Title: 8:15: A True Story of Survival and Forgiveness from Hiroshima
Author: Dr. Akiko Mikamo
Publisher: Westwood Books Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 978-1643619897
Pages: 212
Genre: Memoirs / WWII Biographies
Reviewed by: Tony Morales
Hollywood Book Reviews
A truly haunting part of modern history has to be the creation and use of the atomic bomb during WWII, which saw the horrific attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As Herbert Hoover once said, “The use of the atomic bomb, with its indiscriminate killing of women and children, revolts my soul.” This terrifying ordeal and the effects it had on those who survived are thoroughly explored in Dr. Akiko Mikamo’s 8:15: A True Story of Survival and Forgiveness from Hiroshima.
In author Dr. Akiko Mikamo’s book, the author tells the story of their father, who survived the shocking event of WWII known as Hiroshima. After the atomic bomb fell on the city, the author’s father, then a young boy, only survived underground while helping to prepare to fix their home’s rooftop. From there, years of struggle and later acceptance and forgiveness bring the man’s story of survival and forgiveness to fruition.
This is a story filled with overwhelming emotions as the author takes the reader through the struggles of their father as a child and the long road to acceptance and recovery after such a painful ordeal both physical and psychologically. The hardships that followed from the first moments after the bomb fell to the harsh landscape that they once called home and the haunted faces of the survivors surrounding them are felt heavily in this book.
The book is for anyone who studies WWII History and Biographies, tales of survival, and stories of forgiveness. Too often the memories and history of WWII focuses on the long fought battles and horrors of the war in Europe, but the novel instead takes readers into a part of history that is a reflection of the depths of horror and pain humanity sunk to in its darkest hours; and a reminder of how forgiveness can help the worst of us climb out of that darkness and into the light.
Anyone who hasn’t yet, should grab their own copy of author Dr. Akiko Mikamo’s 8:15: A True Story of Survival and Forgiveness from Hiroshima. The book is emotional, honest and gives readers a true sense of the horrors of the war mixed with the personal journey of forgiveness and hope that the author’s father underwent in the weeks, months and years after the attack on Hiroshima. This is a book that is not to be missed.