A review by paigesbooks
Hiroshima by John Hersey

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

2.5

While groundbreaking at the time, this book nowadays is not one I would recommend to read about Hiroshima. The stories of the 6 survivors are told in a way that was completely insipid, with no emotion attached. Only the first 12-ish hours post-attack were written about, and then suddenly their stories shifted to weeks later, not mentioning the difficulty in the days after of the bombing. I believe there are significantly better stories from survivors that showcase the true horrors and struggles. The book also read as a propaganda piece in order to clear the guilty conscious of Americans. The final chapter mentioned how Japanese people were proud to die for their emperor, and how they were more focused on the honor of the emperor speaking over the radio instead of the bomb that destroyed over 60% of their city.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit and Grief

Minor: Child death, Chronic illness, and Death of parent