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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent,
By
This review is from: Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche (Paperback)
A book of interviews that interviews the survivors of the 1995 Tokyo gas attacks. This book interviews people on the trains, doctors, family members, and cult members to get to the bottom of what actually happened. Eventhough this book recaps alot of the same scenerios from different perspectives, it never gets boring. In fact, the opposite is true. I walked away from the book wanting more views, hoping maybe that I could make some sense of this tragedy. This book will deaply affect you and make you think of things a little differently. I have been a fan of Murakami's fiction for some time and was unsure of picking this title up. I am very glad that I did. Read this Book!
4.0 out of 5 stars
fascinating,
By Moses Alexander (Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche (Paperback)
Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, profoundly disturbed by the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway by religious cult Aum Shinrikyu, set out to discover not only why it happened, but what elements of the Japanese psyche "allowed" it to happen.Murakami readily admits not being a social scientist, and the brief analytical sections make that abundantly clear. Not that he does a bad job in summation of the interviews, it is just that the interviews largely speak for themselves. In addition to roughly 60 interviews with survivors of the gas attack, there are a dozen or so interviews with former or current members of Aum Shinrikyu. The combination of testimonies by these two groups of people (victims and cult members) makes for incredibly compelling reading. Murakami's esteem as a writer is surely what even allowed this project to get off the ground. Most people would've probably ignored an average journalist or more likely, the average journalist wouldn't have been able to spend the time and financial resources necessary for a project of this magnitude. These fascinating accounts should interest any student of religion, history, psychology or Japan.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Moving and informative, but lacking background,
By Uncle Al "Al" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche (Paperback)
First, I must state that I am a huge fan of Murakami and consider some of his novels to be among the greatest literature of the twentieth century. "Underground" is a departure from his unique brand of fiction and is a unique brand of non-fiction. It recalls the Tokyo subway attacks of 1995 and the cult behind the attack, all from the point of view of victims and cult members.My problem with the book is that I read it without enough knowlege of the attacks and the cult, Aum Shinrikyo. Victim's accounts mention names and events that meant nothing to me. A preface would have been helpful; perhaps to preserve the tone of the book, it could have been culled from different press accounts or trial testimonies. What is excellent about this book is that Murakami's interviewing style is not like a reporter--he allowed all interviewees to review and edit their testimonies and if in the end any decided they didn't want their piece printed, he honored their wishes. What results is not lacking in impact. The victim stories, particularly the woman who is partially paralyzed and brain-damaged, are moving. The accounts of Aum members, on the other hand, are chilling. Even after all that happened (and the sarin attacks were only one of many of Aum's crimes), many of them still belong. Most of them just don't get that they were/are part of a destructive cult that used them as worker ants after robbing them of all their money. The book also gives insight into the Japanese mindset. As an American with no close Japanese friends, I was a little taken aback at some of the common reactions and beliefs stated in the book, such as people who have breathed sarin and can barely see or walk, and yet their only thoughts are "I have to get to work." A very good book, moving and informative. Two stars demerit because there is way too much that the author assumes the reader already knows. My guess is that the book was written for Japanese readers.
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