Masako's Story: Surviving the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima [Paperback]

Kikuko Otake (Author), Jesse Glass (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0978141466 | ISBN-13: 978-0978141462 | Edition: 1st

On August 6, 1945, when the world's first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, the Furuta family was living about one mile away from the hypocenter. Five-year-old Kikuko, her mother, Masako, and her two brothers barely escaped with their lives. However, their soldier father was not so fortunate. Masako never talked about her family's experiences on that day and the days following the bombing. Then on day, Masako started to talk about what happened -- breaking a silence of nearly fifty years.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Masako's Story begins with Otake's mother remembering the moment the bomb exploded. How horrible it was. Hell on Earth, she says in the first section titled I Can't Talk About It Today. But as the story unfolds, her mother begins to describe the horrendous sights and sounds following the bombing: children crying for their mother, people burned with their raw flesh exposed, maggots feasting on the victims' wounds, a victim grabbing her ankle as she walked past, only for his burned skin to pull away from his hand. It may be difficult for some readers to get though graphic details such as this, but they open up the harsh reality of the victims' physical pain and despair. The day turned as dark as night,Otake's mother observes during the ordeal. Excerpt from review by Aaron Baldwin --Aaron Baldwin

About the Author

Kikuko Otake, (maiden name Furuta) was born in Osaka, Japan. Her family moved to Hiroshima, her parent's hometown, just a few months before the explosion of the atomic bomb there. At the time of the attack, she lived just over a mile away from the hypocenter. She barely escaped death and sustained a wound to her head. She also suffered greatly from the "atomic bomb syndrome." Her father, most of her uncles, and some cousins perished during the bombing. After graduating from Tsuda College in Tokyo, she came to the United States in 1968. She received an MA in education from California State University at Los Angeles in 1987. She is now a naturalized U.S. citizen. Based on her mother's account of the atomic bombing, she wrote an autobiographical book, Amerika e Hiroshima kara (To America from Hiroshima) in Japanese, and published it in 2003 in Japan. Masako's Story is the English adaptation of her original book. Kikuko Otake, an award-winning haiku and tanka poet, is an assistant professor of Japanese language. She lives in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 92 pages
• Publisher: Ahadada Books; 1st edition (July 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0978141466
• ISBN-13: 978-0978141462
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,671,966 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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