A review by honnari_hannya
Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche by Haruki Murakami

4.0

A great, chilling nonfiction read for those who are interested in history, sociology, memoir, or interviews. I loved the way Murakami and his editor structured this, with passages about the specific trains framing and providing context for each batch of interviews, so that readers get a bird's eye view of the magnitude of the disaster and then a closer inspection of its effect on the people who lived that day. The most heartbreaking interview were the ones with the siblings, Akashi Tatsuo and Shizuko.

I also liked the addition of the interviews with the Aum cult members who weren't involved in the attack—because Murakami wanted to center this narrative around the victims, it was only right to include them too as victims of Asahara Shoko's manipulation.