Escape from Chernobyl. Andy Marino. 2021. [December] 176 pages. [Source: Library]
First sentence: Yuri Fomichev picks a wooden splinter from his palm.
Premise/plot: For those who enjoy reading about historical disasters--and yes, 1986 is history--Andy Marino's newest book is Escape from Chernobyl. There are a handful of young narrators--Yuri, Alina and Lev, Sofiya--that provide an up close perspective of the disaster as it unfolds hour by hour. [Yuri is cousins with Alina and Lev. He is currently living with them. Sofiya is a neighbor in the same building. She and Yuri are crushing on each other.] All are living WAY too close to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on the fateful day--April 26, 1986.
My thoughts: One word: BLEAK. You might be saying WHAT WERE YOU EXPECTING???? True, all true. I have no one but myself to blame. I checked it out from the library. I started reading. I got hooked and had to keep turning pages.
This one is fiction. Don't be fooled by the epilogue where one of the character is catching readers up to the modern day.
Earlier this year, I read Meltdown which was about another nuclear disaster. That one was nonfiction--and awesome. Part of me wishes I'd read a middle grade appropriate nonfiction title on the subject instead. Or perhaps I just wish that they'd been fewer narrators? I don't know. This one was definitely one that I had to finish after I started it. But honestly it's feeling more like an almost for me.
But for readers--and there definitely are readers of all ages--who LOVE reading about disasters, this one is worth considering.
© 2021 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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