finally acting my major
Jul. 7th, 2010 12:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
arishaBook!
The Last Train From Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back, Charles Pellegrino
An account of the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (and the month or so afterwards), drawing on forensic evidence as well as the experiences of many people who were either involved with the bombs' transportation or affected by their explosions, with special focus on a few of the people who managed to survive the atomic bomb twice.
I have a few complaints about this book:
- I would bet money that the author doesn't know the first thing about the Japanese language, judging from this book's use of two different systems of romanization, his totally random use of "-san" and "-chan," and the fact that he repeatedly used "shigoku" where I'm pretty sure he meant "jigoku."
- Whose decision was it to use drawings instead of photographs, I really don't get this. Plus the drawings kind of look like they were pulled from a kid's book, so I don't think they really deliver the impression you're going for here.
- There are several instances where the author writes his sentences so that they reference random pieces of pop culture - that Star Wars line about voices screaming and then being silenced, that "I Second That Emotion" song - and at one point he makes a really unnecessary joke about what "Hamlet" would be like if MacArthur were the protagonist. None of these references are witty or relevant, and each of them pushed me out of the book. Sorry dude, you're writing a book about a huge tragedy; you're not allowed to reference the song you heard on the radio this morning.
Having said all that, this book is really interesting and worth reading. I felt like it gave me a better idea of the bombs' range of destruction. It also includes scenes that start to break down stereotypes about what Japan was like during the war, which I appreciated.
Two random things: this book features Luis Alvarez, who I read about in Night Comes to the Cretaceous, and it also claims that Spider-Man's creator was indirectly inspired by the Nagasaki bombing. (Radioactive spiders!)
Two things I didn't know: there were American POWs who were affected by the blasts, and the plane that went to Hiroshima in order to film the explosion was called Necessary Evil. Wow.
Movies!
Firefly Dreams, 2001
A misbehaving teenager is sent to live with her relatives in the countryside where she finds her character arc. This movie was very slow and quiet, to the point that halfway through I opened up another window and started reading Wikipedia while I watched. But at the same time, I'm not sure I'm criticizing it for that? The pace kind of suited it. Also, Yumi was my favourite character and this movie made me miss hanging out with my grandma. :(
White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 2007
After finished the above book, I wanted some visuals that weren't sketches, so I found this online and watched it all illegal like. It's made up of interviews with survivors mixed with archive footage mixed with modern footage (including a part where teenagers in Harajuku are asked what happened on August 6, 1945 and have no idea - which really surprised me!). It's pretty short, and wasn't as in-depth as I'd thought it would be, but it was still interesting. There was a bizarre sequence showing how several female survivors of the blasts were brought to the U.S. in order to receive plastic surgery, free of charge, and were even on the show This is Your Life ... I dunno, it all seemed really weird to me. But the visuals here definitely made up for the lack of visuals in the book, although I couldn't even look at some of them. I'm definitely moving on to a cheerier topic now. :(
The Last Train From Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back, Charles Pellegrino
An account of the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (and the month or so afterwards), drawing on forensic evidence as well as the experiences of many people who were either involved with the bombs' transportation or affected by their explosions, with special focus on a few of the people who managed to survive the atomic bomb twice.
I have a few complaints about this book:
- I would bet money that the author doesn't know the first thing about the Japanese language, judging from this book's use of two different systems of romanization, his totally random use of "-san" and "-chan," and the fact that he repeatedly used "shigoku" where I'm pretty sure he meant "jigoku."
- Whose decision was it to use drawings instead of photographs, I really don't get this. Plus the drawings kind of look like they were pulled from a kid's book, so I don't think they really deliver the impression you're going for here.
- There are several instances where the author writes his sentences so that they reference random pieces of pop culture - that Star Wars line about voices screaming and then being silenced, that "I Second That Emotion" song - and at one point he makes a really unnecessary joke about what "Hamlet" would be like if MacArthur were the protagonist. None of these references are witty or relevant, and each of them pushed me out of the book. Sorry dude, you're writing a book about a huge tragedy; you're not allowed to reference the song you heard on the radio this morning.
Having said all that, this book is really interesting and worth reading. I felt like it gave me a better idea of the bombs' range of destruction. It also includes scenes that start to break down stereotypes about what Japan was like during the war, which I appreciated.
Two random things: this book features Luis Alvarez, who I read about in Night Comes to the Cretaceous, and it also claims that Spider-Man's creator was indirectly inspired by the Nagasaki bombing. (Radioactive spiders!)
Two things I didn't know: there were American POWs who were affected by the blasts, and the plane that went to Hiroshima in order to film the explosion was called Necessary Evil. Wow.
Movies!
Firefly Dreams, 2001
A misbehaving teenager is sent to live with her relatives in the countryside where she finds her character arc. This movie was very slow and quiet, to the point that halfway through I opened up another window and started reading Wikipedia while I watched. But at the same time, I'm not sure I'm criticizing it for that? The pace kind of suited it. Also, Yumi was my favourite character and this movie made me miss hanging out with my grandma. :(
White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 2007
After finished the above book, I wanted some visuals that weren't sketches, so I found this online and watched it all illegal like. It's made up of interviews with survivors mixed with archive footage mixed with modern footage (including a part where teenagers in Harajuku are asked what happened on August 6, 1945 and have no idea - which really surprised me!). It's pretty short, and wasn't as in-depth as I'd thought it would be, but it was still interesting. There was a bizarre sequence showing how several female survivors of the blasts were brought to the U.S. in order to receive plastic surgery, free of charge, and were even on the show This is Your Life ... I dunno, it all seemed really weird to me. But the visuals here definitely made up for the lack of visuals in the book, although I couldn't even look at some of them. I'm definitely moving on to a cheerier topic now. :(