Keiji NakazawaBarefoot Gen, Vol. 3: Life After the Bomb

Great history lesson. Very haunting.. Perfect as a teaching tool.

Really fast shipping and reasonable priced! My Granddaughter Loved it! It's part of a 10 volume series written by a man who was 6 years old living in Hiroshima when the bombs dropped. I bought volumes 3 & 4. It's done in the form of a graph novel. It is a very serious and grim subject. I have not read it but I know Japan culture having lived there several years in my childhood. Their culture & history of devastating earthquakes & tsunamis etc, makes a very strong and very positive culture. Any their unity impel them to "always go forward." So in the mist of tragic circumstances they join hands and go forward. So I imagine there is some moments in this account of the Spirit of Japan rising up to a better future. Anyone interested in Japan's heart and history will find it here and perhaps grow to love Japan.

Volumes 1 & 2 were powerful; Volume 3, while good, does not measure up to the other two.The author shows that those unaffected by the bomb in Hiroshima cruelly shunned those suffering from its effects. They didn't know about radiation but they could see its painful and imminently lethal effects. The problems of disposing of the dead and problems the living have in finding food and shelter are shown. As in volumes 1 & 2 there is a lot on the food shortage. . The author shows are some ruses used to get food, and the strong seem to survive.A good bit of the book deals with Gen's job. He earns 3 yen a day attending to a survivor. He takes maggots from his wounds and tries to raise his spirits.The people are clearly traumatized and there is no government or charity to help them.This is a good book, but it is not great, as are vols 2 & 2 of the series.Gen finds a job caring from a radiation victim artist. As long as he stays alive, Gen can earn 3 yen a day.

This is an incredibly moving graphic novel. In order to earn money to feed his mother and infant sister Gen agrees to take care of Mr. Seiji, an artist burned head to toe by the bomb. Mr. Seiji is kept in a room and left to die by his brother and his brother's family. The way in which Mr. Seiji's family treat him, calling him a monster, wishing he would would die so they could stop being incenvenienced, is in direct contrast to the way in which Gen takes care of his mother, and the orphan Ryuta who looks like his dead brother. The story is a perfect metaphor for humanity, civility, and the way in which people treat each other when times are difficult for everyone.The artwork his excellent. Nakazawa's somewhat cartoony style makes the horrors seem that much more horrific. The burn victims, both living and dead, the maggots crawling through a living person's dead flesh, people vomiting blood, all have an amazing stomach turning impact.And yet mixed in with all this is Gen's childish love, hope, and optimism. Despite the setting, he and Ryuta manage to find humor and sing songs.This is a fictional story, but it is based on Kaiji Nakazawa's real life experiences which he went through as a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing. The names of some of the characters are the names of his family. The stories he tells are harsh and real and painful and good. Literature, in any medium, doesn't get any better than this.

Ace delivery speed, and book quality.Recommend the book for anyone looking to learn history through a graphical easy read way.

Excellent view of the A-Bomb and its immediate aftermath, from a local point of view. Painfully real.

That's a masterpiece. I must read for everyone and a great description of what war (not only WWII) is

Bought because I had parts 1 & 2. It's a classic work detailing the aftermath of Hiroshima. It pulls no punches both in it's depiction of the after effects of the bomb but also the atmosphere in Japan and the behaviour of their military/ government. A pretty convincing argument for nuclear disarmament.