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    The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II
    Unavailable
    The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II
    Unavailable
    The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II
    Audiobook14 hours

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

    Written by Svetlana Alexievich

    Narrated by Julia Emelin and Yelena Shmulenson

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    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.

    For more than three decades, Svetlana Alexievich has been the memory and conscience of the 20th 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 100 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 20th century, a kaleidoscopic portrait of the human side of war.

    "But why? I asked myself more than once. Why, having stood up for and held their own place in a once absolutely male world, have women not stood up for their history? Their words and feelings? They did not believe themselves. A whole world is hidden from us. Their war remains unknown...I want to write the history of that war. A women's history." (Svetlana Alexievich)

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJul 25, 2017
    ISBN9781524708481
    Unavailable
    The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II
    Author

    Svetlana Alexievich

    Svetlana Alexievich was born in Ivano-Frankovsk in 1948 and has spent most of her life in the Soviet Union and present-day Belarus, with prolonged periods of exile in Western Europe. Starting out as a journalist, she developed her own non-fiction genre which brings together a chorus of voices to describe a specific historical moment. Her works include The Unwomanly Face of War (1985), Last Witnesses (1985), Boys in Zinc (1991), Chernobyl Prayer (1997) and Second-hand Time (2013). She has won many international awards, including the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature for ‘her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time’.

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    Reviews for The Unwomanly Face of War

    4.5/5

    103 ratings13 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      A whole lot of war stories from the points of view of some of the million frontline female Soviet World War 2 veterans. Many of the stories brought tears to my eyes.
    • 3/5
      The book I read was the edition entitled "The Unwomanly Face of War". I can find it in the database but can't get it to enter here. I'm assuming it's the same book in a different edition.

      This was an incredibly difficult read, both because of the subject matter and because of the way it's put together. As an "oral history" it really has no arc and no cohesion. The women's stories are told in very brief paragraphs, in the kind of choppy language that is true to the spoken word but which doesn't flow the way fictional dialogue does. Their stories are disjointed, often repetitive, and always searing.
    • 5/5
      The books of Alexievich are great but painful readings. In this one, using the usual interview format, she`s telling about the lives of the female soviet participants of WWII. Sometimes cruel, sometimes touching but unputdownable all the time.
    • 5/5
      This was a shocking, sobering, at times heart-breaking and really illuminating read. I had no idea that the Soviets used women on the frontlines to such an extent: they were sappers, snipers, pilots, artillary officers, they worked on tanks and in machine gun crews, they dragged the wounded off the battlefield while under fire and did many heroic, dangerous and filthy things in WWII. All this without proper women-sized clothing, footwear or sanitary supplies. Like Alexievich’s other books, she gives almost all the book over to the women’s voices and keeps hers to a minimum but the structure of the book makes it all hang together. It’s a brilliant book.
    • 5/5
      Wow!... Oh, my! Awhile back, I stated I do not read every war book that I view. But, I felt I must read, The Unwomanly Face of War...An Oral History of Women in World War II. This book had been translated into English by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.

      The author Svetlana Alexievich, a journalist, was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature for "polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time."

      I probably ought to preface this by stating that WWII occurred decades before my birth so what I know of it came from history books which recounted how WWII did not just effect that generation. The American men I knew, who served on the front lines during WWII, have now perished. And, they spoke very little.. of war.. to me.

      This book is phenomenal in that it is a collection of stories from Russian women serving on the front lines in WWII. It makes some interesting points in that it is believed that women have more 'light gathering power' in terms of their 'strength of feeling'. Personally, I do not know if I feel things stronger than a man. But, I do know, I express things differently. Perhaps... more openly.

      The women in the front lines were known to be good at communications and were medically necessary. I say women. But actually, many of these accounts were from women who served in war, at a time when they were barely out of puberty. They were on the front lines because of their ability to change and adapt.

      'The Unwomanly Face of War' , more than anything else, forces readers to evaluate their values and realize people change when faced with anything close to the hardships of war. Be prepared. This book is not watered down. Each account is interesting and many are agonizingly heartbreaking.

      Prior to today, I could not fathom the importance of saving the weapons along with the man. In all honesty, I never realized a young girl would drag herself into a burning tank, the smell of charred flesh...her flesh. surrounding her. She is lifting a heavy... lifeless ..body, while carrying artillery too.

      Yes, this collection, tackles terribly difficult content that is war related. What if you got pregnant while in service? What if you survive this hell only to return home at 19 to parents who did not recognize you? What if you came home and your sibling handed you a copy of your own death notice?

      When the realization hits.... it hits hard! Yes, their personal well- being is influenced by their daily sacrifice. So what justifies this? Some of these women say, having a chance to to tell about it.These women are their voice of WWII. All, wanted to live a day without remembering the faces of war. But, all the time these women served... they had a strong sense of home. They returned. And, this is their story.

      I highly recommend this book.

      I reviewed for Net Galley.
    • 5/5
      A good read. Alexievich more or less invented this type of lit. This book has a few of the censors comments early on. These idiots actually thought that they could retell ww2 from the government's point of view, Apparently the Russians did not even contact any of these women until 30 years had gone by, This is the author's first book, and it reads quite well; the stories are all about women volunteers in the war, unlike her most recent efforts which followed a lot of heroes of both sexes as they were jailed by Stalin after the war.
    • 5/5
      There is not feminine about war. It brings out the worse and the best of people. Author Alexievich gathers unique war stories of Soviet woman who fought on the front line in all sorts of capacities during World War 2. One memory may only be a paragraph long while other several pages. Their experiences are not belittled or downplayed. The women reached into their memories to describe battlefield conditions, suffering, and death. Memories they were not either allowed to or encouraged not to speak of once the war ended. While this book will help end doubts on whether women can serve on the front lines of battle, it clearly shows that the ability to serve regardless of gender comes down to individual commitment. I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway. Although encouraged, I was under no obligation to write a review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
    • 4/5
      This author tackles the personal cost of war on woman, those who served and those who were civilians during the second world war. These personal accounts, some just paragraphs, some a few pages, but all heartfelt and heartbreaking. We have read many books, fiction and non that chronicle men's experiences and after effects, but very few women. Ordinary women I should say, who were living normal lives but feeling compelled or just caught up in the tangled and long reaching call to war. The author states her reasons for writing this book in her forward, this is actually a re-release, published for the first time, I believe in the 80's. I of course knew that women served as nurses, ambulance drivers, but never knew there were a group of women snipers. We hear how difficult their first kill was, and how they changed because of this act. Their experiences when they were no longer serving, integrating back into society. How they were perceived by men, and society in general. As the author states, women perceive their experiences differently than men do, she wanted to highlight this , and bring it to the attention of the public. Some wanted to talk, some said little, wanting simply to forget. Some parts of this was difficult to read, some sad, some frustrating and reading a few I got angry. All these thing women did, went through, and never had it acknowledged, pitiful and shameful. Thanks to this author, at least some of us will read about them now.ARC from publisher.
    • 5/5
      My heart breaks into a million pieces.

      I listened to the audiobook version of this book, as I traveled all across Ukraine. My heart broke into a million pieces listening to the trauma, and tragedy these women went through not only during wartime but after.
      As I watched the country side on my marshutka rides and train rides I couldn’t help but wonder how many others what would this land say if it could talk. How much blood was spilled here. When I was surrounded by people, I wondered how many of their grandparents, parents or they themselves experiences this? How many stories they must have.
      It pains my heart listening to their accounts but I think it is so important that they were able to tell it. It is a part of history that not many people know but it is so important.
    • 5/5
      Great. One of the best book I've ever read! Their story was unbelievable and it wasn't about the victory.
    • 5/5
      More than just stories
    • 5/5
      The vignettes painstakingly documented on these pages reveal the hidden side of the prism of war.
      At times memory, at times confessions, these true accounts finally permit us a view of the past that textbooks overlooked to tell the tales of the battles within the war.
      Each story will leave you breathless and pondering
    • 5/5
      If you read only one book this year read this! (VII-20)