Midnight in Chernobyl book review

Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham
Published by Simon & Schuster on February 12, 2019
Pages: 538
Goodreads

The definitive, dramatic untold story of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, based on original reporting and new archival research.
April 25, 1986, in Chernobyl, was a turning point in world history. The disaster not only changed the world’s perception of nuclear power and the science that spawned it, but also our understanding of the planet’s delicate ecology. With the images of the abandoned homes and playgrounds beyond the barbed wire of the 30-kilometer Exclusion Zone, the rusting graveyards of contaminated trucks and helicopters, the farmland lashed with black rain, the event fixed for all time the notion of radiation as an invisible killer.
Chernobyl was also a key event in the destruction of the Soviet Union, and, with it, the United States’ victory in the Cold War. For Moscow, it was a political and financial catastrophe as much as an environmental and scientific one. With a total cost of 18 billion rubles—at the time equivalent to $18 billion—Chernobyl bankrupted an already teetering economy and revealed to its population a state built upon a pillar of lies.
The full story of the events that started that night in the control room of Reactor No.4 of the V.I. Lenin Nuclear Power Plant has never been told—until now. Through two decades of reporting, new archival information, and firsthand interviews with witnesses, journalist Adam Higginbotham tells the full dramatic story, including Alexander Akimov and Anatoli Dyatlov, who represented the best and worst of Soviet life; denizens of a vanished world of secret policemen, internal passports, food lines, and heroic self-sacrifice for the Motherland. Midnight in Chernobyl, award-worthy nonfiction that reads like sci-fi, shows not only the final epic struggle of a dying empire but also the story of individual heroism and desperate, ingenious technical improvisation joining forces against a new kind of enemy.

I have watched the Sky series Chernobyl and it definitely piqued my interest. The explosion at the Chernobyl is known about worldwide but the implications and the politics within the incident was a major mystery. When I finally got my hands on Midnight in Chernobyl I was more than excited and sombre to read more about the world’s biggest nuclear disaster. I went into this a little dubious because I don’t have a great track record with non-fiction but I learnt SO much from this book and I loved learning about the different people and where they all ended up. I think the way that this book put together all the information was really well done.

I suppose there weren’t characters as such throughout Midnight in Chernobyl, but we did end up learning a lot about the different people who worked at the plant and the other politicians that were involved with the decision making and the plans to help contain the disaster. I will say that with all Russian names I found it hard to keep a track of names, and who was who because all the names seemed to be really similar. It might have just been because there were so many people involved but I did really struggle with that part of this book. There were definitely people who stuck with me and I was rooting for them and hoping for the best and for a good outcome.

The best bit of Midnight in Chernobyl would have to be how riveting this book was. I learnt so much and it wasn’t overwhelming, I think the thing that this book does SO well is added information in how the nuclear industry works but without being too much. I understood the vast majority of what was being sad and the bits that I didn’t understand at the beginning became a lot clearer as I carried on reading the books. I can’t believe how much I learnt through this book and how much my perspective changed, I went through a whole lot of emotions, mostly disbelief and anger at some of the reactions it was a total rollercoaster.

I think the only worst bit of Midnight in Chernobyl for me was working out who was who and where was where. I think this book took for granted how much people would know in terms of locations and people’s names. I think the only thing that would have made this book any better would have been consistent reminders on who was who and where they sat within the politic system.

I would definitely recommend Midnight in Chernobyl, I think it was a really comprehensive look at a really complex situation and politic system. I felt as though I came out of this book with a really well-rounded viewpoint on something I knew very little about. If you are looking for more information about Chernobyl and the accident this book is for you.

After having such a great experience with this one I would be interested in your thoughts on other non-fiction books I should check out. Let me know your recommendations below!