The Ash Garden

I'm currently on the tail end of a wonderful book called The Ash Garden by Dennis Bock. Quick note, he is a Canadian writer, which I am super exicted about because at times they seem to be few and far between.

This book takes a look at the affect the H-bomb had on three different lives. A young girl who is scarred by the bomb and looses most of her family. A scientist who took part in developing the bomb, and his wife who evacuated her home.

The book neatly weaves these three stories together as it has the young girl eventually interviewing the scientist, and also takes a look at how his wife deals with him before and after the bomb drops.

What really strikes me is how well Dennis explores the different ways people can be affected by the very same event. It also plays with the notion of necessary evil and how exactly one defines that term

What I am really loving is how much each character learns from the other. Where this is especially clear is in the relationship between the young Japanese girl and the scientist. The "villian" and the "good guy" if you would. I love how well he illustrates the struggles the scientist has to go though.

Think about it, what is worse:
Having to deal with being a part of the bomb that created so much destruction and took so many lives in so many ways...
or
Having to think about what the war would have looked like if the bomb was never dropped.

We can never really know how each person in this situation dealt with, and continues to deal with the aftermath, but Dennis has certainly tried to shed some light.

Happy Reading