We experience the devastation of the bomb hitting Hiroshima through the eyes of a teenager. His fear of not knowing what happened, what destroyed their home, but determination keeps him and his best friend on their quest to find Keiko, his friend's 5 year old sister. This promise is tainted by fate and his failure haunts him. Is there no salvation from this endless guilt?
The writing is just breath-taking, a mixture of poetry and prose, with gorgeous sketches scattered through as well.
This is a simply told story of great hardship and mind-numbing events. It is written by someone who in her introduction talks of how, despite having no direct connection to the event, felt the need to put this down in words. The war and related details are minor backgrounds, and the focus is all on an old man telling his grandson for the first time how the day the bomb fell on Hiroshima was for him. There is just one point of view at any given time, two styles of narration and very evocative illustrations. The book is short, and the ending a lot different from what I thought it would be given the type of conversation that took place in the preceding pages. It was a refreshing read among my other usual genres, and the paper crane in itself was a very heart-rending image that carried on throughout the entire tale. It is such a short story in its entirety that there is nothing more that I can add to a review of it.
The writing is just breath-taking, a mixture of poetry and prose, with gorgeous sketches scattered through as well.
This is a simply told story of great hardship and mind-numbing events. It is written by someone who in her introduction talks of how, despite having no direct connection to the event, felt the need to put this down in words. The war and related details are minor backgrounds, and the focus is all on an old man telling his grandson for the first time how the day the bomb fell on Hiroshima was for him. There is just one point of view at any given time, two styles of narration and very evocative illustrations. The book is short, and the ending a lot different from what I thought it would be given the type of conversation that took place in the preceding pages. It was a refreshing read among my other usual genres, and the paper crane in itself was a very heart-rending image that carried on throughout the entire tale. It is such a short story in its entirety that there is nothing more that I can add to a review of it.