Kuroi Ame 黒い雨, by Ibuse Masuji 井伏鱒二
I’ve heard about this book that it is one of the classics of modern Japanese literature, so I thought I would give it try. It is impressive, to say the least.
The action takes place a few months after the end of the war in a village near Hiroshima. The main character, a middle-aged man named Shizuma Shigematsu, is worried about the fact that the marriage engagements of his niece Yasuko are broken one after another, on the suspicion that she may be affected by the radiation from the bomb that fell on Hiroshima on the 6th of August. In order to demonstrate that she wasn’t in the city on that day, he prepares to send her personal diary and his own diary of those days to the family of the man whom she is to be married to.
Their diaries describe in detail what they have experienced on the 6th of August 1945 and during the days after that. As expected, some passages are very disturbing - it becomes really challenging for the reader to imagine that landscape.
What makes this book interesting is the alternation between the present of Shizuma’s family and their past, as represented in the diaries. In spite of their painful memories, Shizuma and the people around him are quite lively - there are even humorous episodes involving the everyday life of the family.
I would recommend this book to anyone who may want to try reading a story written on the subject of the end of the war.
As for the language level, I confess I found it a bit challenging, so I would say medium to high level.
The action takes place a few months after the end of the war in a village near Hiroshima. The main character, a middle-aged man named Shizuma Shigematsu, is worried about the fact that the marriage engagements of his niece Yasuko are broken one after another, on the suspicion that she may be affected by the radiation from the bomb that fell on Hiroshima on the 6th of August. In order to demonstrate that she wasn’t in the city on that day, he prepares to send her personal diary and his own diary of those days to the family of the man whom she is to be married to.
Their diaries describe in detail what they have experienced on the 6th of August 1945 and during the days after that. As expected, some passages are very disturbing - it becomes really challenging for the reader to imagine that landscape.
What makes this book interesting is the alternation between the present of Shizuma’s family and their past, as represented in the diaries. In spite of their painful memories, Shizuma and the people around him are quite lively - there are even humorous episodes involving the everyday life of the family.
I would recommend this book to anyone who may want to try reading a story written on the subject of the end of the war.
As for the language level, I confess I found it a bit challenging, so I would say medium to high level.