hiroshima

Review by Jonathan Wong
Hiroshima is about how thousands of the Japanese died by the first atom bomb on August 6, 1945, and how six people survived the event. The six main characters are Miss Toshika Sasaki, Dr. Masakazu Fujii, Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, Dr. Terufumi Sasaski, and Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto. The danger is not over for the suvivors because there is still hazards like fires. The aftermath of the atom bomb caused these survivors to fear for their lives and work together as they struggle to keep a grasp on life.

The book presents how modern warfare causes such catastrophic damage and it effects on the people it is targeted on. The book shows the people who survive and what they’ve become after several years. The aftermath of the atom bomb caused most of them to have shortened lives. This book connects to the book Night because both involve genocide. Hiroshima’s genocide involves the Japanese as oppose to Night which are involving Jews.

I think the book was good. The book explained the life style of these people and their occupations before the bomb hit and the mystery of how they survived. Hiroshima keeps you interested in how one bomb can annihilate a whole city, and what are the after effects. The book also explains why some of the people didn't leave and how much they knew about the atom bomb. I found this book to be very informational.

The book is good for people who are activists and want to stop genocides from happening ever again. If you are interested in the atom bomb or just want to know more about Japanese history you should read this book.

Review by Nelson Ly
Hiroshima is a story about six survivors of the atom bomb dropped over Hiroshima. At exactly 8:15 on the morning of August 6, 1945 an atom bomb dropped on the town of Hiroshima causing massive destruction and hundreds of thousand casualties. Six survivors tell their personal stories of the experience they had from the explosion. However, surviving the bomb was only half the challenge. With wounds inflicted and death so close, these six will have to face what the aftermath of the explosion has in store.

This book demonstrates that this war is a worldwide crisis and it affects everybody. It shows that war causes many deaths not only to the soldiers fighting, but also to the people back home. The bomb on Japan killed countless number of people. In Germany, concentration camps were killing tens of thousands of Jews. Deaths are occurring throughout many countries.

There are some parts where you have to understand Japanese culture to really get it. Also, some background information on why Japan was bombed in the first place really helps. I found the author’s use of diction to paint a picture very enjoyable. He gives very descriptive imagery of the carnage and destruction caused by the explosion. The wounds the people suffered were given in full detail. The language he uses can sometimes be difficult to understand, but using strategies to help clarify will solve that problem. Some parts of the book were dull, but you just want to keep reading to see what they’re going to face next.

I would recommend this book to those who want to know more about world war two besides the Holocaust.

Lamborghini Gallardo's from Jesus,
This book called Hiroshima by John Hersey was very sad because of what happen. The atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima August 6, 1945. This took place in Hiroshima around seven in the morning when hundredths and hundredths of innocent people were killed. Miss Sasaki is a character in the book that felt the atomic bomb and survive. When she left her house in a town called Kanamachi in Hiroshima Japan. When the atomic bomb hit the ground, flashes and spark started to come out. Miss Sasaki was a co-worker, when she sat down in her office and started to chat with her co-worker. The impact caused the bookcases behind her to fall and crush her leg. The floor above fell through on her as well, and she lost consciousness. The blast happens when she was talking to her co-worker. This picture emphasizes how Hersey’s point of view that it was the small, unconscious actions that spared each from death or more serious injury. Hersey feelings of mystery that some people survived while others died. In this chapter, Hersey impressions change everything very quickly when the atomic bomb hit. In one instant, an entire city switched from common, every-day tasks to a panicked struggle for survival.

This book relates to WWII because it was dropped in Japan to order to stop the war. I think that this book was very depressing because a lot of innocent people died. It was very hard to read because people were dying this also relates to Night because they were threaten wrong and thousandths of people were dying during the Holocaust. This book was really good because it shows people perspective of how they felt and experienced it. This book would be really good if you like to learn about WWII and also hearing people point of view and what they think about the atomic bomb. The point of view of the book is that John Hersey interviews each main character in the book. This allows the reader to hear and feel emotions to their stories as from their own voices, and makes the reader feel closer to the characters without the interference. John Hersey wants to emphasize a specific theme or story line in each person’s life.

This book is easy to read because it has easy words to understand what you read and also it has big font so you won’t have to look at small writing. I hope you enjoyed the book like I did and I learned a lot from it. This is a real story about peoples living and experiencing the atomic bomb and how they feel about it.

Angel Mena
Hiroshima is a book about how many Japanese people died by the first atom bomb. The six main characters are survivors from when the bomb was drop. Each survivor tells their point on what happened. The after effect of the bomb being dropped affect the each survivors in their own way. Where only one thing was common that they where sacred for their lives.

The book presents the way that people fear for their lives after one major event. That many survivors fear after the events that happen and may effect then in many ways The bomb drop killed many people and the ones how survived where in fear of what may happen. This book is related to Night by the point that many of the Jews that escape where in fear of get cough and getting killed.

The book shows the way that a lot of people can be effected and get scared white. That after someone puts fear in people by what they been throw. So one person can fear into many people.

I would recommend this book to those who want to know more about world war two in the Pacific and not only in Greman

Review by Michael Choi
Hiroshima is a stunning novel about how hundreds of thousands of Japanese people died on August 6, 1945 because of the American atomic bomb. The devastating bomb leveled many buildings and homes, but six people survived. The story is the record of these six lucky people. Even though these people have survived, their struggles and hardships have just begun. They have to live their lives even though mostly everything has been destroyed. This novel reveals how even the small action of pushing a button to drop a bomb can affect millions of people. Just as hundreds of thousands lost their lives to the American bomb, millions died by Hitler’s hands. The killings in the Holocaust are a grander scale of what occurred in the skies over Hiroshima. The book was tolerable. I did not get a lot of this book due to my ignorance of Japanese history, but otherwise, it was great. It is a wonderful anti-war novel because of some of the detailed scenes of disaster. The book is not a “must-read,” but a good book nevertheless. I would suggest this book to any curious readers that want to benefit from the knowledge this book offers. I believe it was a great free-choice read and have no regrets.

Review by Silas G. Campos

Hiroshima is about a nuclear bomb being dropped in Japan. It examines the lives of six survivors and how they were affected by the bomb. There are character in this book who are just normal people. Not soldiers but people you may see on the street any other day. The bomb tests peoples character and brings out the best in people. The book also shows the devastation and awesome power of the atomic bomb.

This book connects to WWII because it shows what realistically what was going on between the Japanese and the United States. Instead of showing the perspective of th U.S. it shows the Japanese perspective. The book uses detailed imagery to show in depth what took place in Japan.

Although the story is complex and at times confusing, it's detail and history help you to gain a better understanding of what actually happened. You may get lost with the character but eventually each character has such an important part you'll remember who they are. The events that take place in the book will help fill in the blank spots that you may not have learned in the classroom, and allow you to make a more in depth connections about WWII. This book fits into a non-fiction and realistic genre. Depending on how you interpret the tone any chapter could make you think of a different genre.
 * Review by Rachel Xiao**

__Hiroshima__, by John Hersey tells of six individuals during the time when an atomic bomb fell on Japan in 1945. This book includes what these people were doing before, during, and after the bomb had dropped. These individuals each have a different experience but they all share the same pandemonium. This variety includes a clerk, a mother, two doctors, a Father and a reverend. Instead of focusing on the bigger picture, Hersey goes well in depth to catch the essence of the moment. One character for example, was reading a newspaper in his underwear outside his balcony just when the bomb had dropped. The speaker tracks down each individual and gives the audience a sense of what it was like at the time of the explosion. This book provides an objective view and illustrates what it really felt like to be there at that moment. After the explosion, many of the survivors were no longer just a reverend, or whatever they were; they were heroes. These survivors had both physical and mental scars on their lives the moment the bomb hit at 8:15 am. Many of them were left homeless, wounded and without aid. Life was hard after the bombing. Soon after the bombing, a vast amount of people developed health defects that still affect our world today. The bombing of Hiroshima began the downfall of Japan’s defeat in World War Two. With Japan itself crippled, it no longer stood on the path of victory. Like the Jew’s hatred towards the Nazis, the Japanese soon turned bitter against America. A spectator in Japan believes that an atomic bomb can be categorized in the same place as gas chambers and crematories. They both tortured people and left them in distress. What difference did it make? People died and those who survived are left with tragic memories. Personally, I thought the book was enriched with great historic points. It gave me a better view of the bombing and some of the feelings and thoughts the Japanese had during the time. I wasn’t there at the time but this book helped me truly feel like I was there witnessing it all. Some parts of the book contain horrific images that can be very shocking and disturbing to read. Often times, I would have to take a deep breath before I went on reading. After reading the book, I gained a greater understanding of the cause and effects of the bomb. This book contains so much more than what a textbook can cover. From being a person who knew almost nothing about Hiroshima, I feel more aware now of what had happen in the world sixty-three years ago. This book however, is very sophisticated and it’s handy to have a dictionary nearby. Surprisingly, keeping track of the six survivors was not as confusing as I first thought it might be; which is great. If you’re the kind who’s looking for a challenge and a greater historical knowledge of Hiroshima, then this is the kind of book for you. Most of the writing is straight-forward but it’s not a book that’s easy to read. Plus, if you’re lucky, you might even get a book with an extra chapter, telling us what had happened to the survivors forty years later.  On August 6, 1945 the American military destroyed Hiroshima, Japan by dropping a single bomb, specifically an atom bomb. This was the first atom bomb ever dropped on a city that not only ruined buildings and homes, but lives of thousands of people. //Hiroshima//, by John Hersey, is an excellent novel based on the bombing by describing the events through the eyes of six different survivors: Miss Toshiko Sasaki, Dr. Masakazu Fujii, Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, and Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto. Hersey informs the readers with the experiences of all six survivors before and after the explosion. Each character’s lives before the detonation are described to give the audience an idea how their survival was pure luck and good timing. The preface of the novel depicts each of their lives days before the war all the way up until the second of the bombing, allowing the readers to understand the changes their lives experienced due to the explosion. Hersey also writes detailed images on all the survivors encounters minutes after the bombing; such as giving help to other victims around them, like Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, and Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto did, looking for lost ones, like Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, and being entrapped by rubble, like Miss Toshiko Sasaki and Dr. Masakazu Fujii. In the last chapter, instead of allowing the characters stories to flow together themselves, Hersey describes each individual’s lives after the bombing, following them years later. The difference between all the survivor’s lives before and after the war is amazing and dramatic. Although this novel describes the events that occurred towards the end of World War II, it is provides a look into the lives of “the other side.” This novel allows the reader to learn about what was happening to people, other than the Jews, during the war and how even the “enemies” were effected by the conflict. It does not directly relate to the topics we have learned about World War II in class because it does not address the Jewish people, concentration camps, or the Nazis, but instead informs the reader about the Japanese citizens and how their lives were equally changed by the war. Even though it does not describe anything about the Jewish Boycotts or Kristallnacht, it allows its audience to understand the daily lives of those who were also affected by the outcome of the war. I thought this novel was an informational and graphic piece. It was somewhat depressing and melancholy, but most things are when the subject is World War II. Its intellectual diction made it fairly difficult to understand and I found myself rereading parts to clarify the scene. Hersey’s outlines of the events were also a bit complex because he does not have a specific outline of whose story comes next. This made it hard to remember all the characters names and their story at first, but by the second chapter I was able to organize their stories and was able to identify what Hersey was describing. Besides the fact that the structure was somewhat hard to grasp and that Hersey describes the events in an immense amount of detail, I enjoyed this novel. I thought it was very informational and was able to teach me the other facts of World War II. The experiences of all six survivors are incredible and were capable of teaching me that you can always move on. Each character’s lives changes dramatically because of the explosion; their houses are destroyed, their health is damaged due to the enormous amounts of radiation from the bomb, and, because of their deficiencies in their health, they are unable work (and in some cases be hired) or enjoy other activities. But even through all of this all six of the survivors told in this novel were able to build new lives and “start over.” This is a tremendous novel not only about the facts of World War II in Japan and the United Sates, but it is a story of forgiveness and moving forward. //Hiroshima// is a biographical and non-fictional novel for audiences that are looking for more informational facts on the end of World War II in Japan. It takes a lot of determination and a pictorial mind. Although somewhat difficult to understand because of structure and advanced vocabulary it is a spectacular novel. It is more suited for older (16 and up) readers, but it is definitely worth trying.
 * “There, in the tin factory, in the first moment of the atomic age, a human was crushed by books” (Hersey 23).**
 * Reviewed by Stephanie Mar**
 * “And now each knows that in the act of survival he lived a dozen lives and saw more death than he ever thought he would see” (Hersey 2).**