Taylor Drew reviewed Finger Bone by Takami Nieda
War hurts everyone
4 stars
I recognize there are many people who are sensitive to depictions of Imperial Japan that attempt to recognize the humanity of the many Japanese soldiers who died.
I think the glorification of any war is nonsense and though I love and live in Japan, it and my homeland of Canada aren't excluded from that view. However, this book zooms in on a specific soldier in a very specific and narrow way. It's not glorifying anyone. It's just a young soldier alone with his thoughts and the death of his peers.
You don't need to glorify war to accept and portray the humanity of soldiers on any side. Foot soldiers aren't winning anything, even if their side "won" (which the Japanese side rather famously did not).
Avoid if you don't want to read about Japanese soldiers (fair enough honestly), but otherwise it's a solid and meaningful little book that zooms in …
I recognize there are many people who are sensitive to depictions of Imperial Japan that attempt to recognize the humanity of the many Japanese soldiers who died.
I think the glorification of any war is nonsense and though I love and live in Japan, it and my homeland of Canada aren't excluded from that view. However, this book zooms in on a specific soldier in a very specific and narrow way. It's not glorifying anyone. It's just a young soldier alone with his thoughts and the death of his peers.
You don't need to glorify war to accept and portray the humanity of soldiers on any side. Foot soldiers aren't winning anything, even if their side "won" (which the Japanese side rather famously did not).
Avoid if you don't want to read about Japanese soldiers (fair enough honestly), but otherwise it's a solid and meaningful little book that zooms in closely and quietly on a single soldier.
