Lapierre, Dominique & Javier Moro. Five past midnight in Bhopal - Book Review

Warner. 403p. illus. map. c2002. 0-446-69078-3. $15.95. A

Numbers seem to play a noteworthy role in this book. For example, "850.000 species of insects rob humanity of half its food" ran the advertising of Union Carbide for its pesticide. A few hundred rupees were the savings of the company in cutting its safety program at the plant that manufactured the pesticide. Five minutes past midnight on December 3, 1984 was the time and date of the avoidable accident. Over half a million residents of Bhopal were poisoned by that plant's toxic gas leak and between sixteen and thirty thousand would die "in agony."

The story of Union Carbide's coming to Bhopal, India and the lives of the plant workers and the local people are built up gradually in Five Past Midnight. There is an unhurried style that is comparable to the quiet and gradual darkness before a storm. Then, when the storm is unleashed, the story turns to horror. "The unspeakable was happening. Driven by the wind, the wave of gas was catching up with the flood of humanity trying to escape. Out of their minds with terror, people with shredded clothes and torn veils ran in all directions, trying to find a pocket of breathable air.... Everywhere the dead with their greenish skins lay side by side with the dying, still wracked with spasms and with yellowish fluid coming out of their mouths." (p. 304) Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro have each written several non-fiction titles; they have collaborated here on a story that needs telling and above all, needs to be remembered even after almost 20 years. Survivors still suffer from that poisonous night. Half of all royalties from Five Past Midnight in Bhopal go to the City of Joy Indian Foundation to support humanitarian activities in Bhopal. Recommended for all public and academic libraries. Katherine E. Gillen, Libn., Luke AFB Lib., AZ

COPYRIGHT 2003 Kliatt
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