Chienne de guerre

by Nivat-A

« Ce livre est le récit de mes différents séjours dans la Tchétchénie en guerre, entre septembre 1999 et mi-février 2000. La guerre telle que je l'ai vue : il s'agit là d'un pur témoignage.
J'ai agi en tant que journaliste free-lance, correspondante de deux quotidiens français, Libération et Ouest-France . Dès le début du conflit, j'avais fait la demande d'une accréditation ad hoc du côté russe ; ne l'ayant pas obtenue, j'ai décidé de regarder la guerre du côté tchétchène.
Cet affrontement qui ne cesse de saigner et d'épuiser les camps en présence n'est malheureusement pas terminé et peut-être ne finira jamais. Aussi faut-il continuer de se rendre sur place pour dire ce qu'il en est.
À moi qui n'avais fréquenté la guerre que dans les livres d'histoire, elle a appris son poids de cruauté, de désespoir et de mort. Au lecteur, j'espère que ces pages auront mieux fait percevoir l'enchaînement tragique des événements, mieux fait comprendre aussi ce peuple, ces hommes et femmes tchétchènes avec qui j'ai partagé l'impartageable. » A.N.

Genres: Nonfiction, War, History, Journalism, Biography, Russia, Memoir

Paperback

First published June 2, 2000

Reviews

[KOMET · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before there was "Operation Iraqi Freedom", there was the war in Chechnya. A war that the Russians try to disguise as an insurrection. A war that could easily have been avoided if Moscow had simply given Chechnya the sovereignty it sought in the early 1990s. Here in this book, Anne Nivat shows both the horrors and absurdities of the Chechnyan War.

I commend Mlle. Nivat for her courage in going out on her own into Chechnya to get at the heart of the story. Anne Nivat is a gutsy woman. Her story is all the more remarkable and sobering given the efforts of Moscow to censure the news reportage from Chechnya. Being a fluent speaker of Russian also allowed Nivat to form personal bonds with many of the people she met. Thus, the reader gets a more intimate insight into the daily perils people face in Chechnya.

[Martinxo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harrowing, and very human, reporting from the front line of the 2nd Chechen war. Anne Nivat is an excellent writer, she is incredibly brave and is able to be objective and very humane at the same time.

She lucidly describes this brutal war and the horror inflicted on the inhabitants of the region, most of whom couldn't care less about whether their state is independent or part of the Russian Federation, they just want to get on with their lives.

Nothing changes in that respect, eh?

[Justine Belanger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne Nivat est une journaliste de guerre française, je n'étais ainsi pas surprise que le livre soit écrit sur un ton très journalistique. Ce n’est pas un roman mais bien un long reportage des différents séjours de la journaliste pendant la seconde guerre de Tchétchénie. Parfois difficile à suivre en raison des nombreuses personnes et des changements de lieux des différents récits de séjours en Tchétchénie et en Ingouchie, ce livre illustre néanmoins de manière authentique et crue les réalités et causes de la guerre. Causes qui sont parfois beaucoup plus complexes et ambiguës que les médias ne laissent le croire. J'ai aimé que les récits des femmes soient au centre du livre, puisqu'elles sont souvent mises en marge ou représentées comme des victimes sans pouvoir d'action lors des conflits armés.

[Maryna · Rating 5 out of 5]

THe book is definitely worth reading. This is not a roman though. For those who are thinking to read it, please pay attention this book is a documentar of a war journalist. THis is not a tipycal story. This is a long reportage about the war in Chechnya.
I have found the book amazing, even though the style of the book does not make it easy to read in one breath. This is still a book about a war, a brutal one. However, it helped me a lot to understand what is behind all the wars where russian federation has been involved for the past 25 years. It proved again, that the style of wars nowadays has changed since WW2.
I definitely recommend this book to those who want to understand:
- what is is a WAR nowadays;
- what is life about in a war zone;
- how propaganda works.

A special thank to Anne Nivat. You are a brave woman! I wish I heard about you as a writer/reporter before, and not when the war in Ukraine started and suddenly Ukrainian mass media started to mention you: "A famous war journalist Anne Nivat has arrived to Ukraine: is the war starting?".

Pity the book is not translated into a russian language. I gave an English version to one of my friends in russia. I hope, it will open her eyes on many things after reading the book.

[Pip · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having just read through Politkovskaya's 'A Small Corner of Hell', I was anticipating something similar from Nivat, but felt fairly underwhelmed. Nivat travels through Chechnya during the early days of the second war, but never seems to go as in depth as Politkovskaya. She hints at some of the more heinous Army misconducts, she meets with some victims, she encounters a few unpleasant moments. Unlike her Russian journalist counterpart, Nivat doesn't explore in-depth the motivations of the soldiers or the people behind the war. She doesn't uncover the whole web of 'teips' and foreign/domestic interests, their hands in the blood money or the continuation and escalation of violence. It feels more like an outsider looking in, still detached, no matter how much Nivat tries to live among the locals. A tourist's perspective from a war zone. Perhaps Nivat saw more than she lets on, but restrained it due to her (then) position within the Moscow newspaper. A quick read, but overall underwhelming when compared to other available sources on the topic.

[Maarten Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doorlopend denk je: gaat dit over een oorlog in 1999 of 2022...

[T. Fowler · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author tells the amazing story of her travels though Chechnya and surrounding countries in the Caucasus in the 1990s, between the wars and during the second one. She gives a first-hand account of what she saw and heard as she moves surruptiously around the countryside, without permission from the Russians but helped by many ordinary Chechens, all whom are suffering terribly from the conflict where no one side is right. She is courageous, sometimes foolish, always sympathetic to the simple villagers who help shelter her, even when their shelter is a bombed-out farmhouse where an extended family of ten have no heat or little food. It is warning story of how normal civil life can be destroyed by outside forces even in modern times. Thanks to the dedication of journalists like her, such stories can be told.

[Eric Kruger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is hard-hitting stuff, from a forgotten corner of the world. Regular Chechen folks have been under the knife for 20 years, and nobody cares because they're not abjectly pathetic enough for the bleeding hearts and they're too Muslim for conservative hard-liners. No matter: the Chechens are the baddest people on the planet, and their impact will continue to be felt, far beyond their tiny population.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Given to me as a gift, an enthralling read about the recorded atrocities in Chechnya. Horrors abound but the courage of this reporter keeps you turning the pages.

[Dirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book. Period.

[Lica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anne Nivat is amazing!

[Ig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good