Black Rain: A Novel (Japans Modern Writers) [Paperback]

Masuji Ibuse (Author), John Bester (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Japans Modern Writers | Publication Date: October 15, 1988

|Black Rain is centered around the story of a young woman who was caught in the radioactive "black rain" that fell after the bombing of Hiroshima. lbuse bases his tale on real-life diaries and interviews with victims of the holocaust; the result is a book that is free from sentimentality yet manages to reveal the magnitude of the human suffering caused by the atom bomb. The life of Yasuko, on whom the black rain fell, is changed forever by periodic bouts of radiation sickness and the suspicion that her future children, too, may be affected.

lbuse tempers the horror of his subject with the gentle humor for which he is famous. His sensitivity to the complex web of emotions in a traditional community torn asunder by this historical event has made Black Rain one of the most acclaimed treatments of the Hiroshima story.

Editorial Reviews

Review

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"The most successful book yet written about the greatest single horror inflicted by one group of men upon another." -Sunday Times

"Immensely effective.... This is a book which must be read." -Books and Bookmen

"I would recommend Black Rain to every reader, even the squeamish." -Spectator

"Its subtle ironies and noble, unsentimental pity are a reminder of the strengths of Japanese fiction." -New Statesman

Language Notes

Text: English, Japanese (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha USA (October 15, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087011364X
• ISBN-13: 978-0870113642
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,025 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Asian

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kuroi Ame, July 15, 2003

By 

Daitokuji31 (Black Glass) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Black Rain: A Novel (Japans Modern Writers) (Paperback)

I was shocked to see that only five people have reviewed this book before me. It is such an important book in showing the tragedy caused by the Atomic bomb. The book begins by describing the peaceful life of Shigematsu a man who worked for a clothing company during WW II. At first the reader learns that Shigematsu is trying to beat radiation sickness by taking it easy and raising fish. Howerer, his idealic life is disturbed because no man is willing to marry Yasuko, his adopted daughter, because they are worried that she suffers from radiation poisoning. To help prove that she is okay. He writes out his full account of the time of the bombing. This book is mesmerizing. It shpws it graphic detail the ddestruction of the bomb. It is not blaming anyone, it is just showing the facts

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Relentless, May 5, 2007

By 

Bu-Chan (Aotearoa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Rain: A Novel (Japans Modern Writers) (Paperback)

Masuji Ibuse's "Black Rain" is rightly considered a classic in Japanese literature, and perhaps "the" classic of literature about the atomic bombs dropped on Japan.

Shigematsu and his wife, Shigeko, arranged for a relative, Yasuko, to move to Hiroshima in order to avoid the draft for the war effort. Shigematsu worked for the government and could arrange things. After the bombing, persistent rumours about Yasuko suffering from radiation sickness made it impossible to find her a suitor for marriage. This problem prompted Shigematsu to write his own account of August the 6th, 1945, to show that Yasuko was exceptionally healthy. His logic was that he had been exposed to much more and his own life was relatively normal. He is a man of pride and dignity, as well as one with a keen sense of his own obligations to others around him.

Shigematsu's account is a catalogue of a plethora of horrors that people suffered during and immediately after the bombing. The injuries, the sights and Shigematsu's descriptions of them left this reader feeling less than pleasant. Shigematsu does not hold back on the details, nor does he attempt to overwell the reader with cheap shock tactics.

Shigematsu neither asks for nor expects the reader's sympathy. It is almost as if the bomb has to fit within his life and everyday routine. In the midst of the horror, for example, Shigematsu has business to attend to, and sees that he has done it to the extent possible. He comes across as a forthright and straight up person with a deep sense of trying to maintain some air of normality in the midst of terrible circumstances.

Ibuse based his novel on accounts written by survivors who were there and saw what happened. Ibuse neither justifies the bombing nor blames anyone for it, but focuses on the tragedy itself from a very human viewpoint. His relentless journey through the aftermath of the bomb is indeed a statement for life and dignity. Shigematsu and those around him somehow maintain a deep sense of value and dignity for human life and experience, which especially shine through in the days after the bombing itself.

This is not a pleasant book to read, but it is a great book and should be counted with the greats of literature from around the world. This book is a touching and penetrating journey into a Japanese family's experiences of the Hiroshima bombing. I absolutely recommend it to all.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Perspective., November 19, 2003

By 

"j-tilt" (Orem, UT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Rain: A Novel (Japans Modern Writers) (Paperback)

I was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Japan for two years, and was able to visit Hiroshima several times. I visited the Peace Park memorial there, and toured the museum. It was, to say the least, a very sobering experience.

Reading this book was also sobering, but I gained an interesting perspective from doing so. The great thing about this book is that it shows the bombing from the perspective of regular Japanese people and how it affected them. They didn't really know what had happened when the bomb went off. People didn't know about atomic bombs back then the way we know now.

The book also affords a very neutral perspective on the bombing. It isn't necessarily either anti-american or pro-japanese. It just tells the story as it happened. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to know more about what happened to people in Hiroshima and how it affected their lives.