How It All Goes Down
This book is kind of like a really depressing version of Love Actually: John Hersey chronicles the experiences of six people from various walks of life. Except he doesn't talk about their rom-com Yuletide heartache; he talks about the day the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. We learn where each person was leading up to at the moment of the detonation, and we also learn what happened to each of the six people in the months and years following the attack.
Here are our usual suspects:
Mr. Tanimoto, a minister who had been helping a friend move some stuff out to the suburbs, ended up running back towards the city and helping out the wounded.
Miss Sasaki, who had just sat down at her desk, ended up buried beneath rubble and books, breaking her leg in the process. She was not rescued for some time.
Mrs. Nakamura, meanwhile, ended up under some rubble, but she managed to rescue herself (and her children) relatively quickly before heading for the evacuation zone.
Dr. Fujii sustained some injuries when his hospital fell into a nearby river, but he ultimately escaped and hightailed it out to the suburbs.
Dr. Sasaki, who had been on his way to deliver some blood to the lab when the bomb dropped, was so ideally positioned within the walls of the hospital that he didn't end up getting injured (unlike all the other doctors).
Finally, Father Kleinsorge, who had been feeling unwell and was in bed wearing just his underwear when the bomb went off, ended up with lots of small cuts and wandering in the garden in his skivvies.
In the months and years that followed, some of the individuals Hersey interviewed suffered from radiation poisoning and/or chronic health problems (for example, Mrs. Nakamura, Father Kleinsorge, Miss Sasaki, and Mr. Tanimoto). Miss Sasaki's health issues were compounded by the fact that she was now responsible for raising her younger siblings and had her dirtbag fiancé run out on her because of the injuries she sustained to her leg (which were quite noticeable and made it hard for her to get around).
Mr. Tanimoto became an enthusiastic peacenik and traveled around the U.S. raising money to rebuild his church. Father Kleinsorge became a Japanese citizen and changed his name to Makoto Takakura. Mrs. Nakamura struggled to make ends meet for a long time, but after getting a better job and gaining access to new government services for victims of the bomb, life started get considerably better and more comfy.
Meanwhile, Dr. Fujii decided to pursue a life of pleasure and partying after his ordeal, opening a private clinic and spending his evenings entertaining.
Finally, Dr. Sasaki worked at the Red Cross for years before starting his own private practice. After a health scare that led to the removal of one of his lungs, he committed himself to being a more compassionate and understanding doctor. All in all, it seems, the six people Hersey followed ended up not only surviving, but also thriving in their own individual ways.