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From Chernobyl with Love: Reporting from the Ruins of the Soviet Union
Eric Hoffer Grand Prize Award Finalist
2019 Foreword INDIES Award, Gold for Autobiography & Memoir
Bronze Medal winner in the Independent Book Publishers Awards
In the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the late twentieth century was a time of unprecedented hope for democracy and freedom in Eastern Europe. The collapse of the Soviet Union left in its wake a number of independent countries and Communist propaganda was being displaced by Western ideals of a free press. Young writers, journalists, and adventurers such as Katya Cengel flocked from the West eastward to cities like Prague and Budapest, seeking out terra nova . Despite the region’s appeal, neither Kyiv in Ukraine nor Riga in Latvia was the type of place you would expect to find a twenty-two-year-old Californian just out of college. Kyiv was too close to Moscow. Riga was too small to matter—and too cold. But Cengel ended up living and working in both. This book is her remarkable story.
Cengel first took a job at the Baltic Times just seven years after Latvia regained its independence. The idea of a free press in the Eastern Bloc was still so promising that she ultimately moved to Ukraine. From there Cengel made several trips to Chernobyl, site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster. It was at Chernobyl that she met her fiancé, but as she fell in love, Ukraine collapsed into what would become the Orange Revolution, bringing it to the brink of political disintegration and civil war. Ultimately, this fall of idealism in the East underscores Cengel’s own loss of innocence. From Chernobyl with Love is an indelible portrait of this historical epoch and a memoir of the highest order.
2019 Foreword INDIES Award, Gold for Autobiography & Memoir
Bronze Medal winner in the Independent Book Publishers Awards
In the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the late twentieth century was a time of unprecedented hope for democracy and freedom in Eastern Europe. The collapse of the Soviet Union left in its wake a number of independent countries and Communist propaganda was being displaced by Western ideals of a free press. Young writers, journalists, and adventurers such as Katya Cengel flocked from the West eastward to cities like Prague and Budapest, seeking out terra nova . Despite the region’s appeal, neither Kyiv in Ukraine nor Riga in Latvia was the type of place you would expect to find a twenty-two-year-old Californian just out of college. Kyiv was too close to Moscow. Riga was too small to matter—and too cold. But Cengel ended up living and working in both. This book is her remarkable story.
Cengel first took a job at the Baltic Times just seven years after Latvia regained its independence. The idea of a free press in the Eastern Bloc was still so promising that she ultimately moved to Ukraine. From there Cengel made several trips to Chernobyl, site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster. It was at Chernobyl that she met her fiancé, but as she fell in love, Ukraine collapsed into what would become the Orange Revolution, bringing it to the brink of political disintegration and civil war. Ultimately, this fall of idealism in the East underscores Cengel’s own loss of innocence. From Chernobyl with Love is an indelible portrait of this historical epoch and a memoir of the highest order.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published November 1, 2019
7 people are currently reading
165 people want to read
About the author
Katya Cengel
5 books47 followersKatya Cengel is the author of four non-fiction books, including most recently Straitjackets and Lunch Money, which the San Francisco Chronicle called “incredibly affecting” and Kirkus Reviews called “harrowing but engrossing”. Cengel’s earlier titles cover everything from minor league baseball in Bluegrass Baseball to falling in love at Chernobyl in From Chernobyl with Love. She has received an Eric Hoffer Academic Press award, an Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY), and a Foreword INDIES.
As a journalist Cengel has written for New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine and Atavist Magazine among others. Her writing has taken her to Utah to search for Bigfoot (she didn’t find him) and to Mongolia to write about female street artists. Cengel has been awarded grants from the International Reporting Project, the International Women’s Media Foundation and the International Center for Journalists. Her stories have received a Society of Professional Journalists Green Eyeshade Award and a Society for Features Journalism Excellence-in-Features Award.
As a journalist Cengel has written for New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine and Atavist Magazine among others. Her writing has taken her to Utah to search for Bigfoot (she didn’t find him) and to Mongolia to write about female street artists. Cengel has been awarded grants from the International Reporting Project, the International Women’s Media Foundation and the International Center for Journalists. Her stories have received a Society of Professional Journalists Green Eyeshade Award and a Society for Features Journalism Excellence-in-Features Award.
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February 17, 2022
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was a powerful symbol of the more widespread collapse of communist regimes in Europe and the thawing of relations between East and West. Since then, countries which were once behind the so-called “Iron Curtain”, including the Baltic states, have become popular tourist destinations – apart from enthusiastic competitors in the Eurovision song contest. However, it sometimes seems as if their years under Soviet rule or influence have not yet been shrugged off, giving them a strange and exotic aura. Decades after its demise, the USSR and its satellite states still exert a morbid or (depending on one’s sympathies) nostalgic fascination. Perhaps, this explains, in part, the enthusiasm for HBO’s tv series Chernobyl.
If Eastern Europe still feels ‘different’ now, imagine how it was like in 1998. For Californian journalist Katya Cengel, then just a twenty-two-year old college graduate, it was, both literally and metaphorically, at the other end of the world. Far from disheartening her, this challenge drove her to seek a job with the Baltic Times in Latvia and then, once this first leg of her European adventure was finished, to move to the Ukraine.
From Chernobyl with Love contains the memoirs of these difficult but rewarding years. Admittedly, the choice of title seems suspiciously like an attempt to capitalise on the current interest in Chernobyl – the book has little to do with that nuclear plant or its notorious disaster, apart from the fact that one of Cengel’s assignments in Chernobyl led to her meeting her husband, whose step-father happened to be an engineer at the plant at the time of the explosion.
Yet, even if it’s Chernobyl which makes you pick up this book, you will likely hold on to it for other reasons. For Cengel is an engaging raconteur. The story she presents to us is, primarily, a personal one. She reveals much about her relationship with her family, about the friends she made in Latvia and the Ukraine, about falling in (and out of) love with the man who would become her husband. In her account, Cengel tends to downplay her professional prowess and successes – she’s actually a prize-winning, globe-trotting journalist. Her skill shows in the way she uses her (and others’) personal stories to comment on wider social, political and cultural issues. Thus, her own struggles with illness give her account a human dimension, but also serve as eye-openers about the dismal health services in the Ukraine. Her relationship (and subsequent rift) with her ex-husband, also serve to highlight the difficulty of bridging the almost irreconcilable differences between distant cultures. Small details reveal the hardships faced in post-Communist countries – from the constant struggle with the cold in less-then-comfortable residences to the Kafkaesque bureaucracy of Government offices (importing orthodontic retainers involved getting a personal authorisation from the Health Minister) and the quasi-farcical political posturing (as revealed in Cengel’s chapter about her assignment in the separatist state of Transdienstria). Several chapters recount the build-up to Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, as witnessed at first hand by the author.
From Chernobyl with Love is no history book. It’s something even more authentic – a personal account of some of the most tumultuous events in of the recent past.
If Eastern Europe still feels ‘different’ now, imagine how it was like in 1998. For Californian journalist Katya Cengel, then just a twenty-two-year old college graduate, it was, both literally and metaphorically, at the other end of the world. Far from disheartening her, this challenge drove her to seek a job with the Baltic Times in Latvia and then, once this first leg of her European adventure was finished, to move to the Ukraine.
From Chernobyl with Love contains the memoirs of these difficult but rewarding years. Admittedly, the choice of title seems suspiciously like an attempt to capitalise on the current interest in Chernobyl – the book has little to do with that nuclear plant or its notorious disaster, apart from the fact that one of Cengel’s assignments in Chernobyl led to her meeting her husband, whose step-father happened to be an engineer at the plant at the time of the explosion.
Yet, even if it’s Chernobyl which makes you pick up this book, you will likely hold on to it for other reasons. For Cengel is an engaging raconteur. The story she presents to us is, primarily, a personal one. She reveals much about her relationship with her family, about the friends she made in Latvia and the Ukraine, about falling in (and out of) love with the man who would become her husband. In her account, Cengel tends to downplay her professional prowess and successes – she’s actually a prize-winning, globe-trotting journalist. Her skill shows in the way she uses her (and others’) personal stories to comment on wider social, political and cultural issues. Thus, her own struggles with illness give her account a human dimension, but also serve as eye-openers about the dismal health services in the Ukraine. Her relationship (and subsequent rift) with her ex-husband, also serve to highlight the difficulty of bridging the almost irreconcilable differences between distant cultures. Small details reveal the hardships faced in post-Communist countries – from the constant struggle with the cold in less-then-comfortable residences to the Kafkaesque bureaucracy of Government offices (importing orthodontic retainers involved getting a personal authorisation from the Health Minister) and the quasi-farcical political posturing (as revealed in Cengel’s chapter about her assignment in the separatist state of Transdienstria). Several chapters recount the build-up to Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, as witnessed at first hand by the author.
From Chernobyl with Love is no history book. It’s something even more authentic – a personal account of some of the most tumultuous events in of the recent past.
October 19, 2019
So, I'm gonna be honest.
I'm not sure what this book is... for.
Most memoirs seem to have some kind of a theme or story of growth or... Well, you know what I mean. That's how people can write four thousand memoirs and have them all be different (I'm looking at you, Augusten Burroughs). They aren't just, "First I went here and I did this thing, and then I went there and did that thing."
Uh, this kind of is.
And that doesn't have to be a bad thing, really, if they're fun to read or tell a good story or are a travelogue or something.
This book is, like, none of those things?
The story of a woman who worked as a newspaper reporter in the Soviet bloc, the only unifying theme is how much she desperately wants to work in the Soviet bloc but how much she hates it there. It's an experience of a naive person who refuses to learn from experience, is more than a touch racist, and doesn't seem to understand these people with these difficult, austere lives aren't doing it by choice, even though she lived, reported on, and even married a man from there. Originally from California, she never seems to drop the mindset of privileged West Coast denizen. But she really wants you to know her name is Katya, which is like, so Russian. I can't figure her out.
I'm giving this two stars not because the writing is particularly good - in fact, it's stilted in places and not even particularly easy to follow - but because the opening segment about her time in Latvia was a really nice portrait of the Baltic states after the fall of the Soviet Union. If it had just been that, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more.
I'm not sure what this book is... for.
Most memoirs seem to have some kind of a theme or story of growth or... Well, you know what I mean. That's how people can write four thousand memoirs and have them all be different (I'm looking at you, Augusten Burroughs). They aren't just, "First I went here and I did this thing, and then I went there and did that thing."
Uh, this kind of is.
And that doesn't have to be a bad thing, really, if they're fun to read or tell a good story or are a travelogue or something.
This book is, like, none of those things?
The story of a woman who worked as a newspaper reporter in the Soviet bloc, the only unifying theme is how much she desperately wants to work in the Soviet bloc but how much she hates it there. It's an experience of a naive person who refuses to learn from experience, is more than a touch racist, and doesn't seem to understand these people with these difficult, austere lives aren't doing it by choice, even though she lived, reported on, and even married a man from there. Originally from California, she never seems to drop the mindset of privileged West Coast denizen. But she really wants you to know her name is Katya, which is like, so Russian. I can't figure her out.
I'm giving this two stars not because the writing is particularly good - in fact, it's stilted in places and not even particularly easy to follow - but because the opening segment about her time in Latvia was a really nice portrait of the Baltic states after the fall of the Soviet Union. If it had just been that, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more.
January 18, 2020
This is just the sort of travelogue I object to – one in which the author foregrounds her own opinions and experiences rather than represent and empathise with the people he/she meets. Journalist Katya Cengel spent some time in Latvia and the Ukraine in the 1990s reporting on very turbulent times in the post-Soviet era. From daily trivia to high-level politics, life was difficult, in a state of flux and people were having to adjust to a very different way of existence. But Cengel writes throughout from a perspective of American privilege, unable to throw off her preconceived opinions or fully immerse herself in a different culture. Many of her observations are banal and mocking and she obviously feels superior to many of the people she meets. Her motivation seems unclear throughout. Analysis is not her strong point and at times she acts recklessly and ill-advisedly, endangering herself and others. At one point she is seriously ill with pancreatitis and experiences the inadequacies of the post-Soviet health care system. She is critical of the way she is treated without taking on board the practices of another culture. And yet she risks another, potentially fatal, attack. The book lacked cohesiveness and jumped about from anecdote to anecdote with no overarching theme. Throughout she shows a lack of sensitivity to larger issues. And then there’s far too much about her relationship with Russian Dima, a relationship which is obviously doomed form the start but which she clings on to. But we read travelogues to learn about other countries, other cultures, not to wallow in someone’s tedious romance. Cengel plays so many situations for laughs, continually deriding, rather than trying to learn from the world she has chosen to enter, and acts like a privileged tourist. There are some interesting anecdotes here, to be fair, and she writes well, with verve and enthusiasm. And I recognised much of the absurdity still to be found behind the old Iron Curtain. But I found myself irritated more often than entertained, and wished she had foregrounded other voices occasionally.
October 7, 2019
An entertainingly gonzo memoir of some wild and harrowing times in the author's life. With the Ukraine so much in the news, and indeed the entire former Soviet Empire seemingly in the throes of an existential battle between liberalism and totalitarianism, this incredibly personal tale provides a keyhole view into recent history.
For deep historical and political analysis, look elsewhere. But for anyone not steeped in the recent history of the Ukraine, or anyone who wants to know how to navigate being a stranger in a strange land, this book is a great read.
(Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC)
For deep historical and political analysis, look elsewhere. But for anyone not steeped in the recent history of the Ukraine, or anyone who wants to know how to navigate being a stranger in a strange land, this book is a great read.
(Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC)
April 1, 2020
Oh, wow... How much the book resonated with my own experiences arriving in the Former Soviet Union in the early 2000s.
While our contexts and experiences were different, her descriptions made me laugh at how well they captured the absurdity of life in that time and place.
I would recommend this book to anyone preparing to go to the FSU, especially Ukraine. What you read in Katya's book will be nothing like what you experience now. You'll see the differences -- and appreciate how far Ukraine especially has come.
Yet, you'll also recognize the ripples from that earlier time in what you experience now.
While our contexts and experiences were different, her descriptions made me laugh at how well they captured the absurdity of life in that time and place.
I would recommend this book to anyone preparing to go to the FSU, especially Ukraine. What you read in Katya's book will be nothing like what you experience now. You'll see the differences -- and appreciate how far Ukraine especially has come.
Yet, you'll also recognize the ripples from that earlier time in what you experience now.
July 11, 2019
Its always interesting to read about the experiences of those who have lived and worked in a different country to their own. When the two countries being written about happen to have recently gained independence status after the collapse of the Soviet Union then those experiences become even more of interest. Katya Cengel's story takes place in Latvia and the Ukraine in the late 1990's and early 2000's where she was working as a rather poorly paid journalist. This was a time of economic, political and social upheaval which are referenced in the book. There was no carefully thought out transition here when the Soviet Union broke up. One minute there was a planned economy with guaranteed housing, employment and social structures and the next minute it was all gone.
We learn of the deep division between the Latvians and Ukrainians on one side and the now fearful Russian community on the other. One side nationalistic, anti Soviet and western looking and the other looking eastward and fondly on the previous setup. This difference being further exacerbated by language and religion. But it is the day to day experiences that I found most fascinating. Whether it was being a passenger on an overnight train or staying in a Ukrainian hospital (not the most pleasurable of experiences) and trying to collect a medical parcel from the USA would turn into a kafkaesque nightmare almost leading to imprisonment.
This is a remarkably honest account by the author as we learn of her troubled upbringing and disastrous marriage to a Ukrainian photographer whom she meets at work. For Ukraine the misery continues and it remains a festering sore that threatens European peace and stability. If you are looking to gain an extra insight into this troubled land then this is well worth a read.
We learn of the deep division between the Latvians and Ukrainians on one side and the now fearful Russian community on the other. One side nationalistic, anti Soviet and western looking and the other looking eastward and fondly on the previous setup. This difference being further exacerbated by language and religion. But it is the day to day experiences that I found most fascinating. Whether it was being a passenger on an overnight train or staying in a Ukrainian hospital (not the most pleasurable of experiences) and trying to collect a medical parcel from the USA would turn into a kafkaesque nightmare almost leading to imprisonment.
This is a remarkably honest account by the author as we learn of her troubled upbringing and disastrous marriage to a Ukrainian photographer whom she meets at work. For Ukraine the misery continues and it remains a festering sore that threatens European peace and stability. If you are looking to gain an extra insight into this troubled land then this is well worth a read.
December 19, 2021
In the late 90s, author Katya Cengel took a reporting job at the Baltic Times, an English language newspaper in Latvia covering news in the Eastern Bloc. Cengel writes of Chernobyl, the Orange Revolution, journalistic adventures, medical emergencies, and international love. Published in 2019, Cengel offers a deeply personal look back at historical, political, social, economic changes and hardships, all through a candid personal lens.
November 11, 2019
I have mixed feelings about this book. It is a part memoir and part history chronicle. The journalist starts off on a very happy adventure to Lithuania and later ends up in Ukraine. It was difficult to understand her reasons for staying in Ukraine as it seemed to be a miserable existence. I never got a sense of what motivated Katya even in her romance. The book deals with a lot of tumultuous events which occur in Ukraine and the author assumes that the reader has knowledge of these which I didn't have. I found myself having to google a lot of events to get the background information. The book could do with been better edited and more explanation around the background of events given. However I really admire the authors spirit and bravery. This is a very honest account of a young woman's journey and I'm certain will add to the historical documentation of this period in Eastern European history. Thanks to Net Galley for the advance copy of this book
November 1, 2019
Firstly, very little about Chernobyl. That was disappointing.
Meandering series of tales that fall into 3 categories:
1) Eastern Europe is *different* (note is veers into sometimes racist and sexist...)
2) Did I mention I don't drink?
3) An international cast of interchangeable characters.
Honestly, read more like a early 20-something's travel blog. Very American, very privileged and completely oblivious.
And never let the author near your pets. She abandoned her hamster in a Ukrainian park!
I received an advance copy from Netgalley in return for my honest review.
Meandering series of tales that fall into 3 categories:
1) Eastern Europe is *different* (note is veers into sometimes racist and sexist...)
2) Did I mention I don't drink?
3) An international cast of interchangeable characters.
Honestly, read more like a early 20-something's travel blog. Very American, very privileged and completely oblivious.
And never let the author near your pets. She abandoned her hamster in a Ukrainian park!
I received an advance copy from Netgalley in return for my honest review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 20, 2019
As someone who majored in Russian studies and has spent considerable time in several countries of the former USSR, I loved this book. Like Elliott Holt and Elif Batuman, Katya Cengel can articulate the bewildering post-Soviet experience for Americans, and the way other Americans are endlessly baffled by your choice to study, live, and work in this culture. Cengel has crafted a work that, I think, will appeal to many readers, even those who may not have been very familiar with Latvia or Ukraine.
November 3, 2020
Katya Cengel, author of From Chernobyl with Love, writes a fast-moving, sassy and sobering memoir of being an early twenty-something foreign journalistFrom Chernobyl with Love: Reporting from the Ruins of the Soviet Union in Latvia and the Ukraine in the 1990s and early 2000s. Because of my Dad’s Slovak heritage, I’ve been fascinated with Eastern Europe and the countries’ tensions as they seek to belong to the West but find a certain familiarity in Russia.
She traveled to Latvia to take her first job – unpaid – as a journalist. Here, she reveals herself as idealistic, young, and naive in her initial exploration of the post-Soviet country. In photos with friends and colleagues, she smiles broadly; one photo is captioned “Happy Girl,” which she agrees that at the time she was. But as she digs deeper into the social network of post-Soviet-Era Latvia and eventually Ukraine, she begins to understand that Communism is not a “classless” society. Rather it is divided into two classes, “those in power and those kept from it.”
Oligarchs and those in power skimmed “millions from business deals and government contracts,” while people disappeared under their rule through assassination or murder, stories covered up and journalists threatened with disappearance if stories were to get out. Which means that to live, you go with the lies. For those kept from power, safety and security are entirely removed. Audible clicks hint at tapped phone lines. Heat and electricity aren’t controlled by the people who require them, but by government workers who determine when they will be made available. Transportation is unreliable, as is the water, which flows orange from the taps in some areas. Inhabited villages become targets in bombing exercises, food is consumed that was grown in soil still heavy with radioactivity, and healthcare that is sporadic at best if it’s provided at all.
Inertia, the outcome of emotional destitution, happens when all security is ripped away and foundation disappears. It stops people from revolution because nothing will change anyway. It stops people from reporting because nothing will change anyway. It stops people from developing caring and healthy relationships because those things haven’t existed in generations.
This book is an important and eye-opening in its exploration of the realities of Eastern Europe in a post-Soviet Era. And we, in the free world, should feel uncomfortable with our laissez faire attitude with which we viewed the dismantling of Russia. Instead of a healthy democracy, what was left in the wake was more instability that we can imagine. But through Cengel’s writing we no longer have to imagine it; we can watch it take shape and begin to understand why.
She traveled to Latvia to take her first job – unpaid – as a journalist. Here, she reveals herself as idealistic, young, and naive in her initial exploration of the post-Soviet country. In photos with friends and colleagues, she smiles broadly; one photo is captioned “Happy Girl,” which she agrees that at the time she was. But as she digs deeper into the social network of post-Soviet-Era Latvia and eventually Ukraine, she begins to understand that Communism is not a “classless” society. Rather it is divided into two classes, “those in power and those kept from it.”
Oligarchs and those in power skimmed “millions from business deals and government contracts,” while people disappeared under their rule through assassination or murder, stories covered up and journalists threatened with disappearance if stories were to get out. Which means that to live, you go with the lies. For those kept from power, safety and security are entirely removed. Audible clicks hint at tapped phone lines. Heat and electricity aren’t controlled by the people who require them, but by government workers who determine when they will be made available. Transportation is unreliable, as is the water, which flows orange from the taps in some areas. Inhabited villages become targets in bombing exercises, food is consumed that was grown in soil still heavy with radioactivity, and healthcare that is sporadic at best if it’s provided at all.
Inertia, the outcome of emotional destitution, happens when all security is ripped away and foundation disappears. It stops people from revolution because nothing will change anyway. It stops people from reporting because nothing will change anyway. It stops people from developing caring and healthy relationships because those things haven’t existed in generations.
This book is an important and eye-opening in its exploration of the realities of Eastern Europe in a post-Soviet Era. And we, in the free world, should feel uncomfortable with our laissez faire attitude with which we viewed the dismantling of Russia. Instead of a healthy democracy, what was left in the wake was more instability that we can imagine. But through Cengel’s writing we no longer have to imagine it; we can watch it take shape and begin to understand why.
November 12, 2025
The only reason why I’m rating this two stars instead of one is because despite the biased narrative, I did feel that I learned some new information about post-Soviet states and more insight into how they operate.
That said, in terms of this being a memoir, this is the worst written memoir I have ever written. I don’t think I’ve ever written a memoir that painted its author in a bad light, and I think this one did that successfully. This memoir didn’t know what story to tell, whether about the people living in Latvia in Ukraine, the politics, a love story, or the author’s personal journey. Everything was incredibly muddled, and the author came off as entitled, and incredibly naïve at times. For instance, it should be common sense that you don’t go to a foreign country with the intention of living there for an extended period of time without having a decent command of the language. Not only did in each case the author didn’t have that, but at certain times didn’t even know what language she was expected to speak.
Additionally, it should also be common sense that when you develop an uncommon medical condition that is difficult to treat, you shouldn’t be living in a foreign country, where once again, you don’t have command of the language being spoken. And once again, she decided to do this on multiple occasions.
As she lived in Ukraine for multiple years there was a certain level of dedication to actually living there, but it just felt that she took her American status for granted most of the time, and didn’t take into consideration at times that the consequences of her actions could be far worse for her native companions.
Further, there were times where the way she described the locals and customs in these countries just felt disrespectful. A little bit of criticism was ok, but it felt that the entirety of her experience she was an outsider looking in and didn’t make enough of an effort to be empathetic or immerse herself into the respective cultures she was living in.
Overall, this was a memoir that didn’t know what story to tell, that also manages to paint its author in a bad light. Would highly not recommend.
That said, in terms of this being a memoir, this is the worst written memoir I have ever written. I don’t think I’ve ever written a memoir that painted its author in a bad light, and I think this one did that successfully. This memoir didn’t know what story to tell, whether about the people living in Latvia in Ukraine, the politics, a love story, or the author’s personal journey. Everything was incredibly muddled, and the author came off as entitled, and incredibly naïve at times. For instance, it should be common sense that you don’t go to a foreign country with the intention of living there for an extended period of time without having a decent command of the language. Not only did in each case the author didn’t have that, but at certain times didn’t even know what language she was expected to speak.
Additionally, it should also be common sense that when you develop an uncommon medical condition that is difficult to treat, you shouldn’t be living in a foreign country, where once again, you don’t have command of the language being spoken. And once again, she decided to do this on multiple occasions.
As she lived in Ukraine for multiple years there was a certain level of dedication to actually living there, but it just felt that she took her American status for granted most of the time, and didn’t take into consideration at times that the consequences of her actions could be far worse for her native companions.
Further, there were times where the way she described the locals and customs in these countries just felt disrespectful. A little bit of criticism was ok, but it felt that the entirety of her experience she was an outsider looking in and didn’t make enough of an effort to be empathetic or immerse herself into the respective cultures she was living in.
Overall, this was a memoir that didn’t know what story to tell, that also manages to paint its author in a bad light. Would highly not recommend.
November 23, 2020
From Chernobyl with Love by Katya Cengel – a coming-of-age story with implications for us
This coming-of-age book is a page-turner about Eastern Europe (specifically the Baltic states including Ukraine) during the 1900s and early 2000s. The author’s stories were intimate everyday portraits of people trying to survive oppressive governments and deal with crony capitalism. Just trying to survive. How valuable for us to see what life felt like and feels like there.
For me, this book also is a portrait of what could happen here politically if we do not value our system of democracy; if we do not insist on elections unencumbered by foreign influence; if we ignore it when those in power demonize the free press as the enemy of the people; if we do not hold continually-lying leaders to account; if we easily accept denouncements of any reasoned criticism; if we casually or laughingly dismiss facts; and most appallingly if we overlook repeated false claims about winning an important election that was clearly lost. Katya’s book explores what a society looks like and feels like to everyday citizens when too many turn a blind eye to the consequences of facts deliberately ignored, of truth dismissed, of morality no longer considered important – all for political gain -- as though they no longer matter. Does this not reinforce the need for honest, decent, compassionate, and intelligent people governing us?
And I don’t mean to neglect how this author’s many stories about her younger naïve self are also great fun to read. A fascinating adventure story!
This coming-of-age book is a page-turner about Eastern Europe (specifically the Baltic states including Ukraine) during the 1900s and early 2000s. The author’s stories were intimate everyday portraits of people trying to survive oppressive governments and deal with crony capitalism. Just trying to survive. How valuable for us to see what life felt like and feels like there.
For me, this book also is a portrait of what could happen here politically if we do not value our system of democracy; if we do not insist on elections unencumbered by foreign influence; if we ignore it when those in power demonize the free press as the enemy of the people; if we do not hold continually-lying leaders to account; if we easily accept denouncements of any reasoned criticism; if we casually or laughingly dismiss facts; and most appallingly if we overlook repeated false claims about winning an important election that was clearly lost. Katya’s book explores what a society looks like and feels like to everyday citizens when too many turn a blind eye to the consequences of facts deliberately ignored, of truth dismissed, of morality no longer considered important – all for political gain -- as though they no longer matter. Does this not reinforce the need for honest, decent, compassionate, and intelligent people governing us?
And I don’t mean to neglect how this author’s many stories about her younger naïve self are also great fun to read. A fascinating adventure story!
August 11, 2023
FROM CHERNOBYL WITH LOVE: REPORTING FROM THE RUINS OF THE SOVIET UNION by Katya Cengel is a fascinating and entertaining memoir.
Katya may have a Russian first name, but she is decidedly not Russian. Instead, she is a white woman who was born and raised in California. However, that fact didn't stop her from applying to a reporter position in the Latvia.
With both the enthusiasm and naivety of a young adult, Katya had absolutely no idea what she was in for. She didn't speak the language. She knew almost nothing about the politics of the area.
You would assume that someone who had grown up in California with it's temperate climate and easy access to health care and all other amenities of our first-world country would get the heck out of Eastern Europe after experiencing her first winter. Not Katya Cengel. She is made of sterner stuff than 99% of the rest of the citizens of the United States.
Reading about her exploits and adventures will hold readers riveted. From skydiving with questionable parachutes to visiting the restricted area at Chernobyl (twice) it is impossible to put this book down.
From Chernobyl With Love: Reporting from the Ruins of the Soviet Union has won multiple awards and each one is well deserved. This book has everything that a great read should have - with the added benefit that it is all true.
Travel, adventure, crime, corruption, food instability, harsh living conditions, friendship, love, lust and a medically life-threatening situation. This book has it all ... and more.
Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this book asap.
I rate "From Chernobyl with Love" as 5 out of 5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Katya may have a Russian first name, but she is decidedly not Russian. Instead, she is a white woman who was born and raised in California. However, that fact didn't stop her from applying to a reporter position in the Latvia.
With both the enthusiasm and naivety of a young adult, Katya had absolutely no idea what she was in for. She didn't speak the language. She knew almost nothing about the politics of the area.
You would assume that someone who had grown up in California with it's temperate climate and easy access to health care and all other amenities of our first-world country would get the heck out of Eastern Europe after experiencing her first winter. Not Katya Cengel. She is made of sterner stuff than 99% of the rest of the citizens of the United States.
Reading about her exploits and adventures will hold readers riveted. From skydiving with questionable parachutes to visiting the restricted area at Chernobyl (twice) it is impossible to put this book down.
From Chernobyl With Love: Reporting from the Ruins of the Soviet Union has won multiple awards and each one is well deserved. This book has everything that a great read should have - with the added benefit that it is all true.
Travel, adventure, crime, corruption, food instability, harsh living conditions, friendship, love, lust and a medically life-threatening situation. This book has it all ... and more.
Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this book asap.
I rate "From Chernobyl with Love" as 5 out of 5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
November 21, 2020
The title refers to her meeting her future husband on a trip to the disaster area, but also to her clear sympathy and affection for the survivors of communism amid the ruin of their nations. She is unsparing in the details of the their historical and then-present suffering, and their flaws. But, the barbarism, cruelty, mass-murder, corruption and lazy, incompetent bureaucracy and so on that they suffered, is somehow leavened with humor. She only barely survives her experiences living and reporting within the wreckage of the recently collapsed communist system.
Yet, this is one of the funniest books I have ever read. I laughed out loud many times, and had tears of laughter several times. Cengel has a self-deprecatory, deadpan wit and a great courage that makes her many terrifying/painful/appalling experiences or historic and present facts endurable, and often hilarious for the reader. She is painfully honest about everything, including the comically low standards she is forced to accept, and her own comical failings. I also learned a great deal about what young women actually think of the men around them. An extraordinary, informative and unique work. To those who think disaster, horrors and nightmare governments don’t go together with comedy, remember: that was the essence of Soviet humor. Ten stars.
Yet, this is one of the funniest books I have ever read. I laughed out loud many times, and had tears of laughter several times. Cengel has a self-deprecatory, deadpan wit and a great courage that makes her many terrifying/painful/appalling experiences or historic and present facts endurable, and often hilarious for the reader. She is painfully honest about everything, including the comically low standards she is forced to accept, and her own comical failings. I also learned a great deal about what young women actually think of the men around them. An extraordinary, informative and unique work. To those who think disaster, horrors and nightmare governments don’t go together with comedy, remember: that was the essence of Soviet humor. Ten stars.
December 16, 2020
Late 1990s was a strange time in former Soviet Union: the old regime gone, the new - too new... This book documents the author's journey through and life in Latvia and Ukraine at the turn of the century.
I have my own memories of this time, and I often read descriptions of the 1990s written by people who were born in the Soviet Union and lived through all the changes. Katya Cengel's look is different - an outsider looking in, but it is a look of an outsider who lived through that time and who understands it well through her own prism. Her stories bring back memories, both good and painful of that time.
Back in the day, a popular genre in Russia was stories about America (or other Western countries) told by those who travelled there. These stories concentrated on the contrasts between the cultures, emphasizing things that were normal in the States, but felt weird to Russians. This book is an inversion -- a story about what's normal in post-Soviet times in post-Soviet countries, that might feel weird to Americans. Some of the stories are quite unique: few people have visited Chernobyl, fewer yet back in early ought's.
I liked the book, because despite my own experiences back in the day were quite different, the book brings up the atmosphere of those days and reads like a true story about the world I inhabited.
I have my own memories of this time, and I often read descriptions of the 1990s written by people who were born in the Soviet Union and lived through all the changes. Katya Cengel's look is different - an outsider looking in, but it is a look of an outsider who lived through that time and who understands it well through her own prism. Her stories bring back memories, both good and painful of that time.
Back in the day, a popular genre in Russia was stories about America (or other Western countries) told by those who travelled there. These stories concentrated on the contrasts between the cultures, emphasizing things that were normal in the States, but felt weird to Russians. This book is an inversion -- a story about what's normal in post-Soviet times in post-Soviet countries, that might feel weird to Americans. Some of the stories are quite unique: few people have visited Chernobyl, fewer yet back in early ought's.
I liked the book, because despite my own experiences back in the day were quite different, the book brings up the atmosphere of those days and reads like a true story about the world I inhabited.
December 15, 2020
Though half a world away and decades in the past, the author took me to the Eastern Bloc in the ’90s by way of her book, "From Chernobyl With Love." At times, it reads like an unprecious account of a reporter. At other times, it reads like the intimate diary of a storyteller who lived through extraordinary experiences in extraordinary places.
Thanks to this book, I posed questions to myself that I never would have otherwise. Would I accept a blintz with potentially radioactive fruit, or refuse and risk offending a Chernobylian hostess? What would I do with a relationship that thrives during disasters, but withers amid normalcy? The fact that I couldn’t answer those questions definitively is proof that Cengel’s adventures are thought-provoking and worth the read.
Indeed, some of the settings are stark. After all, we’re talking about post-war Latvia, post-disaster Chernobyl and wartime Chechnya. Cengel deserves credit for finding humor and light in the retelling of her existence in those harsh and perilous environments. In fact, let’s end with this excerpt from page 51:
"People regularly stopped him on the street to rub the buttons for happiness. Latvian chimney sweep replied, 'Life without believing and hope is not living.'"
Thanks to this book, I posed questions to myself that I never would have otherwise. Would I accept a blintz with potentially radioactive fruit, or refuse and risk offending a Chernobylian hostess? What would I do with a relationship that thrives during disasters, but withers amid normalcy? The fact that I couldn’t answer those questions definitively is proof that Cengel’s adventures are thought-provoking and worth the read.
Indeed, some of the settings are stark. After all, we’re talking about post-war Latvia, post-disaster Chernobyl and wartime Chechnya. Cengel deserves credit for finding humor and light in the retelling of her existence in those harsh and perilous environments. In fact, let’s end with this excerpt from page 51:
"People regularly stopped him on the street to rub the buttons for happiness. Latvian chimney sweep replied, 'Life without believing and hope is not living.'"
July 8, 2019
From Chernobyl with Love by Katya Cengel
Katya is an American journalist who lived in Latvia and later Ukraine starting in the 1990s. She is an intrepid traveler and adventurer who allows her readers to join her from their own comfy homes as she vividly shares tales of her work, dating and the difficulties of her life abroad.
This memoir will have you kissing ground where you live, grateful that you are not living in a former Soviet country.Doing without luxuries is a given since even basics like running water, heat and electricity are in often in doubt. Why she stays is beyond my understanding, though a romantic relationship plays a part.
This story is an easy read that will capture the interest of those who dream of living and working in a country very unlike their own. Katya’s travels for a good story, even to still-toxic Chernobyl, will leave you shaking your head in wonder.
My sincere thanks to #NetGalley and #UniversityofNebraskaPress/PotomacBooks for an ARC for this review.
Katya is an American journalist who lived in Latvia and later Ukraine starting in the 1990s. She is an intrepid traveler and adventurer who allows her readers to join her from their own comfy homes as she vividly shares tales of her work, dating and the difficulties of her life abroad.
This memoir will have you kissing ground where you live, grateful that you are not living in a former Soviet country.Doing without luxuries is a given since even basics like running water, heat and electricity are in often in doubt. Why she stays is beyond my understanding, though a romantic relationship plays a part.
This story is an easy read that will capture the interest of those who dream of living and working in a country very unlike their own. Katya’s travels for a good story, even to still-toxic Chernobyl, will leave you shaking your head in wonder.
My sincere thanks to #NetGalley and #UniversityofNebraskaPress/PotomacBooks for an ARC for this review.
April 7, 2021
A captivating memoir by a talented journalist, From Chernobyl with Love swept me away to a completely different time and place, and did not let go until I reached the final page.
Katya Cengel is brave, observant, and relatable, with a wry sense of humor that made me immediately love her narrative voice. Even though I cannot imagine being adventurous enough to do what she did -- pack up my life and leave behind everything and everyone I know to move to Latvia and be a reporter for The Baltic Times -- I could easily envision myself in her shoes through reading this stunningly evocative memoir. It was incredibly moving and informative to travel with her around the former USSR back in the 1990s.
I typically find myself drawn to novels more than nonfiction, but From Chernobyl with Love is the best of both worlds: an engrossing narrative story made even better because it really happened. This is a not-to-miss book!
Katya Cengel is brave, observant, and relatable, with a wry sense of humor that made me immediately love her narrative voice. Even though I cannot imagine being adventurous enough to do what she did -- pack up my life and leave behind everything and everyone I know to move to Latvia and be a reporter for The Baltic Times -- I could easily envision myself in her shoes through reading this stunningly evocative memoir. It was incredibly moving and informative to travel with her around the former USSR back in the 1990s.
I typically find myself drawn to novels more than nonfiction, but From Chernobyl with Love is the best of both worlds: an engrossing narrative story made even better because it really happened. This is a not-to-miss book!
October 7, 2019
Thank you to University of Nebraska Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest reivew.
As someone who spent a good bit of the 90s in Eastern Europe, I enjoyed this book quite a lot, because it brought back memories of those times for me. At the same time, the naive, carefree and clueless attitude put my back up a bit. Innumerable young US Americans flooded into the region after the iron curtain came down, but to her credit the author was open to the adventure, and tried earnestly to come to grips with the post-Soviet experience. The only thing that really bothered me was the author's descriptions of her friendships - but maybe I'm of a generation that values friendships and relationships differently.
There's not much historical and political analysis here, but intriguing insights into being a stranger in a strange land, which make for an entertaining read.
As someone who spent a good bit of the 90s in Eastern Europe, I enjoyed this book quite a lot, because it brought back memories of those times for me. At the same time, the naive, carefree and clueless attitude put my back up a bit. Innumerable young US Americans flooded into the region after the iron curtain came down, but to her credit the author was open to the adventure, and tried earnestly to come to grips with the post-Soviet experience. The only thing that really bothered me was the author's descriptions of her friendships - but maybe I'm of a generation that values friendships and relationships differently.
There's not much historical and political analysis here, but intriguing insights into being a stranger in a strange land, which make for an entertaining read.
March 1, 2020
As often happens in life as well as in reading, there are books linked to coincidences. In this case there are two coincidences, one linked to my past professional life, which gives me a fair knowledge of the Chernobyl tragedy, the other to my current professional life and to the publishing house for which I work, which published "Il grande saccheggio" (The Great Plundering), a wonderful book by journalist Francesca Mereu, about the fall of the Soviet Union and its consequences on today's world.
Cengel's book is, so to speak, a sequel to Mereu's, since it talks about the events of Ukraine - one of the nations born from the fall of the Soviet Union - the fall of society, industry and the economy that followed the great plundering. It also speaks of Chernobyl, of course, albeit in a very limited way, since this tragedy is the epitome of the general decay.
Cengel's book is, so to speak, a sequel to Mereu's, since it talks about the events of Ukraine - one of the nations born from the fall of the Soviet Union - the fall of society, industry and the economy that followed the great plundering. It also speaks of Chernobyl, of course, albeit in a very limited way, since this tragedy is the epitome of the general decay.
August 2, 2023
From Chernobyl with Love follows the life of a young Western journalist in post-Soviet Latvia and Ukraine. The book includes Cengel's most memorable interviews and experiences during a tumultuous time following the crumbling of the USSR and a deep recession. Cengel describes poverty, rivaling political factions and hard-working people yearning for a better, more hopeful way of life. Cengel also talks about her personal experiences as she becomes acculturated into a new society and examines her own notions of identity and belonging. The author has a captivating and energetic writing style that propels the story forward. Recommend to anyone interested in Eastern Europe and in living/working abroad, as well as to those who are following Ukraine's struggle for independence.
July 25, 2019
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
As someone who currently lives in a foreign country I really enjoy reading about the experiences of others when they move outside of the United States. I found Katya's story to be really inspirational and brave. She set out, before even completing her college degree, to Latvia. That certainly isn't one of the glamorous locations that you think of when you consider journalists traveling the world. It was really interesting to learn about her experiences in the former Soviet Union. I really enjoyed Katya's storytelling abilities and enjoyed the experiences she shared!
As someone who currently lives in a foreign country I really enjoy reading about the experiences of others when they move outside of the United States. I found Katya's story to be really inspirational and brave. She set out, before even completing her college degree, to Latvia. That certainly isn't one of the glamorous locations that you think of when you consider journalists traveling the world. It was really interesting to learn about her experiences in the former Soviet Union. I really enjoyed Katya's storytelling abilities and enjoyed the experiences she shared!
September 10, 2020
Katya Cengel is brave. She's jumped out of planes, she's traveled to the depths of a mine shaft in a rickety, claustrophobic elevator, she's endured numbing cold, and angry mobs, and secret police, and illness, all in the pursuit of getting the story.
While this is one person's memoir, it's also a testament to the necessity of a free press. The timing of this book is an eerie, cautionary tale for what happens when a democracy is under siege.
I'm glad I read Cengel's account. It's comforting to know there are brave people in the world who are compelled to shed light on the truth, and are willing to risk all to do it.
While this is one person's memoir, it's also a testament to the necessity of a free press. The timing of this book is an eerie, cautionary tale for what happens when a democracy is under siege.
I'm glad I read Cengel's account. It's comforting to know there are brave people in the world who are compelled to shed light on the truth, and are willing to risk all to do it.
November 30, 2020
I thoroughly enjoyed Katya Cengel's From Chernobyl with Love and was astonished by her desire/willingness to jump into life in post-Soviet Latvia and Ukraine. As a journalist, it was no doubt a once in a lifetime experience to be part of a blossoming free press. Although parts of the memoir reveal how difficult living conditions were at that time (such as her phone being tapped, periods with no hot water or heat, lack of medicine or even crutches), Katya managed to also have me laughing out loud MANY times as I read her book. I highly recommend From Chernobyl with Love - it includes an intriguing combination of history, newsroom lore, personal coming of age experiences, and adventure.
October 15, 2019
This memoir by a journalist who has worked in various locations in the former Soviet Union should have been fascinating. Instead, it's disorganized an disjointed, a badly stitched-together collection of anecdotes that are rarely connected to anything larger or more important beyond the author's trite observations and apparent need to document the dating scene for young women at the places she worked. It reads like a badly or hastily written blog--or both--and needed a much heavier developmental edit before hitting the shelves.
November 12, 2019
I received this book as a free ARC from NetGalley in return for an honest review. The book was a quick read. It gives information, through the author's experiences, on Russian and Ukraine culture, lifestyle, etc. and what makes those countries and their people. One of the cons was the book lacked a bit of cohesiveness. It jumped around leaving the reader to try and fit the pieces together, never finishing the story and leaving the reader hanging. At other times, it felt repetitive. I think this book would appeal to those who are interested in Russia, Ukraine, Chernobyl literature, culture, lifestyle, and history.
November 23, 2020
Cengel captured both her professional experiences as a young, inquiring journalist and her personal attitudes and emotions in her fascinating book. The rapidly changing worlds of Latvia and Ukraine in the late 1990's are vividly described as Cengel was eager to interview all types of people and journey far from the beaten path. For example, her marvelous descriptions of the breakaway republic of Transdniester from Moldova was especially intriguing. "From Chernobyl with Love" was a fascinating book to read
November 29, 2020
Having read Cengel's Exiled, I was surprised by the many LOL moments in this book. An example of the wry humor in many of the sad stories Cengel records is that of the old woman living in polluted Chernobyl. To paraphrase: I've been starved by the Russians, oppressed by the Germans and then the Russians again. Now we have radiation. So? Have a drink of vodka.
Also different from Exiled, where the author is a mature journalist, From Chernobyl with Love tracks Cengel's early misadventures. Another page turner.
Also different from Exiled, where the author is a mature journalist, From Chernobyl with Love tracks Cengel's early misadventures. Another page turner.
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