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5th out of 13 books
—
5 voters
Hiroshima in the Morning
by
Rahna Reiko Rizzuto (Goodreads Author)
In this National Book Critics Award finalist memoir, Rahna Reiko Rizzuto wrestles with the most personal and epic issues of our time. In June 2001 she travels to Hiroshima to interview survivors of the atomic bomb, while her husband and two young sons remain in New York. But initial interviews feel rehearsed, and the survivors reveal little beyond already published account...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
September 14th 2010
by The Feminist Press at CUNY
(first published August 27th 2010)
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I found this to be a compelling memoir of the author's time in Japan on a research grant, a time during which she came to terms with her identity as a writer, wife, and mother. She chooses to be a writer foremost in the end and gets divorced after the grant is over.
This is a thoughtful memoir that explores issues related to how we choose to be our authentic selves. This book puts emphasis on gender issues specially within marriage. There is a raw truthtelling element here. Many women experience...more
This is a thoughtful memoir that explores issues related to how we choose to be our authentic selves. This book puts emphasis on gender issues specially within marriage. There is a raw truthtelling element here. Many women experience...more
In this book, the author parallels the (her) tragedy of being held to/not wanting to be held to the responsibilities of marriage and parenthood to the bombing of Hiroshima and throws in 9/11 as the crux of this decision.
To be more clear: the backdrop is interviewing survivors of Hiroshima- the book is about a woman who goes there to write a book about them but ends up writing about herself interviewing these people while slowly detaching from her family.
How do you judge a book? This book is well...more
To be more clear: the backdrop is interviewing survivors of Hiroshima- the book is about a woman who goes there to write a book about them but ends up writing about herself interviewing these people while slowly detaching from her family.
How do you judge a book? This book is well...more
I wanted to like this book. I read about the book online and was so intrigued by the author's struggle with her own identity vs. being a mother. Should a woman's duty as a mother supersede her own desires for a career? How can you balance both? The premise of the book as well as learning more about the horror of Hiroshima really did make me want to cuddle up with this book and soak it up.
I despised this book. It was almost as if she was a philosophy major in college and talked in the abstract a...more
I despised this book. It was almost as if she was a philosophy major in college and talked in the abstract a...more
1 like · like · see review
This book is a graceful, lyric, original exploration of memory, identity, and self-discovery. I picked it up after seeing an interview with the author on "The View," in which they focussed very heavily on the elements of ambivalent motherhood, which is what piqued my interest. But the book is much, much more than that. Make no mistake -- this is the author's memoir, and the stories of Hiroshima (and 9/11 to a lesser extent) serve a supporting role here. Readers with very narrow expectations of t...more
In June 2001 Rizzuto traveled to Hiroshima in search of a deeper understanding of her war-torn heritage. She planned to spend six months there, interviewing the few remaining survivors of the atomic bomb. A mother of two young boys, she was encouraged to go by her husband, who quickly became disenchanted by her absence, and understandably so as it seems that Rizzuto barely misses her two very young children and husband. There are parallel narratives that explore the role of memory in our lives a...more
This almost seemed like two different books. One was the author's journey to Japan to learn more about the A-Bomb survivors as well as the Japanese-American internees who returned to Japan. In many ways they were rejected by two nations. Added to this was the overlap of 9/11 while she was in the midst of her conversations. This aspect of the book would easily be 4 stars. It's a part of U.S. history that doesn't get nearly the attention it should and the questions of war, peace, memory, and ident...more
This book is very honest and utterly fascinating. It explores the role of a woman as a daughter, mother and a wife, versus her need for fulfillment in her career and passion and whether those roles can co-exist. It explores the human condition in times of war, specifically Japanese "hibakusha" or victims of the Hiroshima bombing. Reiko leaves her 3 and 5 year old sons with her husband to pursue a writing fellowship in Hiroshima in the summer of 2001. Shortly after her arrival, 911 happens while...more
I just finished reading a beautifully written book that I received as part of a blog book review tour from Feminist Press. Did you know that some younger women do not like to be called feminists? What is up with that? But I digress.
Hiroshima in the Morning – a video from the author. Hiroshima in the Morning (click on the title for the video which is really well-done – I spent way too much time trying to get the Youtube video box to embed. I quit – just click on it.)
Rahna Reiko Rizzuto is the aut...more
Hiroshima in the Morning – a video from the author. Hiroshima in the Morning (click on the title for the video which is really well-done – I spent way too much time trying to get the Youtube video box to embed. I quit – just click on it.)
Rahna Reiko Rizzuto is the aut...more
While this book had some good information, I did not enjoy reading it. I found it self-indulgent and self-involved to a degree that I do not understand. Also, I thought it was a bit overdramatic except for the testimony from survivors, which was the only part of the book I thought worthwhile. We all have personal crises but, frankly, most are not worthy of publication. Nearly everyone was separated from loved ones on 9/11, even if only by a few feet or a few miles. My son was on a business trip...more
Dec 08, 2012
The Airship Librarian
added it
Being a true story, I'm not going to rate it.
However, I will say a few words. Reiko-san's journey was fascinating and interesting to read about. The stories told from the survivors of Hiroshima were heartbreaking and yet I couldn't stop reading them.
As for Reiko-san's own story.... I found her inward thoughts on her mother to be touching and revealing. However, her selfishness astounded me. To want so much and appreciate so much of her own mother, yet to leave her own children and husband for...more
However, I will say a few words. Reiko-san's journey was fascinating and interesting to read about. The stories told from the survivors of Hiroshima were heartbreaking and yet I couldn't stop reading them.
As for Reiko-san's own story.... I found her inward thoughts on her mother to be touching and revealing. However, her selfishness astounded me. To want so much and appreciate so much of her own mother, yet to leave her own children and husband for...more
This book had so much potential to be a truly fantastic commentary on so many issues, the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, the survivor's stories, being a mother and wife when it is not what you envisioned for yourself... However, the writing was particularly abstract and did not have a good flow. I often felt I was wandering with the author's thoughts, wanting more of an idea she mentioned in passing and never fully developed. In addition, the America bashing was not appreciated. This author lives in...more
A memoir about memory, war & peace, family and identity. The author, a 37 y.o. Japanese-American writer visits Japan to interview atomic bomb survivors as research for a novel. During the 7-month visit, she struggles with the loss of her mother to dementia and her identity as a wife and mother, while also describing the impacts of the bomb, peace activists, and cultural complexities of her interactions in Japan pre- and post-9/11. Well-written, but probably best read in spurts to be less jar...more
A sad memoir that reads more like a personal journal hung out for public display. One can't help but feel compassionate for the author...her personal life a shamble and her struggles with her role as a mother and her journey to find herself. I found the style of writing a bit hard to follow...somewhat fragmented and does not transition well from paragraph to paragraph or even chapter to chapter. The stories from the survivors of Hiroshima are sad and horrific. I felt that the story of Hiroshima...more
Hiroshima in the Morning interweaves the memories and history of the bombing of Hiroshima, along with Reiko’s personal journey to rediscovery. Her journey starts in New York as a mother of two leaving her family for the first time alone. She will be gone for six months to research and interview Hiroshima victims in Japan. What comes out of her time there is not only a chronicle of the bombing and the effect on the victims, but also questions how memory plays a huge role in self-definition.
At fi...more
At fi...more
Jan 12, 2011
Madeleine
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommended to Madeleine by:
Elliott Bay Books (second only to City Lights in my heart)
This book is all over the place, by design. I read the whole thing and I still cannot tell you whether or not this “works.” Guess that must mean that it does, at least on some level. It worked enough to unsettle me, anyway, and to keep me reading, and to make me want to read Rizzuto's novel.
Rizutto went to Japan in 2001 to research her second novel, which was going to be about an atomic bomb survivor in Hiroshima. Everything fell apart--there is no novel--and what there is instead is this story...more
Rizutto went to Japan in 2001 to research her second novel, which was going to be about an atomic bomb survivor in Hiroshima. Everything fell apart--there is no novel--and what there is instead is this story...more
This is a typical book for me to read; it's just not my taste. I read this because it was required reading for a college English class that I was taking.
I'll admit, I was really hating on this book when I got to the part where she left her children. I understand, that you can feel stuck and unhappy in your life. It's one thing to leave a husband, but your children? That's just wrong.
The book was considerably better after 9/11, which is horrible to say, but the book really picked up then; much mo...more
I'll admit, I was really hating on this book when I got to the part where she left her children. I understand, that you can feel stuck and unhappy in your life. It's one thing to leave a husband, but your children? That's just wrong.
The book was considerably better after 9/11, which is horrible to say, but the book really picked up then; much mo...more
From the description, I expected this book to be more about Hiroshima survivors and how the events of 9-11 brought their own tragedy into sharper focus. Really, this book is all about the author Reiko and her experiences in Japan, interviewing these survivors while her husband and two small boys are left in New York missing her and (understandably, in my view) resenting that she doesn't miss them.
The words of the survivors are edited down to brief paragraphs that are the most moving parts of the...more
The words of the survivors are edited down to brief paragraphs that are the most moving parts of the...more
This book would have been exceptional if the author was a better writer. Now, that sounds ridiculous and like it could be said for practically any book. However, I felt like there was something very impressive that the author almost understood, that she almost expressed, but that it was just beyond her reach. She touched on it but was unable to really explore it. Unfortunately, when she falls short she often sounds petulant. Her voice can come off as blindly overconfident.
Jul 31, 2011
Taigiseadh
is currently reading it
I am struggling to get through this semi-autobiography of a woman second-guessing her priorities in life. I am determined to finish it because I am mildly curious how it will end. Unfortunately, I cannot relate to her nor understand her shallow feelings toward her children. The biggest tragedy is how the author realizes that she should never have had them. I am finding it very difficult to get through in terms of relating or empathizing with the author.
I may not be able to finish this. 80 pages in and all she does is complain about her husband and kids in New York. Her writing about the city the book is actually named for seems to be an after thought. She also spends a lot of time talking about her other book and the writing process for that as well as this one. Just as a glimmer of story evolves she veers off track. I am very disinterested in this. Maybe I will try it again another time but for now...back on the shelf.
I did not like this book, partly because I thought it was self-consciously arty but also because I could not stop judging the author for leaving her children. I don't think that is a fair way to evaluate a book, but I could not get past it. Gloria Steinem would be very disappointed in me (although I don't think a father should voluntarily leave a three-year-old and a five-year-old for six months either).
I was disappointed because I thought the book would be more about Hiroshima than about the au...more
I was disappointed because I thought the book would be more about Hiroshima than about the au...more
Awesome book, not only did I learn about the culture of Japan and the effect the atomic bombs had on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the scars both on the bodies and hearts of the hibakusha, but also the personal journey of the writer, who is faced with her dilemma of how she feels about motherhood and the way her mother was before her alzheima affected her. In her mothers words "your life isn't over. It's going to change.That's what life is." Ichi go, iche e.(never again)
I was very excited to receive this through giveaways, having read the first few paragraphs via Shelf Starter (Shelf Awareness). As a memoir, only parts of her personal journey resonated with me, at this time in my life. However, I will return to this book again. It's about self-discovery, self-awareness and blending history with memory.
Will draw up a list of her other books (haha)....
Will draw up a list of her other books (haha)....
Aug 04, 2011
Ellie Revert
marked it as to-read
Too many things on a downward slope these days----I read the reviews--both good and bad--but as of today, I am going to focus on more upbeat books---and not watch the tv news. (Just for a while, I hope---meaning I hope that our Congress grows up and does the job they were elected to do.)
The writing is beautiful - almost dream-like. I had a hard time switching gears between her research on the Japanese-Americans, then her personal insights about her own Mom, then thoughts about her husband and kids back home. Once I found myself connecting with a particular story about her research - the book jerked me back to her internal struggle. I also found myself sympathizing a lot with her husband and kids. I am sure this is why I did not love this book. It is very interesting and I liked...more
I liked the book. It gave good perspective on how a Japanese American woman went back to Hiroshima in 2001 then was there during 9.11 and it really explores how she handled Hiroshima and then being away from her own family in NYC during 9.11
As a study of Hiroshima survivors - particularly Japanese-Americans who spent time in US concentration camps but returned to Hiroshima before or after the devastation - this book was amazing. As the author's memoir, not so much.
I made it to page 170, and I just couldn't take it any longer. Maybe I couldn't get past the fact that she up and left her marriage and her two young children, but the author just comes across as selfish and self indulgent.
Hmmm -- the best thing I can say about this book is that it had potential. I did not enjoy reading this book. I felt like the author was very self-centered to an extent that I cannot understand. The only part of the book that I found worthwhile was the testimony from the survivors of Hiroshima -- if the author had focused on that instead of her own conflicting emotions about being a wife and mother, I would have enjoyed the book more. Plus, I just cannot respect someone who chooses to have child...more
I was surprised by some of the harsh reviews on amazon.com. This memoir represents the best in the navel-gazing technique that is so difficult to do well in memoirs.
A+
A+
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Rahna Reiko Rizzuto is the author of the novel, Why She Left Us, which won an American Book Award in 2000. She is also a recipient of the U.S./Japan Creative Artist Fellowship, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including the L.A. Times and Salon. She was Associate Editor of The NuyorAsian Anthology: Asian American Writings About New York...more
More about Rahna Reiko Rizzuto...
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Aug 30, 2012 08:20am