emswiz's review against another edition
5.0
I originally read “Hiroshima” in a college course and its stuck with me ever since. I felt compelled to reread it after watching “Oppenheimer” and in remembrance of the 78th anniversary of the United States using the atomic bomb against Japan. The stories of the hibakusha, or bomb-affected people, are ones of suffering and heroism in the face of unprecedented horror. But they are also a reminder of just how irrational and disorienting nuclear weapons are—a theme elaborated on in “Oppenheimer” when the uranium atom is split, defying the theoretical calculations. One hibakusha finds his paper-mache suitcase sitting upright in the doorway while the desk it had been sitting under moments before is splintered into thousands of pieces. Two children sleeping across the room from one another before the bomb goes off are suddenly touching. A woman who survived the blast unscathed dies hours later. Wounds that should take days to heal take years. The stories in “Hiroshima” make something as unfathomable as the violence unleashed by atomic weapons, a little more fathomable.
beccybee95's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
isabelromero's review against another edition
5.0
This book is a necessary read for everyone, especially those in the US. The contextualization of our country’s military and wake of damage is incredibly important now more than ever. The intimate style that Prof Hersey shares the survivors stories is incredibly personable and moving. The work is out there, the responsibility is ours to engage.
jehignite's review against another edition
4.0
This shouldn't be the only book you read about Hiroshima survivors, but it should definitely be one of them.
thewindupreaderchronicle's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
[hiroshima - john hersey]
stars: ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ (it feels weird to put starts to the suffering of millions of people, but i rate it from the perspective of how it’s written)
“his memory, like the world’s, was getting spotty.”
after some weeks of being stuck with my reading, starting new books and stopping after a couple of chapters, over and over again, i was frustrated. so i decided to go back to my “roots”, if i can put it like that.
in a convulse time, with so much worldwide uncertainty, john hersey words remember us what we are capable of doing to other humans, that are just like us. through an apparent effortless writing style, hersey conveys the full horror that the atomic bomb was in hiroshima.
a mother, a doctor, a priest.. they all had a life before this horrendous event. and after, conditioned forever by one of the most cruel acts humankind has seen, they tried to survive, continue with what they were doing and strive for a better future for those who they cared about.
it’s difficult to put into words what all those people in ‘hiroshima’ had gone through, but i think hersey is able to make us understand (us, the ones born way after this happened and thousands of kilometres far from it) what it meant to throw an atomic bomb to a city. and again, it is now when we must remember and be conscious about how cruel we can be to people who are just like us.
m. 🌸
beelzebean's review against another edition
4.0
A quick read!
The individual hibakusha (survivor) stories in this book were both heartbreaking and moving. Hersey details the early first-hand accounts of 6 people, including where they ended up many years after the bombing.
Even though this definitely was an important read, it wasn't quite what I was expecting. I thought the book would cover all the historical politics and build up to the bombing, but it does not. And although i'm thankful to now know the personal accounts told in this book, I would've liked a more encompassing point of view. I'm not sure it truly expresses the magnitude of how many lives were affected by the bomb.
Nonetheless, I'm very glad to have read this book, would read it again, and will recommend it to others.
The individual hibakusha (survivor) stories in this book were both heartbreaking and moving. Hersey details the early first-hand accounts of 6 people, including where they ended up many years after the bombing.
Even though this definitely was an important read, it wasn't quite what I was expecting. I thought the book would cover all the historical politics and build up to the bombing, but it does not. And although i'm thankful to now know the personal accounts told in this book, I would've liked a more encompassing point of view. I'm not sure it truly expresses the magnitude of how many lives were affected by the bomb.
Nonetheless, I'm very glad to have read this book, would read it again, and will recommend it to others.