Scan barcode
A review by scarletohhara
Barefoot Gen Volume 1: Hardcover Edition: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima by Keiji Nakazawa
5.0
This book is all kinds of trigger warning, but is a must read. We all know the holocaust caused by the A-Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But I bet none of us read this from the perspective of someone who actually was alive at that time in that place.
These drawings being to life the horrifying time the author has gone through when the bomb was dropped. But before that, the author depicts so well the impact of the pro-war brainwash in the Japanese society - families believing their children’s lives are worth only if they die in the war, calling anyone who calls out the war as a traitor and denouncing their families, Kamikaze fighters, soldiers in suicide bomber vests falling under the American tanks, civilians choosing death over living in the defeated Okinawa island - all these are examples the author so well shows in this book.
I winced and held my heart throughout this book.
And I’ll read the rest in this series too.
This is an effort to learn more about our history, man’s cruelty towards another man and the lengths one will go to, to be a ‘victor’. I see why the author wanted this story translated into English and other languages, and am glad I read it for that very reason.
These drawings being to life the horrifying time the author has gone through when the bomb was dropped. But before that, the author depicts so well the impact of the pro-war brainwash in the Japanese society - families believing their children’s lives are worth only if they die in the war, calling anyone who calls out the war as a traitor and denouncing their families, Kamikaze fighters, soldiers in suicide bomber vests falling under the American tanks, civilians choosing death over living in the defeated Okinawa island - all these are examples the author so well shows in this book.
I winced and held my heart throughout this book.
And I’ll read the rest in this series too.
This is an effort to learn more about our history, man’s cruelty towards another man and the lengths one will go to, to be a ‘victor’. I see why the author wanted this story translated into English and other languages, and am glad I read it for that very reason.