Zakazana strefa rozciągająca się wokół Czarnobyla to straszne miejsce, w którym ucichły zegary i słychać tylko brzęczenie liczników Geigera. Wciąż jednak istnieje tam przyroda, która z potężną siłą odzyskuje władzę nad opuszczonymi wsiami i miastami. Choć od wybuchu reaktora w elektrowni atomowej upłynęło już kilka lat, naukowcy wciąż starają się ustalić, jakie procesy zachodzą na skażonych terenach. Pewnego dnia zjawia się tam Katarina. Jest biologiem i będzie pracować w międzynarodowym
In Madeleine Hessérus novel the biologist Katarina joins a research team at Chernobyl. It's been a few years since the catastrophy, and the team, consisting of a number of scientists from around the world, is trying to find out about the consequences in the area. With curiosity and Geiger Counter they enter the forbidden zone.
The reader is thrown into an abandoned world where time has stopped. Among other places, the team visits a cultural palace and en medical station invaded by vegetation and where remains reveal people’s final hour there. Perhaps the doctor was surrounded by radioactivity even when he wrote his last note in the medical journal. The book gives a melancholy feeling, anxiety about something ending and a reminder of what once was. The zone is a world of secrets.
The novel is about man's relationship with nature, which is the real main character of the book. The landscape and towns are deserted as in an apocalypse. There is a melancholy feeling about the emptiness and clocks that have stopped, but yet there is hope in the fact that nature continues to grow, in the middle of all decay, trying to recapture the city. The constant struggle between man and nature becomes clear.
Madeleine Hessérus has visited the forbidden zone before writing the book and describes eloquently how the vegetation finds its way through cracks in the asphalt and spreads its greenery unhindered. She also describes the catastrophy and the consequences. Following the disaster, people tried to save the situation. The dead forest was buried with several meters of sand. Then, chemicals were sprayed on the sand to prevent it from blowing away. Much of the book is about the decomposition and it might seem difficult to imagine Chernobyl as a romantic place, but the environment is perfect for the tension that arises between Katarina and Grigorij. The author uses science to describe the thoughts and emotions, which results in interesting poetic depictions. That and the descriptions are the best parts of the book.
A romance might also mean trouble. There is some decomposition, not only in the forbidden zone, but also in the research team in the laboratory. Nature mirrors the relationships. While the radioactivity affects nature, the relationship between Katarina and Grigorij has consequences for the whole team.
Unfortunately, I think the book was too long. It felt prolonged. The same problems concerning the romance between Katarina and Grigorij returned repeatedly, and I got tired of them after a while.
The plot was around chernobyl and it sounded very intriguing but I just didn't feel for the novel. The story didn't feel intruging enough and the romance drama didn't interested me at all. Had hug hopes for this and sadly it didn't live up to them.
Egentligen skulle jag lika gärna kunna sätta en trea men nu känner jag mig lite snål. Den här boken blir jag inte klok på. Den är välskriven och hantverket är bra, dialogerna är trovärdiga och miljöbeskrivningarna får mig att se saker. Men människorna är helt orimliga? En kärlekstriangel har aldrig råkat handla om tre mer orimliga personer? Min enda lösning är att huvudpersonen och berättaren egentligen är den stora skurken med eventuellt splittrad personlighet? Isåfall är det briljant! Älskade beskrivningen av Tjernobyl och av forskningen de bedriver så den är läsvärd bara på grund av det.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Ödesmättad berättelse, både i tema och stilistiskt utförande. Radiaksmittan från Tjernobyl strålar från sidorna. Mörkt men också vackert. En kärlekshistoria i cesiumskrud.
Boken fångade inte mig från allra första början. Det framstår vid första anblick som en ganska banal och förutsägbar kärlekshistoria, men något sker efter halva boken som gör att en får fördjupad förståelse och börjar bry sig om karaktärerna. Även kärlekshistorien utvecklar sig, lämnar plats för huvudpersonens reflektioner kring känslor, logik, avundsjuka och känslomässig hållbarhet.
Katarina has left everything and nothing behind to be part of the Tjernobyl research team. While she's a welcomed addition she also disturbs the old routines and ways of the team.
I knew nothing of this book but was pleasantly surprised. A book about relationships and experiences in a peculiar and inserting environnent.