Night Autopsy Room: Seven Tales of Life, Death, and Hope [Hardcover]

Yoshio, M.D. Sakabe (Author), Brook Neal (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0940121204 | ISBN-13: 978-0940121201 | Publication Date: January 1995

The author, a well-known physician, recounts the horror and sorrow of war. Set against the fascinating backdrop of historical events and social conditions in Japan before, during, and just after World War II.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Yutaka Sano, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Kyoto University,"It is a work that reveals the author's profound contemplation of life's mysteries and his painstaking efforts to share his message of hope with others."

Dr. Masao, Takenaka University, Professor of Theology, Doshisha University, "The writing was clearly a labor of love and is a testament to Dr. Sakabe's zealous devotion to capturing for posterity the wartime experiences he shared with millions of other Japanese." -- Publisher Comments

Language Notes

Text: English
Original Language: Japanese

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 390 pages
• Publisher: Cross Cultural Pubns/Crossroads (January 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0940121204
• ISBN-13: 978-0940121201
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,468,876 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Night Autopsy Room, March 12, 2008

By 

Debbie Hoggan "The Hogganclan" (Utah) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Night Autopsy Room: Seven Tales of Life, Death, and Hope (Hardcover)

This is a good book. It is the story of a Japanese medical student, who, just after World War II, meets and talks with 7 different spirits, who have died in different ways. I loved learning more of the Japanese culture, and sad to learn how terrible World War II was on the Japanese. There are, however, some short comings to the book. This book was translated from Japanese to English, and there are some places where the interpretation was off, and/or several clerical errors were noted.
The book does become *wordy* at times, and three of the stories, of the seven, tend to tell close to the same thing in their stories. I do recommend the reading of the book. It was enjoyable to read, and learning more of the culture was rewarding. - Debi Hoggan, Utah

3.0 out of 5 stars Oppressive religious propaganda set in postwar Japan, July 22, 2008

By 

Mikko Saari (Tampere, Finland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Night Autopsy Room: Seven Tales of Life, Death, and Hope (Hardcover)

Night Autopsy Room tells a story of Yoshio, a medical student living in Japan just after the World War II. In the autopsy room of the medical college, he meets seven spirits, who want to tell the stories of their lives to him.

The spirits have lived hard lifes, and their stories are stories of hardship and oppression. The first spirit is a woman who was in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb fell, the second is a Korean man who faced discrimination in Japan, the third a Japanese woman driven to suicide by discrimination in America and so on.

I made it through the first two stories, then I had to quit - it was too depressing. Not the stories, though, even though they told awful tales of hard life. No, what bugged me was the way the author used the suffering of the people he created to promote religion. If there's something I really hate, it's telling people that suffering in this life is good, because it gives you a better place in Heaven after you die - that's the basic idea of the second story.

I simply can't tolerate that kind of rubbish. The spirits were a rather too excited about Jesus, too, the author seems very certain of his faith. Too bad I don't share it. The stories itself were ok, though the prose was somewhat wooden. Whether that is the author's or the translator's fault, I can't tell, but the way the stories were told was, to be frank, boring: surely these horrid fates could've been told more vividly.