Ibuse Masuji (Book order)

Ibuse Masuji Book order

February 15, 1898 – July 10, 1993

Masuji Ibuse was a Japanese novelist whose work demonstrates a profound engagement with Shakespeare, Basho, and French literature. Initially, his writing drew inspiration from personal experiences, including friendships and feelings of loneliness, experimenting with prose styles. Following the war, his work gained significant recognition, particularly for its exploration of profound social and historical themes. His most celebrated novel, drawing on survivor accounts of Hiroshima, achieved international acclaim and cemented his status as a preeminent Japanese author.

Black Rain

300 pages
11 hours of reading

4.0(246)Add rating

Black Rain is centered around the story of a young woman who was caught in the radioactive "black rain" that fell after the bombing of Hiroshima. lbuse bases his tale on real-life diaries and interviews with victims of the holocaust; the result is a book that is free from sentimentality yet manages to reveal the magnitude of the human suffering caused by the atom bomb. The life of Yasuko, on whom the black rain fell, is changed forever by periodic bouts of radiation sickness and the suspicion that her future children, too, may be affected. lbuse tempers the horror of his subject with the gentle humor for which he is famous. His sensitivity to the complex web of emotions in a traditional community torn asunder by this historical event has made Black Rain one of the most acclaimed treatments of the Hiroshima story.