少年Ｈ（上）

by Kappa Senoh

少年Ｈ從小在充滿自由氣息的港都神戶長大，課後常和同伴上山下海玩耍、四處探險。在西裝師傅的父親、虔誠基督徒的母親教育之下，對任何事充滿了好奇心、探究心與正義感，一發現奇怪的事就率直提出疑問，決不人云亦云、隨波逐流。
然而，隨著戰事的擴大，Ｈ想不通也問不到答案的事情越來越多：摒棄敵國文化的氣氛高漲、周圍對「不愛國」言論的打壓、報紙廣播隱匿戰爭實情、軍方滿口不合理謊言──「大人跟報紙都在騙人！」
＊
「因為我老了，越來越想把自己知道的事情告訴孩子們。如果不把過往的記憶保存下來、傳達給下一代，這些記憶就會消失。」
《少年Ｈ》是妹尾河童的成長故事，他將個人經歷過的戰爭，寫成孩子們也能理解的內容。透過少年Ｈ純真的眼睛，讓年輕世代得知那場戰爭、那個時代的真實樣貌。

Genres: Fiction

373 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book starts out feeling like the Japanese Tom Sawyer, with a boy's wild adventures, but as the war intensifies the feelings of clever young boy faced with the hypocrisy of adult society come through loud and clear. The generation that experienced the war as children have the most anti-war passion.

[Polyglot27 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books on the war seen through the eyes of someone who lived through it. I did not know that it had been translated into English. So much the better. And a film too. Oh wow.
It really shows how the Japanese government and the press lied to its own people and how Japanese society reacted. It is also disturbing to read again about how cruel people are towards each other (he was beaten up by elder students in the riding club when they found out he had bribed the groom) and the racist attitude of many Japanese.

[Megumi Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books ever. I didn't know much about Japanese history to be honest but I could study and know tons of war era's things from this story. Through the book, we can see the real time events and the social twists from the sight of this author. So you should read and feel what Japanese were thinking back then.

[Erin Mitchell]

Excited to find out this is being made into a movie! I read the English translation years ago and liked it a lot. Special shout-out to my old home of Kakogawa--both mentioned in the book and apparently partially filmed there!