Customer Reviews

Ash Garden

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Many books - fiction as well as non-fiction - have been written around the events of August 6, 1945. When the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, the world changed forever - and such an occurrence will be chronicled in many ways, for it touched and altered the lives of everyone on the planet. John Hersey's remarkable HIROSHIMA comes to mind, along with many other that have appeared since. Dennis Bock's novel THE ASH GARDEN is an astonishing, deeply moving look at the lives of three people - a German scientist who immigrated to America in order to work on the Manhattan Project; a young Austrian girl, sent away from the horrors to come by her parents, never to see them again; and a Japanese girl, just seven years old at the time, playing with her little brother on a riverbank, watching as a single plane approaches her city.

Bock's literary gifts are stunning. His descriptive abilities are deep and varied - I found myself reading passages over again when I realized that he had, obliquely rather than obviously, made a scene appear in my mind as clearly as if I were seeing it with my eyes. He applies this amazing talent to his characterizations as well - there are aspects of each character that are addressed directly, but many facets of their personalities and psyches are revealed more subtly, by conversations, thoughts and actions. I found the characters portrayed here - and this is, for me, the heart of all great writing - completely fleshed-out and whole. Each one has their strengths and weaknesses, with good and bad intentions vying within for dominance - and each one comes to know themselves as they come to know the ones with whom their lives are intertwined. Preconceptions exist and are seen to crumble - it's a fascinating process, and one that occurs within all of us as we live our lives and interact with others. To see it so subtly and completely reproduced on the printed page is a marvel.

Besides chronicling the events connected with the bombing of Hiroshima, and their consequences in the lives of these characters, the book deals very adeptly and thoroughly with the voyage of discovery that each one of them makes. Anton Böll, the émigré scientist, leaves his native Germany because he sees that the German atomic program is headed down a dead end - he knows that his talents and abilities will be put to much more fruitful use in America. He knows the horrible power that the weapon on which he is working will unleash - and he truly sees it as a necessary thing: a way to end the war. He also hopes, along with several of his fellows, that, once the power of this weapon is seen, there will never again be temptation to actually use it. He hopes against hope that the US government will choose to use it on a military target - but he also knows that they will most likely pick a civilian one. As the years pass after the war, he attends the annual rallies commemorating the event - not so much to ease his conscience as to make sure that the world knows the terrible power that the bomb carries.

Böll meets Sophie in a camp for refugees in Canada - he is immediately taken with her beauty and her spirit, and he marries her, getting her out of the camp. They move to New York City and begin their lives together - and then he is transferred to New Mexico to work on the Manhattan Project. Their hopes for their marriage carry him through this separation, and through the time after the war, when he is sent to Japan as a scientific observer of the bomb's results. Sophie has a more difficult time with this separation, and she deals with it - and with the pain of knowing she will never see her family in Europe again - by clinging to a new-found determination that she will live her life for herself, regardless of what those around her choose, or are compelled, to do.

It is while Anton is in Japan that he is moved beyond his own belief by the destruction he sees - destruction in the physical sense, to be sure, but mainly in the human sense. He sees the burned survivors - the adults as well as the children - and he comes to know an elderly doctor, and spends much of his spare time working with the old man in the hospitals, caring for those fighting to survive. Anton wrestles constantly - both consciously and subconsciously - with what he sees, trying to reconcile it with what he has believed about his work. It is a struggle that will remain with him.

Emiko and her little brother survive the blast, although they are badly burned. Just before the bomb detonated, she had painted a picture on the back of his white shirt, with mud, of the face of their grandfather. The flash and heat of the bomb burned this image into his back - and many other such `tattoos' are recounted on other victims, the patterns of the clothing they were wearing marking them for life. Emiko's brother eventually dies, but she survives, and is chosen to be one of a select few girls to be taken to American to undergo newly developed surgical techniques to restore her badly burned and scarred face. She becomes a documentary filmmaker as an adult, and through her work and self-education about the events leading up to the destruction of her city, she comes to know about Anton Böll and his role in those events. She manages to meet him at a commemoration event in New York City, and arranges to interview him.

When the lives of these three people begin to intertwine, it is a classic case of `the whole being greater than the sum of the parts' - there are dynamics that rise up and come into play that none of the three could have imagined. All three of them have believed that they have come to know fully the events of their lives - it is only after these versions meet and cross that they each realize that they still have things to learn and consider. Bock's research into the history of the bomb, his appreciation of the human personality and spirit, his respect of history, and the hopes he holds for humanity - both collectively and as individuals - are bound together here by his immense skills as a writer. THE ASH GARDEN is a book that everyone should read who wants to understand the power man has unleashed, along with its implications - and it does so without damning the bombs or the men who brought it to fruition, in an intelligent and moving way. This book is a modern masterpiece.

The Ash Garden, told from two different perspectives, tells the very personal story of a scientist that helped build the atomic bomb, and that of a young Japanese girl who was only six years old when the bomb was detonated on her home town of Hiroshima. The novel switches between the two viewpoints and traces how the bomb affected each of them and how their lives became intertwined.

Anton is an Austrian scientist who escaped Europe during WWII to pursue science in a manner that the Germans were not. He found himself a part of the Manhattan Project and built the atomic bomb that was ultimately dropped on Japan bringing an end to the war. While he continues to contend that the bomb saved lives by showing the world what America was prepared to do he is not without regret. He saw first hand what the bomb did to the innocent civilians and the lives that it took. Much to his wife's disappointment, he is never the same again and spends his career after the war educating college students and reliving his role in the devastation.

Emiko was six when the bomb was dropped on her hometown. She lost her parents and younger brother and suffered severe scarring herself, making her an outcast among the other children of Hiroshima. As a young teenager she is chosen to travel to America as one of 25 other young girls where doctors believe that they can fix their damaged and scarred skin. She finds a life of filmmaking develop from the opportunities provided her in the United States and ultimately seeks out Anton to be a part of the documentary she is making on this part of WWII that is so significant to them both.

Anton and Emiko's lives parallel in many ways that the two do not initially realize. Throughout this novel we learn of the devastation and tragedy that both suffer as a result of the dropping of the bomb. At the same time, we also learn of the good that comes out of the event that shapes their lives.

Considered by some to be the modern counterpart of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, the book can definately be considered a commentary on the negative aspects of scientific development and how mankind does not always benefit from our cutting edge progress. Wound throughout the science and historical narrative is a deeply touching story. Human vulnerability is at it's height with these characters and Bock has written them in such a way that the reader can see straight into their hearts. Despite jumping around from one perspective to the other a bit incoherently at times, this book is highly recommended.

Sometimes, chance encounters with books lead to discoveries you wouldn't want to miss. Finding "The Ash Garden" has been one such experience. It is a superbly written, subtle, yet complex human interest story placed against the backdrop of historical events. Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, the atom bomb's devastating short term impacts reverberate through the story. The lingering long term effects, politically and emotionally, connect the three protagonists: the German scientist, having left Europe to participate in the bomb's development, the documentary film journalist who survived the attack as a child, seriously scarred, and the scientist's wife, a refugee from the Nazi regime. Bock succeeds in creating a deeply moving portrait of the three people whose lives are dramatically connected through these events. They also draw them to each other, almost despite themselves.

Each section is written in the distinct voice of one of the protagonists, thereby allowing each to express his or her perspective on the events over a period of fifty years. The narrative moves between present and past, each episode providing another building block for us to understand their lives' complexities. We are exposed to their emotional conflicts and follow the often detached scrutiny of their respective behaviours and attitudes. Their recollections of the historical events naturally differ, so do their assessments of their human emotions, whether love, betrayal, guilt, shame, selfishness or atonement. Yet, the story builds gently and none of what is shared overwhelms the reader. Bock writes with great empathy for the characters, exploring their personalities without passing judgement on their action or inaction at the different stages of their lives.

Bock has described his interest in writing fiction as "raising big questions" of human society. Major topics that escape clear black and white answers. For example, the scientist joined the Los Alamos team because building the atom bomb " was the only way to end the war". Yet, during his research mission to Hiroshima to "scientifically assess the bomb's impact", he is exposed to the human suffering of innocent civilians. In "The Ash Garden", Bock proves himself a master in exploring the grey zones between right and wrong, innocence and responsibility. The narrative moves towards the anticipated and necessary confrontation between the victim and the scientist, in her view co-responsible for her suffering. The outcome is everything but clear-cut or obvious, but consistent within the story and the intentions of the author. A deeply moving and beautiful book with important messages for us all. [Friederike Knabe]

"The Ash Garden" is a poetic read that helped me cope with the aftermath of Sept 11th. It's a true literary work, one whose examination of the people affected by the Hiroshima bombings (scientists as well as citizens) is written more eloquently than most modern novels; you are moved by both the content and the author's fluid style. I found myself finally feeling more at peace with the horror that was 9/11; I hadn't expected that a novel would be my helpmate as I've struggled with what has occurred, but it's overall calming force was very welcome. I recommend the novel highly.

The author of this book is definitely a good writer, and it was only after finishing and reflecting on what I'd read that I realized that something was missing.

The story has a lot of potential: Anton, the man partially responsible for the development of the atom bomb, and Emiko, the girl scarred (physically and psychologically) by the same event come together after many years.

The author did not expose how/why, or even if, these people had changed because of their meeting. The side story of Anton's relationship with his wife also seemed unsatisfying, as Anton never has an epiphany about what he'd missed, just as he never openly admits to his guilt over Hiroshima. It is also unclear how Emiko is changed by finding out about their strange connection. One gets the feeling that it's already too late for her in some ways, but if so, then what are we to take away from this story?

In the end, I felt that the author did not delve deep enough to show us the true impact of the meeting between Emiko & Anton. Their deepest selves remain hidden from the reader, which is a pity...

Emiko Amai was playing with her brother in the mud at Bantai Bridge on August 6, 1945. Minutes later she was enveloped by a blinding light as the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and her future changed forever. Chosen as a candidate for plastic surgery after the war, Emiko is brought to America to be given a new face and a new life after the death of her family.

Fifty years later, Emiko introduces herself to Anton Boll, one of team players in the initial creation of The Bomb. Now a documentary filmmaker, Emiko's project is to capture the truth of "the making of the bomb." Initially resistant to the idea, Boll eventually capitulates and Emiko begins a series of interviews. Read more at http://maysmachete.blogspot.com/2008/02/babes-in-history-and-fiction-part-5.html

I bought this book second hand without having read anything about it (it had a nice cover). I really enjoyed it, not so much for the interaction between Anton and Emiko, but for the description of Anton's relationship with his wife Sophie. The other reviews focus on the negative part of the Professor's relationship with his wife, but it seems to me that the relationship was more complex than the surface comments of the characters. Since there is no omniscient narrator whom the reader must accept as authoritative, we are left with only the revealed thoughts and dialogue of the characters. As any person may not fully understand or be able to convey their true motivations and emotions, their surface words and acts must be subject to interpretation. Overall, simply describing Anton's and Sophie's marriage as a union of shared loss and guilt reduces the inherent dimensionality of the characters. Although one could not describe their marriage without references to their individual and shared disappointment and guilt, Anton's relationship with his wife would be more accurately described as a multifaceted reflection of the ebb and flow, and generally changing nature, of love over the course of a lifetime. I liked it more than I thought I would.

I read The Ashgarden twice; Dennis Bock has a beautiful style and the storyline flows.
The book is filled with lyrical passages as the one when, after Sophie's death, Anton remembers how 'she had tended her garden like weather massaging the land'. It's interesting too how Bock compares the skins of Emiko and Sophie: Emiko's burns were 'like patterns on the skin ... tattoos of fire, and Sophie's skin, revaged by Erythematosis, was 'like small bits of smouldering fire ... wishing to be released from her body'. It's reinforcing the idea that Sophie, in a mystical way, was connected with the awful happenings in Hiroshima in August 1945.
I agree with previous reviewers that Bock's characterizations have flaws, and that the scene with the children playing in the snow is somewhat distracting from the story. (But the description of the snow landscape reads like a painting!)
Similarly I didn't feel the relationship between Sophie and Stephano, the Italian from Pescara, was convincing enough to be included. However, the deepening relationship between Anton and Sophie is a touching one, and altogether this book is worth to own, to read again and again. Hopefully Bock will bring us more books in the future.

This will likely be one of my more difficult reviews to write. Usually after finishing a novel I have no trouble knowing what to say about the book, not here. This is a novel of contemplation, it is both lyrical, poetic and at times slow. The story of a Japanese girl disfigured by the atomic bomb and the German/American scientist who helped create it, covers some complex philosophical issues. Is the use of a weapon of mass distruction justifiable if it brings about a perceived greater good? (in this case the end of WW2) The opening scene of Emiko and her brother witnessing the drop of the bomb is truly haunting and brilliantly written. While I had great sympathy for Emiko she was not a particularly empathetic character. I felt much more warmth for Anton the scientist and his long-suffering wife Sophie. My reason for not giving this novel 5 stars was echoed by another reviewer. I never felt like I got to know the characters well enough or understood the motivation for many of their actions. This especially applied to Sophie, who seemed both disillusioned and content with her lot in life.
There is a lot going on in this book, although it is a quick read it is by no means "light" reading. In conclusion, a line from Anton has been staying in my thoughts, he states he is less haunted by the dropping of the bomb, and more haunted by what the world would have become if the bomb had not been dropped. What indeed?

Let it be said right now: Dennis Bock's The Ash Garden is a very beautiful book. It is lyrical and has a very powerful poetic quality. As a matter of fact, the book reads like one long sad poem about loss and despair. This is the type of book that takes it time to tell its story. It is quiet and serene.

The books concentrates on two major characters. You have Anton, a German scientist who escaped his native land in the 40s and moved to America where he helped build the atomic bomb that would later destroy Hiroshima. Then you have Ekimo, a Japanese woman who's face was burnt by the bomb and who has lived in misery ever since. Both their lives are entwined in more ways than one as the book tries to show how much the war affected their existence. They are both still haunted by the horrors of that day.

The characters are highly believable and very well drawn out. The only problem is that the book sometimes tries to dig too deep into their lives. A lot of unnecessary back story is given in order to make these character seem more real. There is one long section where Anton looks at young kids playing in the snow which is very beautiful but which seems totally out of place in this book. It's as though Bock is trying too hard to give his characters a realistic back story.

The story is very similar to the styles of Michael Ondaatje or Alice Munro. But Bock still has to find the amazing power these two authors are able to convey through their prose. The Ash Garden is a good first novel, just not a perfect one.