Keiko, an 18-year-old survivor of the Hiroshima bomb is chosen to come to the US to receive facial surgery. It is tacitly understood that she will then take part in The Hiroshima project – a campaign against atomic testing.
This is a thought-provoking novel which makes for uncomfortable reading as it challenges our preconceptions. Keiko is viewed both with hostility and as intriguingly different; as a victim and as a threat. She is an enigmatic character, not the passive victim naively expected by the American charity workers, but a person wrestling with her own issues, particularly ‘survivor guilt’. I found it very difficult to warm to her, but I felt that this was part of the strength of the writing. She is a person in her own right, as capable of manipulation as her ‘benefactors’ who had assumed that they could turn her into the exploited symbol of their campaign.
This novel is complex. It would be a brilliant read for a group because there is so much to discuss. This is a frustrating book to read on one's own as it begs to be debated. Read it!