The last witnesses, by: Svetlana Alexievich

The last witnesses is the second book from the series Voices of Utopia, the project of the Belarusian journalist Svetlana Alexievich, the most important, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for it, despite her writing mainly being documentary journalism. Through it, Alexievich tries to record the unheard voices among the tragedies of humanity in the last century. Much has been written about the heroism and virtues of wars, and about the great need for them as a means to achieve goals that may be considered noble. But the constant question remains: is there justification for peace and our happiness and even eternal harmony, if a single small tear falls for an innocent child in the process? In World War II, more than one hundred million people were killed, wounded, and displaced in the most bloody war – so far – in our human history. Much has been written about the tragedies and consequences of this dark phase of our history. But how did the last living witnesses see it; the children of this war? More than thirty years after the end of that war, Svetlana, in her book, brings back from the remaining heroes of that era to their childhoods during the war, to tell in their words the last words… about a time that concludes with them… The author has no comments at the beginning and end of the book, as was the case in her translated books “Chernobyl Prayer” and “Zinc Boys,” leaving ample space for memory and paper to fill automatically, and giving the reader plenty of time to reflect on earth’s destructions, with no answers that novels might lead you to. They are documentaries and memoirs to stimulate the search for our disasters. Perhaps that does not bring her back. In The Last Witnesses, the author leaves ample space for memory and paper to fill automatically. “The book is closer to a monologue novel, or a multi-voice novel, which Alexievich adopted and employed in her series of documentary novels, based on confession, recollection, and remembrance, and a set of mental processes in which her characters are placed within that narrative circumstance.” Ultra Voice. Number of pages: 352