Book Review: Hiroshima

This book is about the stories of the survivors (which were known as the hibakusha) of the horrific bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. It tells the stories of six people, Miss Sasaki, Mrs. Nakamura, Father Kleinsorge, Dr. Sasaki, Dr. Fujii, and Mr. Tanimoto. These people were close to the center of where the bomb hit. Most survived the bombing by mere luck. Most were inside at the time and so they were protected more so than those unfortunate people that were outside at the time.

The atomic bomb was dropped by the Enola Gay, a B-29, by orders of Truman in attempt to end the war. The bomb hit Hiroshima at fifteen minutes past eight in the morning on August 6th, 1945. No survivors ever recalled hearing any noise from the blast, but they do remember a flash of light. "It killed ninety five percent of the people within a half mile of the center, and many thousands who were farther away."p76 "The statisticians began to say that at least a hundred thousand people had lost their lives in the bombing."p81 These six people vividly remember exactly what they were doing at the time of the bombing. Despite their pain not a single injured person was crying; there was a dead silence. Buildings that once stood tall now are in ruins; lives destroyed, and mass chaos everywhere.

The bomb had created fires all about Hiroshima. Buildings either fell to the ground or burned to the ground. Many suffered severe burns, and radiation poisoning. "Their own bodies incapacitated in varying degrees, explained why so many citizens who were hurt went untended and why so many who might have lived died."p24 The hibakusha went around and tried their best to assist the wounded, and there weren't enough doctors to help the wounded. "The first task is to help as many as possible-to save as many lives as possible. There is no hope for the heavily wounded. They will die. We can't bother with them."p50 These six survivors went to their designated safe areas (Asano Park) that were created in case something happened since the war was going on.

Hiroshimans where trying to find out what had hit. They were unaware that it was a new bomb developed by the US. Some thought it was a "bread-basket," a bomb that splits into multiple bombs to create more damage than might occur from a single bomb. Citizens became nervous and extremely scared as to what was going to happen next. For the first time the emperor had sent a message over the radio telling that the bomb was an atomic bomb.

"A year after the bomb was dropped, Miss Sasaki was a cripple; Mrs. Nakamura was destitute; Father Kleinsorge was back in the hospital; Dr. Sasaki was not capable of the work he could once do; Dr. Fujii had lost the thirty room hospital it took him many years to acquire, and had no prospects of rebuilding it; Mr. Tanimoto's church had been ruined and he no longer had his exceptional vitality. The lives of these six people, who were among the luckiest in Hiroshima, would never be the same. "p87 Some of the survivors had started to try and establish world peace and prevent nuclear weapons to ever be used again in such a way. Other countries had just started their testing at this time and some were successful. Hiroshima was uninhabitable for a long time but some survivors still lived out their lives in Hiroshima. Some that were exposed to the bomb never developed symptoms and others eventually died much later because of it. The aftermath was just horrible. "The average age of all hibakusha was sixty-two." p152

Source: Hiroshima by John Hersey. Book.