Facing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami by Gretel EhrlichMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
A very well written book on a worthy topic, but it's just horribly depressing and offers the reader little hope. You come away from it feeling there's nothing anyone can do to help the victims of the tsunami and Fukushima nuclear plant disaster since they're resigned to their fate and believe they got what they deserved because of where they lived at the time of the event. (With no cultural concept that God loves them as unique individuals, no wonder their suicide rate is so high!) I'm sure this fatalistic portrayal was far from the author's intent, but the style and presentation of the subject matter seems to be geared to impress a "literary audience" with its poetic writing style rather than engender compassion for the victims. There is no call to arms for us to help these unfortunate souls to help themselves by letting them know they aren't "guilty of surviving". I guess I was looking for a more inspiring and uplifting tale of survival in the wake of a horrible disaster rather than coming away with a "Oh, well, we'll be stuck in this half death/half life existence forever" feeling.
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