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]Black Rain is centered around the story of a young woman who was caught in the radioactive "black rain" that fell after the bombing of Hiroshima. lbuse bases his tale on real-life diaries and interviews with victims of the holocaust; the result is a book that is free from sentimentality yetmanages to reveal the magnitude of the human suffering caused by the atom bomb. The life of Yasuko, on whom the black rain fell, is changed forever by periodic bouts of radiation sickness and the suspicion that her future children, too, may be affected. lbuse tempers the horror of his subject with the gentle humor for which he is famous. His sensitivity to the complex web of emotions in a traditional community torn asunder by this historical event has made Black Rain one of the most acclaimed treatments of the Hiroshima story.… (more)
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The real power of this narrative comes from narrow focus of these one family as they struggle through the immediate aftermath and fallout. Black Rain is not about the political or social implications of nuclear warfare. Rather, it’s about its everyday consequences and impacts of war on the lives of those who lived it. Through the diary entries we get a clear picture of the hardships rationing, the stress of air raids or the lack of air raids, the complications of black market dealings, and the bureaucracy of life under army rule. Then there was the flash that changed it all for the people of Hiroshima. The Diary entries detail the bombing from several perspectives, describing the deaths and injuries of the victims in all their gory detail. Some of descriptions are extremely disturbing. But what really stands out is the chaos and confusion that prevails the situation throughout the first week. Victims not knowing were to seek safety from the flames; not knowing how to deal with the dead and dieing; the continued frustration of dealing with a never-ending bureaucracy to get help and needed supplies; and finally the surreal reaction to the final surrender. The immense suffering of and udder lack of humanity that saturates the whole situation (I'm including the victims here as well) is enough to cause me to question what the hell is wrong with the species.
Black Rain is a very moving book, written in a very quiet, restrained tone. The lack emotions stands in stark contrast to that of western writers. The casual observations that make up much of the diary entries are what make this fictional biography so disturbing. Anger or self-pity would detract from understanding the totality of this tragedy. Black Rain is one of those books that should be required reading in history class covering the war with Japan. The images from this book will linger in my mind for a long time to come.
Whilst black rain is fiction, most of that fiction is in framing the effects of the bomb and its legacy. Its the story of an ordinary family, living & working in & around Hiroshima toward the
The transcripts are bleak in the extreme, yet Ibuse manages to embed poetic images, and the general day to day struggle of ordinary people in them. I don't doubt I'm going to be seeing some of the pictures they paint for quite some time.
This is a book that really ought to be required reading, and whilst the writing is excellent, its a hard read, mainly due to the subject.
[Black Rain] is about the atomic bomb being dropped at Hiroshima, Japan. In this story, Shigematsu and his niece Yasuka work in a factory which manufactures military clothing. His manager sends him out on a fruitless search for coal. Shigematsu and his wife worry that their niece Yasuka, who lives with them, might not be marriageable if she contracts radiation sickness. Of course, at the time that the bomb was dropped, no one living in Japan had any idea what an atomic bomb or radiation sickness was.
The horror of this novel is the inhumanity of it all. For page after page, the reader is left with the ruins, the pain, the illness, and the atomic bomb's devastating aftermath. There is no respite from any of this throughout the entire novel. I felt as if I had to read through this book very slowly just to understand the cost and effects of war on individuals and families, politics aside. It's not a pretty picture and leaves me with little faith in humanity although the story is extremely well done with most of its details having been gleaned from actual interviews and diaries of survivors of the Hiroshima nightmare.
Don't be afraid to pick up this book. It's necessary to understand what can happen in a world unhinged.
The narrator of the novel is Shigematsu Shizuma, a mid-level factory manager, husband, and guardian of his niece, Yasuko, who lives with them. At the time the story begins, Shigematsu is worried whether they will be able to find a husband for Yasuko because a rumor is circulating that she was in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped. In an effort to belie the rumor, Shigematsu begins copying out his journal of the days in August that detail what he and his family were doing. He plans to lend one copy to the marriage go-between and donate the other to the school collecting firsthand accounts. To support his narrative, Shigematsu asks his wife to write down her thoughts and also includes journal excerpts from two other survivors. The only voice not heard in the novel is Yasuko's.
When Shigematsu is not copying out his journal (and thus relaying to us, the reader, his story), he is with his two friends planning an elaborate carp raising endeavor. The author's ability to switch from the death and misery of the bombing to the everyday activities and concerns of the survivors is one of the things that saves the book from being overwhelmingly depressing. In addition, the way in which the story switches from the "present", nearly a year after the bombing, to the recorded past in his journal keeps the reader from experiencing everything firsthand. We know that the family survives and that in a way creates an emotional buffer which a straight narrative would not do.
Black Rain is an amazing novel as much for what it isn't as for what it is. It isn't maudlin although it is sensitive, it isn't horrific although it looks at horror unflinchingly, and it isn't dismissive when it includes everyday detail. Highly recommended.
The account is drawn largely from Shizuma's journal oft he war years, but also from that of his niece, Yasuko, and a couple of other people whose paths crossed with his.
There is very little in the way of recrimination against the American's who dropped the bomb, Ibuse is almost completely concerned with the immediate experience of those caught up in the horror of nuclear warfare. The effect is to humanise an event of global significance, bringing it within the scope of personal understanding. A work of great compassion and empathy.
This novel is a sensitive handling of eyewitness accounts of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. It starts with the main character, Shigematsu, pondering the future of his niece Yasuko's marriage prospects. There is a persistent rumor that Yasuko was in Hiroshima City on the day
That doesn't factor into my rating. I just found it odd.
This novel vividly depicts the human suffering from the bombing, including a massive number of deaths, devastation of the city, radioactive fallout, and the general confusion of the populace. It is a powerful portrayal of the human cost of atomic war, and in particular, the horrifying results of radiation sickness. It is fiction but is based on extensive research of actual accounts and interviews. It is a book for those interested in comprehending the entirety of WWII.