Customer Reviews (1)

"The hurt ones were quiet; no one wept, much less screamed in pain..."
When the atomic bomb dropped at 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was a thriving city of two hundred forty-five thousand people. By 8:20, one hundred thousand of those people were dead. Combining the broad perspective of the absolute devastation of the city with the tiniest details of six individual lives, John Hersey provides a powerful closeup of a few survivors of the atomic attack on Hiroshima, giving the carnage a human perspective.

Focusing on Mr. Tanimoto, a Methodist pastor; Mrs. Nakamura, the widow of a tailor, and her three children; Dr. Masakazu Fujii, a physician in a private clinic; Fr. Wilhelm Kleinsorge, S. J, a priest in a Catholic mission; Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, a young surgeon at the Red Cross Hospital; and Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk in a tin works, as they survive the initial attack, the author follows their daily movements, their subsequent illnesses, their fears, and the eventual outcomes of their lives. The victims become human, and their concerns become universal, as Hersey shows them digging themselves out and helping their neighbors, filled with an "elated community spirit" in the days and weeks after the bombing.

Details of the fires following the bombing, the unexpected radiation sickness, the mysteries surrounding the kind of bomb this was (some Japanese believed that the allies had sprinkled powdered magnesium over the city and then ignited it), the devastating rains that followed, and the monumental scale of the damage are presented in straightforward, factual style, the horrors of the reality so overwhelming that Hersey had no need to try to control his narrative by selecting details or ordering them for effect.

Published in the New Yorker in August, 1946, this account had immediate and dramatic repercussions, perhaps because the focus on "ordinary" Japanese citizens, as opposed to "the enemy," resonated with his readers, who found the Japanese much like themselves. Thousands listened to four days of its reading on ABC radio, and many others bought the New Yorker to read his account. By raising also the question of the ethics of dropping such a bomb (which some of the Japanese agree was acceptable as a normal part of the war), he also forces his readers to consider the long-term implications of atomic warfare. Dramatic, powerful, and very personal, this account of six lives, changed forever, is a monument to the human spirit in the face of incredible adversity.Mary Whipple
... Read more

Product Description
History/Essays. Number T484. Original price 45 cents. Five true stories of World War II by a famous combat correspondent, including the original story of John F. Kennedy and PT-109. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a story of an investigation into the activities of Mr. Wissey Jones, a stranger who comes to the town of Pequot on urgent defense business.

His business is to buy for his corporation children of a certain sort, in this case a ten-year-old named Barry Rudd, a budding genius of potentially critical value. A hearing is held and questions are asked: exactly why does Mr. Jones' company buy children, and will it succeed in buying Barry? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Scary because it could come true.
One of the creepiest books I've ever read, but interestingly written as a hearing, and very important because it could come true.A corporation is "buying" child prodigies, legally (well that's what the hearing is to determine), to harness their brains - at the cost of a normal life.Scary if it happened literally, also sort of a metaphor for, and warning about, what can really happen.

Sharp satire
This is a biting satire of the educational system. A man (Wissey Jones) is being investigated for wanting to buy a child. He owns a company that, through drugs and surgery, turns kids into emotionless thinking machines. Local school officials are lampooned as they investigate Jones and his scheme. When the book was written (1960), American educators were in a frenzy over Sputnik and the thought that the Russians had gained the upper hand in the Space (read "Brain") Race, and more effort was needed to go into educating children. Hersey was questioning at what expense, and to what extreme, all this would go. (Ten years later, of course, and education was going in the opposite direction to a lessening of standards and rigor.) At times the book comes across as overly didactic, being told in the form of "Hearings." But overall it's an interesting story, well told.

For Sale: One Town's Humanity
Hersey was justly acclaimed for his fine journalist's eye that was so evident in his Hiroshima and A Bell for Adano. But his scathing social commentary of White Lotus and this book probably have not received the attention they deserve, perhaps because of the fantastic, science-fictional feel of their portrayed worlds.

Told strictly as the minutes of a state congressional hearing, this book details the events that follow when Mr. Wissy Jones, from United Lymphomiloid, arrives in the town of Peqoud and presents an offer to outright purchase an exceptional child, Barry Rudd, who is blessed with an extreme intelligence and a maturity beyond his years, for some unspecified project that will 'aid the national defense'.

As we proceed through the hearings, we are treated to some fine characterization of the witnesses, from the sharply opinionated and articulate principal of the school Barry attends to Barry's mumbling, street-wise but not too intelligent blue-collar friend. But the hearings also expose the first of Hersey's sharply satirical looks at our society as we see the conduct of the various senators running the hearing, obviously meant to remind the reader of the McCarthy hearings, with their forcible cutting off of any testimony that does not fit the pre-defined expectation of what the outcome of the hearing should be, denigration of witnesses' lifestyles, and panel members who clearly do not have the intelligence to even understand what testimony is given.

More horrifying, though, is the picture of the educational system presented, from the ivory-tower intellectual theories that have no relation to the classroom, to the constant attempts to make all students fit one pre-determined mold, to the administrative power struggles, to the bizarre web of psychological testing, to the clueless PTA, to the rigid and hypocritical moral code that schools use to bludgeon non-conforming students.Where in this morass is the place for the truly gifted child, or for that matter one who is intellectually challenged? Hersey's points strike like daggers, for even though this book was written more than forty years ago, our schools still have every problem that is shown here.

And what of the moral outrage that should adhere to the concept of selling a child? Once more, Hersey's pen is savage, showing how easily Barry's parents sell out for a few material goods, how the senators are converted by the mere statement that it's for the 'national defense', how the general township is so easily convinced to get rid of this 'different' kid, and, most poignantly, how even Barry, with full knowledge of what the program entails, reacts to the concept.

A very moralistic tale, told sharply and with defining moments of humanity,bringing a near surrealistic concept into the all-too-possible realm of reality.

A memorable classic that has taken on new meaning
Mr. Wissy Jones, from United Lymphomiloid, arrives in the New England town of Pequod on a corporate mission; he is to purchase children of exceptional intelligence. His matter-of-fact offer to buy Barry, a fat kid with a high IQ instigates a congressional inquiry.

Meanwhile, Jones skillfully garners support from every quarter in Pequod, from the pioneer-stock, six foot female principal of the elementary school and Barry's closest ally, to his own mother, a slatternly lower class housekeeper who's obviously the source of Barry's brains. Everyone has an opinion about Barry, usually not too good, ranging from jealousy, misunderstanding to just plain contempt (he's fat.) Meanwhile Barry and his street-wise blue collar friend seek to prevent his sale by a hilarious act of sexual misconduct.

What happens to the children purchased by U. Lymphomiloid is openly discussed by Wissy Jones during the trial. Yet despite the shocking revelation, Jones has manipulated the town to his side and even co-opts some surprising allies.

This isn't just an examination of an education system that strives to produce a bland mediocrity and mistrusts talent, it is the story of the intolerance of society for individuals and members of minority religions, race, anyone different than the mass average. There is a lot behind this readable book and it is fresher than every.

discrimination of a highly intelligent kid
Discrimination is declining in modern western societies. After struggles, there are now laws against discrimination of sex, race and religion. In some places there already are laws against the discrimination of homosexuals, and before long there will be laws against the discrimination of age groups (especially elderly). You can be sure of that.

The Child Buyer is sketching the discrimination of people with extreem high IQ (HIQ's), something that isn't even an issue in real life (yet). Mediocracy rules the world.

The Child Buyer is a heart wrenching, but at times also hilarious, description of the trial in which must be decided if a HIQ young boy should be sold or not to a company, because that would be good for national security, even though the boy refuses to be merchandise. The book shows how the people of a small village abandon the boy in his lonely struggle, partly because they see him as uncomfortably different, partly because they think it's for his own good to be separated from the rest, and partly because it turns out to be in their own best financial interest if the cooperate...

Hersey has structured his book around the trial. It contains only the dialogue, that is recorded in the courtroom. This may seem odd in the beginning, and perhaps slowing things down a little when all the characters are introduced, but the author succeeds very well in showing the diffence in characters. And in exhibiting the gross stupidity of some of them, as well as the way people choose for there own wellfare, above anything else.

This book was way ahead of it's time, when it was published in 1960, and- unfortunatly - it still is.

I can highly recommend it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A CLASSIC everyone should read.
What can I say?This book has become a CLASSIC in it's own Time, and everyone should read it.

An Indispensable Book
This book's status as a classic needs no confirmation from me. It represents the pinnacle of reporting in The New Yorker's golden years on what is arguably the single most momentous event of the twentieth century. Every generation needs to be introduced to this work, and to reread it again and again.

Hiroshima
I bought the book Hiroshima and it was quite informative.The book explains through the lives of several families (who survived the blast of the Atomic Bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima) how their lives were changed forever.With their city destroyed, untold thousands died a horrible death. ... Read more

Product Description
Alternating a tale of the past that has become a part of Key West legend with a contemporary story that reflects the pulse of life there today, Hersey weaves in these stories a brilliant human tapestry of the place that means a great deal to him. From the author of A Bell For Adano and Hiroshima comes this final collections of stories. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

It is fifteen short stories that all have a common theme of Key West either in the present or sometime in the past.
This is a book by the late John Hersey.

It is fifteen short stories that all have a common theme of Key West either in the present or sometime in the past.

You will find a fiery preacher whose primary unholy occupation creaps into his Sunday sermon.An aging papa Hemingway slogging it out with the tourists, a young man who proposes to meet his long lost blood mother during the bacchanal of Fantasy Fest-with both of them in disguise.

All of these stories are mediocre and quite boring; however, in the book there is a gem called "Get up, Sweet Slug-a-bed".It deals with the guilt feelings of those who care for AIDS patients during the 90's epidemic, their friends, and the patients themselves.It is one of the best AIDS stories I've ever read and should be required reading for any self-respecting GLBT person.

Real Life in Paradise
As a rule, I don't favor short story collections.A writer needs time to conjure up a real world in words, and once I find such a world to enjoy, I want to remain there for a long time.But when I looked for a book that would deliver a flavor of our southern-most city, I found "Key West Tales."It did not disappoint.

Hersey's modern-day tales of this flamboyant place are raw slices of life, with nary a bougainvillea blossom or swaying palm frond to introduce a bit of tropical mellowness.In this book, irony rules:a man, laid low by AIDS, is robbed of his persona as well as his health; a fat Latino woman is offered a too-good-to-be-true chance at happiness; a woman who escaped to Key West after a divorce gets yanked back into a former life with a letter from the son she gave up for adoption.

Interspersed with the modern tales are briefly-told legends of this legend-rich place: of the wreckers and salvors, eagerly awaiting the next ship-wreck; of the distinguished Audubon, massacring the birds that would make him famous; of a greatly-subdued Jefferson Davis coming to dinner after his imprisonment.Normally I am a stickler for wanting to know what is fact and what is fiction (see my review of "The DaVinci Code," which transgressed in this respect).But for these short and delicious yarns, which lie somewhere between fiction and obviously-embellished fact, I make an exception.

Curiously, while the longer, modern-day tales are peopled with characters who might just as well have lived in, say, San Francisco, I found them dripping with what I, a non-Key-Wester, perceive to be the mood of Key West.For all its physical beauty, perfect weather, and goofiness, Key West is, after all, a place of real people.And ironically, that the characters in this book live in Paradise makes their joys and woes seem all the more poignantly real.

A fine career capper for a veteran story-teller
I was somewhat baffled and unimpressed by THE CHILD BUYER (1960) when it was assigned to me in high school and never bothered to read another thing by John Hersey. I bought KEY WEST TALES because (a) I had recently been to Key West, and (b) being a collection of short stories, I knew I could jump to another story if I didn't like the one I was reading.

This collection of stories, more than anything, reminded me of Sherwood Anderson's WINESBURG, OHIO. I have become distrustful of fiction writers who load up their characters with endearing (or annoying) idiosyncrasies in order to make them more memorable (as much as I enjoyed Berendt's MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL, I suspect he indulged in this vice a bit). Like the citizens of Winesburg, Ohio, Hersey's Key West natives are believable people experiencing a plausible share of dissonance with the world they seem trapped in. The result is often poignant, as in "The Two Lives of Consuela Castanon," the story of an obese young receptionist who resists, then acquiesces to the advances of a handsome young man not from Key West. In fact, Hersey comes close to replicating the eeriness and desperation of Shirley Jackson's "The Daemon Lover." The best crafted story in the collection is "Fantasy Fest," a story about a woman who has been contacted by the son she had put up for adoption when he was an infant. In his letter to her he suggests that they each dress up as "their own particular fantasy" about themselves and join in Key West's Halloween parade. He is confident that using this ploy they will both be naturally drawn to one another. Does it work? Do they meet? I wouldn't dream of spoiling the story for you. The longest story in the collection, "Get Up, Sweet Slug-a-bed," is the story of a gay man dying of AIDS and of the people in his life. This is no TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE. The relationships are complex and unsentimental. Like Anderson, Hersey does not people his world with saintly or purely wicked folk. It's a fallen world, for sure, one peopled with sinners, many of whom act with the best intentions.

Intercut with the short stories are fictionalized glimpses of Key West's history and legends. Neither Hersey, his widow, nor his editor reveals the publication history of the pieces that make up this collection, but I suspect the "historical" pieces were items Hersey wrote for the local newspaper. Taken together, they give the reader a sense of place. Key West is more that the southernmost town in the United States, a tourist destination, or a gay haven. It's a place with a history, a place that has always honored independent thinking. The historical vignettes bring more than color to this collection, they provide its spine.

This collection is Hersey's swan song...and he sings it well.

Key West is amazing and Hersey captures the place perfectly!
Hersey's book is much like Michener's "Tales of the South Pacific."Of course the destiny of the world isn't on the line here, but the sense of wonder, so much a part of Michener's tales, permeates this book.Anyone who loves a place with a unique and special local history or stories of real people in an exotic locale, should relish this book.It may be a bit slow for a few, but for many the rewards will be great.

Can I give it 0 stars?
What the hell was this? I think this has got to be one of the most boring books on the planet. I was looking forward to some short stories so I could read quickly in my lunch break but after skimming through the first 3 pages and then trying to read about a dying AIDS patient and finally settling on a story about a girl who was so fat that she was shocked when someone wanted to marry her and then he took off when she decided to lose weight (sorry to spoil that ending, but that is as good as it gets!)..I knew that I could not continue reading such boring drivel. What was the point of these stories? I have no idea, except maybe to cure insommnia.

PLEASE do yourself a BIG favour and DO NOT get this book! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Includes the famous "Hiroshima"
This compilation of John Hersey's stories is subtitled "Studies in Human Tenacity" and includes the entire text of his famous work, "Hiroshima."

Hersey tells the stoies of an "old lady marooned on a rooftop amidst floods caused by a hurricane," John Kennedy's heroism 17 years before he became President, a Jew in Auschwitz, a crippled G.I.'s reentering civilian life, the rehab of a shellshocked soldier, two Poles who survived persecution, and an escape from 1956 Hungary.

He caps off up these uniquely touching essays with the bare, factual, severe and stunning stories of the survivors of the horror of a nuclear bomb detonated in a city -- Hiroshima, Japan. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

I did not like this book
I read this book from cover to cover hoping for some redeeming value - I didn't find any.It was a filthy book in my estimation - I felt like I was in the middle of the 60's drug culture.The book was thrown away.

Plot...
The Walnut Door...a young woman who has fled from her suddenly unbearable "college kid" self...and from the place and even the lover that were part of it...comes alone to a strange city, anxiously awaiting for someting new and exciting to happen.

A young man...breezy, ponytailed, beautiful...stranded by the passing of the sixties whose excitments had nurtured and consumed him, now lavishes his whole self on loving craftsmanship, on the construction of simple, perfect wooden doors, on the mystery of locks, and on the artful offering of security (his locks and doors) to women who are alone...

Guess who meets up and falls in love...

Continues Hersey's fine journalistic skills. . .
in fictional form. Here are Hersey's statements about alienation in themodern world. Some readers could be alienated by The Collector (c.f. JohnFowles)-like story line. ... Read more

Product Description
A saga of a magnificent violin, Antonietta, named after a beautiful woman who was the inspiration of Antonio Stradivari's later years. In a masterpiece of historical imagination, Hersey traces the instrument's progress and influence upon owners, musicians, and composers alike--giving us a marvelous celebration of the changing character and eternal art and power of music. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

I loved this book!
I found this book at a book sale. It was an older version and the pages were slightly discolored and it definently smelled like an old book (which I must admit, draws me in a bit) and I said "wow, a book about a violin! that's awesome!" So I bought it (it was only $1) because I thought I should try it. I ended up reading itfor a school book project. It was amazing! I play the violin so I found the first section (when he was making the violin) quite interesting. It was nice to know how every thing goes together! I read the Mozart section in maybe an hour, he particularly interests me. I had also heard the Soldier's Tale by Stravinsky the summer before at a local concert. I also know the Island of Martha's Vineyard rather well, and it is featured in the last section of the book. The book was very cleverly put together. This violin went all over the place, which the author tells you about in the Intermezzos. All in all, I would highly recommend this book, Antonietta by John Hersey.

Intimate, Portraits, Romantic. Loved It
It is interesting, the volatility of the reviews on this book.I love music and also woodworking.I own a fully carved German contra-bass primarily as my portal to that world, of luthiers, composers and musicians.This book is magnificent within this context and i ravished in it. I highly recommend this book to anyone who can be seduced by such.The Red Violin is purportedly based upon this book, but if ever a screenplay was an abomination of its forefather, that was it.Without regard to Red Violin, this could be one of your favorite books.Highly recommended to those with similar loves !

TRULY DISAPPOINTING
John Hersey was a wonderful author and so I really expected more from Antonietta.What began as a whimsical flight into fantasy quickly goes downhill after the first section.Unfortunately, it continued its downhillslide, with each succeeding section being a little less magical than thefirst.Antonio Stradivari, upon seeing the woman he instantly falls inlove with and must marry, begins to create a special violin in her honor. As he works, the violin becomes infused with his emotions and thereafter,its music has the power to affect all who hear it.While Stradivari'ssection of the book is magic, Mozart's is less so, and Berlioz's even less. By the time we finish, Antonietta has definitely taken backstage to astring of boring, insipid and lucklustre characters with the trulydeplorable Spenser Ham being, by far, the worst.And other than the firstsection involving Stradivari, I didn't find anything sexy or romantic aboutthis book.I fully expected to be charmed by Antonietta and was trulydisappointed instead.When one considers what a tremendous novelist Herseywas, this book becomes all the more sad.If you're looking for thefirst-rate reading of other Hersey novels, such as A Bell For Adano,Hiroshoma, The Wall and The White Lotus, you won't find it here.

Hersey is the ultimate reader's writer
John Hersey shines in Antonietta.He shows us he is both a creative genius and a skilled writer.Each section is poetic as he leads us through the life of a violin.It seems odd that the most romantic book I have everread turns out to be a book about a violin.This violin is the epitomy oflove and adoration.It is unique and sexual, and capable of inspiring alove so powerful that its fingers reach outstretched towards the souls ofvarious generations.Hersey starts with the tale of a widowed man intenton making violins as best as he possibly can.The saga begins when he seesa widowed woman he must marry.He begins on a new violin, and carves aCupid on it, which marks it in the coming years.When he hears that he hasbeen refused her hand in marriage, he is angered and his hand slips,flawing the violin.Later, he beckons her, showing her the violin he hasmade from her inspiration although it is still unfinished.The violin iscapable of a sound unlike any other, and in the years to come it changeshands and players, each with their own story, each with their own passion. This novel is worth reading, and tells a tale that will deepen one's lovefor love as well as deepen one's love for music.It appeals to any age,because the story is so universal.I truly recommend it.It brings withit the conciseness of Hersey's Hiroshima along with the undeniableeloquence of Mozart's pieces.

I found this book to be a major disappointment.
I read "The Wall" a very long time ago, and recently discovered and read "White Lotus" and was absolutely bowled over by both.I was thrilled, after two such wonderful books to find "Antoinetta"and anticipated another masterpiece!

Unfortunately, I have to admit thata very rare thing happened for me....I couldn't make myself finish thisbook.I found the characters flat and unbelievable, the plot ridiculousand the whole thing a total bore!I grant you, this may not be a fairhearing (since I only finished about half the book) but since it isn't avery long novel, I didn't think that even if I had read to the end thatthere were enough pages left for the author to "redeem" the firstboring half.Perhaps a glass of chardonnay, as another reviewer hassuggested would have "mellowed" my feelings about this book, butI think not. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

$17.50 for a "free" book?
Google the title and read it for free.Shame on Amazon for selling a book that available for free online for $17.50!

I mean really, you can download this book for free and Amazon is charging $17.50!

... Read more