This is an ambitious and multi-layered novel which I enjoyed very much. It’s about a Japanese man, Yoshie Watanabe, who miraculously survived not only Hiroshima but also Nagasaki, although inevitably carried the physical and psychological scars for the rest of his life. When Fukushima happens in 2011 he finds himself compelled to re-examine his pain and loss, and goes on a kind of pilgrimage to the stricken area. The book is based on the true-life story of man who did indeed survive both bombs and live to over 90, dying just a few months before Fukushima. Yoshie has led a peripatetic life and we accompany him to Paris, New York, Buenos Aires and Madrid, in each of which cities he meets and forges a relationship with 4 different women, all of whom describe him in turn adding to our knowledge although never fully explaining this most enigmatic of men. Although I found it a thoughtful and insightful account of personal and collective trauma I nevertheless found it a cold book emotionally. I felt distanced the whole way through, in spite of the terrible events that Yoshie experienced, as he himself also seems unable to fully engage with the world and the people he meets. It’s perhaps a novel of ideas rather than feelings, but nonetheless moving and profound for all that, and a haunting tale of the invisible wounds that damage the psyche of people and actions. A thought-provoking and intelligent novel about trauma, guilt, culpability and the importance of confronting the past.

The author seems to know everything about everything. I was unconvinced by this Argentinian male’s vast store of knowledge about the Japanese, women, nuclear energy, Paris, New York, World War II, and on and on. I found it all really tedious and made it only to the 35% point. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Fracture is the story of Mr. Watanabe, the sole survivor of his family of the attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The story is told in part through the perspective of Mr. Watanabe during the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in 2011 after moving back to Japan for the first time in decades, and flashbacks to his childhood. The story is also told through the eyes of several of Mr. Watanabe's past lovers from around the world and their memories of him.

The other story, and I think the more compelling one, is that of life after disaster and how we cope. I think the parts during and directly after the bombings were by far the most engaging and emotional. I was looking forward to seeing how to author would handle the themes of trauma but unfortunately it just devolved into a discussion mostly of the political and social ramifications and not the personal experience I was hoping to explore.

I just had such a hard time getting myself to read this. I wasn't compelled at all to continue to pick it up. It has all the makings of a novel I would love on paper but I just couldn't connect to it.

Watanabe is an enigmatic character, and written that way intentionally. Unfortunately, this just kept me from ever fully understanding or connecting with him in any meaningful way. I had also hoped the perspectives from his past lovers would be this book's strong suit, but after a while they sort of blended together into an indistinct and uninteresting singular voice. This book clearly works for a lot of people, and it's certainly not poorly written. I may even give it another try one day but at the moment this just isn't the book for me.