A review by ankysbookbubble
Return to Hiroshima by Bob Van Laerhoven

4.0

If I had to write a one sentence review, I'd say that "Return to Hiroshima is not a book you should take lightly." With scenes describing the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bomb blasts and the destruction thereof, it was a gruesome, goosebumps raising read. 


I'm not much of a Historical Fiction buff, and the ones that I do read, I usually don't enjoy. But Return to Hiroshima was a welcome change, and it made me think that I just might enjoy the genre if I read books set in histories that might interest me. 


I appreciated the details, since I'm completely unfamiliar with Japanese culture and geography, but sometimes, the descriptions felt like they could've been avoided.


Also, one of the characters, Xavier, was almost unrelated to the main plot, and I couldn't understand what was his role in the story. Also, his sister's death—which was a topic of suspense until the end—wasn't clarified, and it annoyed me to not know what happened. 


All in all, Return to Hiroshima was gruesome, chilling and real, and I'm glad that I got a chance to read it.