOBYL: ENCOUNTERS IN THE RADIOACTIVE ZONE
by Glenn Cheney CHENEY
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Book Summary Information
Author: Glenn Cheney CHENEYEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-09-01
ISBN: 089733552X
Number of pages: 222
Publisher: Academy Chicago Publishers
Book Reviews of JOURNEY TO CHERNOBYL: ENCOUNTERS IN THE RADIOACTIVE ZONE
Book Review: An American in a Nuclear World
Summary: 2 Stars
After reading a few reviews about this book elsewhere, I was eager to give it a read. On paper, the concept is intriguing: an American visiting Kiev in the days right after the Soviet Union ceased to exist, styling himself as a journalist and researcher, and attempting to unravel some of the horrifying mysteries and secrets surrounding the April 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
Cheney's good to his word: he goes to Kiev and he investigates Chernobyl. The resulting book is most disappointing, however, in spite of Cheney's engaging style of writing.
For one thing, it's hard to get past what appears to be a great deal of callousness and cultural insensitivity. The visit took place in the end of 1991, so we're treated to more commentary than necessary on the evils of Communism and the Soviet system, the blessings of capitalism, and how the American government would never, ever allow its citizens to be exposed to that much radiation. At times Cheney veers into full-out Ugly American Tourist mode. He's offended and reacts rudely when he learns that a visit to the Chernobyl reactor will cost money--he thinks he should be able to go for free, permits be damned. He shortchanges a shopkeeper. At one point, he complains that the signs in the Metro are in Cyrillic...gee, in Kiev who would ever expect that?
The book is peppered with uncomplimentary descriptions of the people Cheney meets. A taxi driver who showers Cheney with kindness is "ugly." The flight attendants on Aeroflot: "babushkas in training." The patients in one hospital's cancer ward are insensitively described as "half-dead children," and Cheney photographs them without even trying to learn their names or think of them as actual people. There are endless criticisms on the clothing, the hair, the style of the locals: in one instance, Cheney claims that he only respects a top scientist's data because the man is able to afford a respectable Western suit. He pokes fun of Russian pronunciations of English words, such as "business," and is critical of the locals' lack of English prowess (gee, why doesn't everyone speak English in Ukraine and Russia? You mean they have their own languages there?!), but can't be bothered to learn a word of the local languages himself. Although the locals shower him with help and hospitality, the only thing he can think to tell the "folks back home" about Ukrainians is that they wear the same clothes every day.
While Cheney does offer some stunning write-ups of his encounters with Chernobyl insiders, and gives a helpful summary of the difference between rads, curies and rontengens, even these leave the reader cold. The stories of the liquidators are brushed off, and, even in the face of cancer wards and numerous statements about the vast amount of radioactive material contaminating the country, people who claim there are thousands of victims are described as being "lying or hysterical." The sarcophagus that covers the demolished Reactor Four, with its nuclear payload, was build shoddily because the people constructing it "didn't care to do it properly" (I suppose the fact that all the robots and machines were, you know, malfunctioning because of the radiation, the fact that people working there were made seriously ill by being so close to the reactor and many sacrificed their lives to the cause, and the fact that they were in a hurry to try to contain the radiation as quickly as possible didn't have anything to do with it--nope, they just didn't give a damn!). When Cheney makes the callous comment that he looks as though he's "dying of radiation poisoning" when--gasp!--he's had to go through the day with only one meal!--the reader realizes he just doesn't get it, and he's not going to get it.
Although Cheney's book purports to be an expose of the Chernobyl crisis, perhaps it's important for another reason: it's a direct account of how, even in the face of massive evidence, people both inside and out of the USSR felt perfectly willing to ignore and deliberately disregard the impact of Chernobyl and its staggering number of casualties.
For an accurate look at the human face of the Chernobyl disaster, I'd point people toward Svetlana Alexievich's amazing "Voices from Chernobyl." I'd only recommend this book to those who have already read up on the disaster and know the story.
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