Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War by Svetlana Alexievich
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
It’s impossible to convey how profound this book is. If I could recommend it to everyone, I would. Through stories that are clear, honest, and heartbreaking, we experience the Soviet war in Afghanistan through the eyes of soldiers, nurses, and civilians—all of them grappling to make sense of why they were sent to war and the toll it took on their lives. Perhaps harder to deal with are the stories from mothers and widows who can’t make their sacrifices add up to the silence and shame heaped on the veterans of this war.
I have no connection to the Soviet war in Afghanistan, and neither do I have a connection to America’s war in Vietnam. The introduction draws a parallel between the way veterans of both wars were treated, and that is a powerful bond. But on a deeper level, Zinky Boys lays bare the cynicism and craven nature of a government that is willing to send soldiers and civilians into almost-certain death with little regard for their safety, the safety of civilians, and the long-term prospects for peace. In an era where proxy wars are still being waged, Zinky Boys is prescient and damning.
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