Publisher: Dupuis
Author: Thilde Barboni
Illustrator: Olivier Cinna
Released: May 5th 2017
Received: NetGalley
Rating:

I received a copy of Hibakusha through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Hibakusha is a tale set in real events. It’s sometimes heavy handed, sometimes a romance, and at a few points heartbreaking and concerning. It tells us a love story between a German man and a Japanese woman during WWII.

This is one of those stories where you sort of know how it’s going to end right from the beginning. Even if you don’t know the specifics…you get a feel for things. As details are revealed through the course of the storytelling…then you start to really know how it will all end.

Hibakusha has several iconic scenes and moments – many of them based from real life events and locations. The building we see so much of, for example, is none other than the Atomic Dome (one of the few buildings left standing after the bomb was dropped). The silhouettes of victims of the bombing are real as well – it’s just the story behind one of them that may not be quite the truth.

This was an interesting read, on the whole. It was depressing, but it did have its uplifting moments as well. I do think it romanticized the time a bit…but it did tell a wonderful narrative along the way, and it carried an important message. So all things considered I’m okay with it.