The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II

By Svetlana Alexievich and Svetlana Alexievich

Book Overview

A long-awaited English translation of the groundbreaking oral history of women in World War II across Europe and Russia--from the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post * The Guardian * NPR * The Economist * Milwaukee Journal Sentinel * Kirkus Reviews For more than three decades, Svetlana Alexievich has been the memory and conscience of the twentieth century. When the Swedish Academy awarded her the Nobel Prize, it cited her invention of "a new kind of literary genre," describing her work as "a history of emotions . . . a history of the soul." In The Unwomanly Face of War, Alexievich chronicles the experiences of the Soviet women who fought on the front lines, on the home front, and in the occupied territories. These women--more than a million in total--were nurses and doctors, pilots, tank drivers, machine-gunners, and snipers. They battled alongside men, and yet, after the victory, their efforts and sacrifices were forgotten. Alexievich traveled thousands of miles and visited more than a hundred towns to record these women's stories. Together, this symphony of voices reveals a different aspect of the war--the everyday details of life in combat left out of the official histories. Translated by the renowned Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, The Unwomanly Face of War is a powerful and poignant account of the central conflict of the twentieth century, a kaleidoscopic portrait of the human side of war. THE WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time." "A landmark." --Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century "An astonishing book, harrowing and life-affirming . . . It deserves the widest possible readership." --Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train "Alexievich has gained probably the world's deepest, most eloquent understanding of the post-Soviet condition. . . . [She] has consistently chronicled that which has been intentionally forgotten." --Masha Gessen, National Book Award-winning author of The Future Is History

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399588744
• ISBN13: 9780399588747
• Release Date: April 2018
• Publisher: Random House Trade
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Polyphonic Spree.

The polyphonic style of Svetlana Alexievich uses takes some time getting used to, at least for me it did. I got a little more than aggravated at it, like it was all these Women shouting at me; all at the same time; all in different tones; all wanting to be heard. Aggravating because I was looking for some context of their stories and there was none. It was only till the stories got longer where I began to feel comfortable with it - but still no context. I don't know if the Author is a Historian or not, but a Historian's insight would've made a more compelling story in my view. My Father fought in The Great Patriotic War as an Officer in the Red Army. My Father saw extensive combat on the Front Lines, so much so that his Commanders pulled him from the line for his nerves were shot. I had a difficult relationship with my Father because of his traumatic experience in WWII(He had a series of nervous breakdowns throughout my growing up and drank heavily). Yet in sobriety, my Mother and Father would talk about the War all the time while in the kitchen together in our native tongue, our Kalmuk Mongolian language. My Father's generation of Men who survived their War, when together would drink and tell their own War stories and sing songs in Russian but I never saw them cry 😢. When our Mother's did the same there were always tears with the songs. And that's the one thing that I don't understand about American families, they never talked about their War that those of that generation shared. See, this book has rubbed off on me, now I'm sharing.

Amazing

I thought this book was very good. Gave me a different perspective on WW2 and mixed emotions. This is a must read if you enjoy historical books