Customer Reviews

A Dimly Burning Wick, Memoir from the Ruins of Hiroshima

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Like many of the 20th Century's saddest and most violent legacies, the bombing of Hiroshima stands as a pivotal moment in time. For those of us too young to have been there, it can seem like a distant history; relegated to the pages of a textbook as the event that ended WWII in the pacific.

But, like those other legacies of violence and inhumanity, it is something that we can not, we dare not, forget. The easiest way for these events to be remembers is through the stories of their effect on children. That is why " A Dimly Burning Wick" serves as a critical perspective on Hiroshima and the effects of nuclear weapons.

Pamela Vergun has created a sensitive and extraordinarily powerful translation of these absolutely critical stories. She has done this over time, with subtlty and grace. Were it not for the horrors described here, the text itself could be described as "beautiful".

This is a remarkable book. It was difficult to read, but more difficult to put aside. It should be required reading in every course on the war in the pacific. These stories sit alongside the children's stories from the Holocaust; the stories of Nanking, Cambodia, and China's cultural revolution; and all the other stories of the 20th century's violence - as a profound reminder of what we have done to our world and what effect it has had on our children.

Ms. Vergun should be given our deep thanks for making these stories available to those of us without the benefit of Japanese language skills. Bravo!