MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Literary Ghosts of the Tsunami by Richard Lloyd Parry

AnotherCat · 12-18-2019, 05:53 PM

So I got off to a bad start encountering a misleading wave height right at the beginning of the book

. I also confess that after having the inside information on a considerable number of reported people and business situations, and being present during natural events in all of which I have seen the distortions applied by practising journalists to create their stories (including, without any care, incorrectly demolishing the careers of people) that I regard them all with some sort of wariness, bordering on supressed contempt, until the rare case they prove to be trustworthy. So a book written by a practicing journalist was approached warily by me.

But in the end I found it to be a worthwhile read. I commend him on leaving out the meal that is usually pounced and built on by journalists out of the Fukushima Daiichi power station. I am satisfied that the general presentation of those involved with the loss of the children is a representative depiction of the events. Because of my wariness I do wonder about the veracity of the words he puts in the mouths of the many players in the story, and especially so the matters around the court case.

That said it was part of a big disaster and even if his story was to be historical fiction it carries the message of the disaster. I don't recall though him mentioning that the Sendai area was that which faced the maximum tsunami height and I thought that he should have.

I did find his wandering off into the metaphysics of priests and exorcism tiresome and I rushed over the lengthy and bogging down section around that at the end of the book. Whether it truly represented the beliefs of the locals in general as being some primitive peoples in that respect I do not know, but whatever is the case I felt he made an unnecessary meal of it.

So after lots of complaining on my side I still thought it a worthwhile read

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12-18-2019, 05:53 PM	#11
AnotherCat .... Posts: 1,547 Karma: 18068960 Join Date: May 2012 Device: ....	So I got off to a bad start encountering a misleading wave height right at the beginning of the book . I also confess that after having the inside information on a considerable number of reported people and business situations, and being present during natural events in all of which I have seen the distortions applied by practising journalists to create their stories (including, without any care, incorrectly demolishing the careers of people) that I regard them all with some sort of wariness, bordering on supressed contempt, until the rare case they prove to be trustworthy. So a book written by a practicing journalist was approached warily by me. But in the end I found it to be a worthwhile read. I commend him on leaving out the meal that is usually pounced and built on by journalists out of the Fukushima Daiichi power station. I am satisfied that the general presentation of those involved with the loss of the children is a representative depiction of the events. Because of my wariness I do wonder about the veracity of the words he puts in the mouths of the many players in the story, and especially so the matters around the court case. That said it was part of a big disaster and even if his story was to be historical fiction it carries the message of the disaster. I don't recall though him mentioning that the Sendai area was that which faced the maximum tsunami height and I thought that he should have. I did find his wandering off into the metaphysics of priests and exorcism tiresome and I rushed over the lengthy and bogging down section around that at the end of the book. Whether it truly represented the beliefs of the locals in general as being some primitive peoples in that respect I do not know, but whatever is the case I felt he made an unnecessary meal of it. So after lots of complaining on my side I still thought it a worthwhile read . Last edited by AnotherCat; 12-18-2019 at 05:55 PM.