Hiroshima Book Review

John Hersey's journalist narrative, Hiroshima focuses on the detonation of the atomic bomb, Little Boy, that dropped on the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Although over one hundred thousand people died in the dropping of the bomb, there were also several survivors. John Hersey travelled to Hiroshima to listen to the experiences of six survivors. Hersey uses his book to tell the story of six of these survivors (spanning from the morning the bomb fell to forty years later) through a compilation of interviews.

Hiroshima demonstrates the vast damage and suffering inflicted on the Japanese that resulted from US deployment of the atomic bomb. And although depressing, humbling, and terrifying, this book was very good, interesting, and vivid; I would suggest it to anyone. John Hersey, a war correspondent for Time magazine, was an accomplished author before he had written Hiroshima, as he wrote two popular books about American troops when he was stationed in Asia. Then, in 1944 Hersey published A Bell for Adano, a novel about the U. S. army in Italy, which then won the Pulitzer Prize.

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Hersey went into writing Hiroshima as an already reputable and credible author. Hiroshima starts off by introducing the six main characters of the book: Miss Toshinki Sasaki, Dr. Masakazu Fuji, Mrs. Hatuyo Nakamura, Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, and the Reverend Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto, and describes the activities they were engaged in minutes before the explosion. None of the six characters were prepared for an attack as extreme as an atomic bomb. When the bomb strikes, which was sometimes as close as three quarters of a mile away, the six main characters have to witness horrible things. For example, Mrs.

Hatsuyo Nakamura has to watch her neighbor tear apart his own house to clear fire lanes. A line on page eight reads, “Her [tears and sadness] was specifically directed toward her neighbor, tearing down his home, board by board, at a time when the was so much unavoidable destruction. ” Also, Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, was in a hospital full of people on the day of the explosion, somehow, the explosion harmed every other person in the hospital except him. Not only does he have to witness, face, and mend the bloodied and injured hospital occupants but he has to do this all while suffering from a tremendous amount of fear, ncertainty, and shock from the explosion. The horror does not stop after the initial recognition of the boom. Minutes after the bomb fire is spreading, the smoke is so thick it's hard to see, and of course, there are severely burned and wounded people just about anywhere you look. Our survivors spend the rest of their day helping and caring for other survivors, with absolutely no time to recover from what just happened. Whether that be running provisions to them, helping them find loved ones, or attempting to uncover them from the ruble- all the jobs were all equally forlorn.

Even after days, months, and years our six survivors struggle to get back to the life they once had before the terrible disaster. Through all the forty years after the explosion, they had to deal and cope with the terrible flashbacks of the bloodied bodies and corpses. They will had to deal with the empty space that was left in their hearts made by deaths and of many close family members; and although many family members didn't die immediately, many died in the months and years following. Also, the bombs did not spare much or any money, shelter, and provisions; meaning our survivors had to endure poverty and homelessness.

The novel comes to a close by describing the state of each survivor. The author most likely wrote this book to reveal the tragic and human side of the bombing. Most Americans saw the bombing as a necessary vice and Hersey's intent was to offer another perspective to the American people. It gives you a chance to reflect on America's doings and make conclusions. His theme for the book, the aftermath of the dropping of the atomic bomb, was made very clear in how the entire book talks about the survivors lives after and in relation to the bomb.

His thesis is very clear as well, which is that Japan suffered and was damaged as a result of US deployment of the atomic. bomb Don't be deceived by it's short length, because Hiroshima is full of information and perspective of the events during and ensuing the explosion. The authors style in this easy to read book is expository, reportable, and straightforward, but still shows you the deep humanly affects. This style is deduced because Hersey gives a very informative glance at the aftermath of the atomic bomb, not through facts and numbers but through sensory details and stories- while still styling it as a journalistic essay.

The book is very to the point. My favorite thing about the book is that it shows the other side of the story; we Americans thought that the bomb was necessary because of the war and our need to end it, but this book shows that we also killed and injured (physically and emotionally) many innocent people of Japan. I would recommend this book to people because it gives you a brand new insight. Overall, the book was good and I'm glad I took the time to read it.



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