Hiroshima In The Morning by Rahna Reiko Rizzuto
Rahna Reiko Rizzuto remarks, “That who we are, what roles we choose-these are deliberate characters we create to explain what we did and find a way to face tomorrow.” Rizzuto begins by revealing her deeply contemplated decision to move away from her family for six months leaving her family and her former self behind. As Gwendolyn Brooks wrote, “even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate,” which perfectly describes Rizzuto’s motive to temporarily relocate to Japan. As the story unfolds, this proves to be an essential move toward the strengthening of her knowledge, independence and sense of self. Rizzuto finally receives rich, confident, personal accounts from the hibakusha, survivors of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima after the American tragedy on September 11th. While speaking with the hibakusha, Rizzuto quickly learns they do not like to dwell on the past and look to move forward. Amidst her struggles with marriage and motherhood, Rizzuto weaves the idea of truth and the complexity in revealing the truth through unpreventable fragmented memories in her clever combination of the words of the Survivors and those all her own.
(Review by Jo’Nella Queen Ellerbe)
See our interview with the author of Hiroshima In The Morning, Rahna Reiko Rizzuto