Mr Two-Bomb

by William Coles

One man miraculously survives the Atomic Bomb of Hiroshima. Two days later he catches the last train home. Home to Nagasaki. He arrives just 90 minutes before the world s second atomic bomb explodes into his life. As he battles through the scene of apocalyptic destruction, surrounded by unthinkable suffering, he is plagued by one constant question: is he lucky, or unlucky? This is his answer: he's the luckiest man alive.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Japan

288 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 2006

About the author

I am a journalist; and a writer of love stories.

I am currently embroiled in an epic series of love stories, which, with luck, will comprise at least 12 novels. Two of these novels are already out - The Well-Tempered Clavier and The Woman Who Made Men Cry - with another two due to be published by Thames River Press later this year. The next one in the series will be The Woman Who Knew What She Wanted, out in May.

The premise of these love stories is quite simple. The hero, or perhaps anti-hero, is a journalist called Kim. He is a man in his mid-forties, who is looking back at the various loves of his life. Each of his past loves has her own bitter-sweet tale - for, like all stand-out love affairs, they have a very great tendency to turn out badly.

I've been a journalist for over 20 years, including stints as the New York Correspondent and Political Correspondent of The Sun. I've also written for The Wall Street Journal, the Daily Mail, the Express, The Mirror and the Scotsman.

For the past five years, I've been an editorial consultant with a number of newspaper groups including Media 24 in South Africa and DC Thomson in Scotland. This media coaching has formed the basis for my first non-fiction book, "Red Top", which is also due out later this year.

Apart from the love-stories, I have written two other mainstream novels - 'Lord Lucan: My Story' (2009) and 'Mr Two-Bomb' (2010), as well as two satires, 'Dave Cameron's Schooldays' (2010) and 'Simon Cowell: The Sex Factor' (2011).

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on a true story, a super selfish womaniser is in Hiroshima in August 1946, contracted to the Japanese war effort as a kite maker(!); with his best friend, the almost obese Shinko; and a precocious 7 year old girl who likes to pirouette everywhere, including on top of walls; the kite maker tells the story of their last days in the doomed city, and beyond.

Somehow they survive the Hiroshima atomic explosion and they wander amidst the utter carnage, with the eventual aim of returning to their homes in… Nagasaki! Hence the narrator's nickname of Mr Two-Bomb. A horrifying, heart breaking, yet wonderful and remarkable tale of redemption, friendship, survival and the utter utter cruelty of the atomic bomb. Not an anti-war book at heart, just the story of an ordinary, but very selfish man, that needed two atomic explosions to find his better self. Recommended reading for all. 8 out of 12!

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely amazing book. The storytelling was superb and you would be forgiven for thinking that this story was written from a first hand perspective. I learnt so much from this book and I cannot even try to comprehend what these people went through. And the best part about this story? The takeaway phrase "Embrace Life".

[Ben Titley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic book - both in terms of the eye opening view of a world post Hiroshima. But also in terms of the impact it can have on a nation and individuals within that.

[Jasmin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring, repetitive and totally lacking in emotional depth despite being about two of the greatest tragedies in recent history. It's generally poorly written and is obviously supposed to be shocking but doesn't even manage that particularly well. Would not recommend

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I was not expecting this - a really fascinating fictionalised memoir of a man who survived both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, based on the accounts of the gentleman in question.

Blurb:
One man miraculously survives the Atomic bomb of Hiroshima. Two days later he catches the last train home. Home to Nagasaki.
He arrives just 90 minutes before the world's second atomic bomb explodes into his life. As he battles through the scene of apocalyptic destruction, surrounded by unthinkable suffering, he is plagued by one constant question: is he lucky, or unlucky?
This is his answer: he's the luckiest man alive.

I probably wouldn't have picked this up in a bookshop, but I'm so happy that I got sent it as part of my #ABoS subscription. Such a good read, and it feels so realistic. The protagonist is lazy, cheating on his wife in Nagasaki while he's working in Hiroshima, but loves his son, does what the government tells him to without thinking - all in all, not a nice character for a novel. But, this is a memoir, not a novel. The descriptions of the fallout (all of it) and the impact on the ordinary person are harrowing, but told in an almost disinterested way; I suppose that's the only way you can survive this, by compartmentalising and almost viewing it from the outside.

The protagonist IRL ended up living in the US for a while, and touring the world with his story.

So highly recommend this novel / memoir. It really brings home that there are no winners in warfare.

#ABoS

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for Book Group.
This was one of my choices for book group, as I had thought it was an autobiography. It is, instead, a sort of amalgamated made up memoir, based loosely on some real stories, but also made up. I think that I would have preferred the real story, even if it hadn't been as neat as this one.

I struggled with the writing style to begin with, as the sentences are quite simple and bare and direct. I got into the swing of things further into the book, but still, occasionally, it grated. I also found parts of the story repetitive, and a little slow. I love Japan, and so I found the descriptions of the bomb, what happened afterwards, and how people suffered horrifying. I feel like all of us, all over the world, should know more about what happened, so that it never happens ever again.

Mr Two Bomb's relationship with 'the girl' is the best element of the book, but I was a little disappointed overall as it wasn't quite what I'd expected. Still, an interesting read.

[Sarah Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is amazing book. It’s not normal a book I would pick up as I first thought it was a typical war hero book but this book is much more than that. The main character is not a hero but a selfish man who happens to be in Hiroshima at the time of the bomb. He isn’t a nice character but his journey and the characters he meets give you some hope.

The books cover so many themes about life, death and luck, you feel you get an insight to the character’s own wisdoms and find yourself asking questions. The book doesn’t provide the answers but it does make you wonder. Like the character says himself was he lucky or unlucky to survive two atomic bombs.

The style in which it is written flows well and you find yourself taken away with the words.

I would recommend this book. Embrace it

[Maximilian Freemantle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am 14 years old and I love this story.
I have met William Coles before and thought of him as a funny and interesting character, and now, after reading this masterpiece of a book, I believe it much more. This story was too so perfectly, that it made me feel there among the rubble and flames of Hiroshima or in the hospital looking over the Urakami trench in Nagasaki. Mr two-bombs adventure was emotional, as he takes on the horror of two atomic bombs, a marriage heading for divorce and a the physical pain of loss. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys a beautiful read and a spiritual one indeed.📖

[Robert Burgon · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times harrowing with its graphic detail of the injuries inflicted by atomic bombs on the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, this is an amazing novel. Based on a true story of a survivor of both nuclear blasts, it shows his transition from being selfish and arrogant to thinking first and only of others with a focus on embracing life. For someone, like me, who knew little of the devastation caused by these bombs at the end of the Second World War (and only 10 years before I was born), it is an instructive and also moving tale.

[Trina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting book. I felt l learned far more about the effects of an A bomb than l ever could from a documentary. Written in an interesting way with friendships and family but also very obviously by a journalist. I enjoyed it, if it's possible to say that about such an horrific time in history, and would recommend to history nerds like myself.

[Anoska Banerjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first novel that I have finished within 24 hours. I couldn't put it aside for one moment. It's horrifying but at last it teaches us to embrace life and always do what is right for all. It teaches us the true meaning of selflessness, care and love. This book has booked a place in my heart ❤️

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant novel that was the most vivid description of the devastation wreaked by the bombs dropped at the end of the war. This is apparently the amalgamation of several people's memory of the events. Certainly will stay in my memory to show the stupidity of war.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book group book for August 2018.
This was a wonderful book, a truly touching story based on real events. I really appreciated the fact that the protagonist was not made out to be a heroic saint, he had real reactions to the events that occurred.

[Ellie Cripps · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, this book reads extremely strangely. The pace is really off and the main character, despite some extraordinary development, is never really likeable. It's really lacking in the emotional depth that I feel would really be appropriate for the events it explores, disappointed.

[James "Biblio Obscura" Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up from a charity shop, initially thinking it was non-fic. I was slightly disappointed to discover otherwise, but decided to pursue reading it nonetheless. The book a river that flows through the life of a sex-obssessed, cruel, self centred man, and tells the tale of how being caught up in both detonation of atomic bombs helped shape him into a better person. Mr Two Bomb ponders his luck and in a way, its a very philosophical question to ask. To be so lucky as to survive both blasts, but so unlucky as to be caught up in them in the first place and lose many people along the way.

Struggled to empathise with the character, although the book is a (fictional) pov, showing raw unfiltered emotion, some of the actions of Mr Two Bomb are abhorrent, which I guess, to some extent is the point, sewing together a whole underlying theme that it was just luck he survived, not because he was a good guy who led an exemplary life.

Even though its written from the POV of a Japanese citizen, you can tell the author is pro-alliance. It seeps through the text and makes it feel disingenuous, though it is a well written and well researched piece and Coles is a gifted writer who certainly knows how to paint a picture, even if a lot of the descriptions are repetitive and almost seem grotesque to the point of shock factor. I'm not saying these injuries and ailments are not based on true accounts of survivors, I'm sure Coles did his due diligence in researching the atomic bombs, and elsewhere, in terms of historical background and such, it seems well researched to me, what I'm suggesting is that for a 200 page novel, easily half of it is describing similar injuries and it becomes repetitive.

A good quick read, that packs a decent sized punch within its pages, covering human cruelty, history, philosophy and sheer dumb luck.

3/5

[Jeremy Jl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A moving and disturbing story, even more so as I read it on the 75th anniversary of the horrendous disaster inflicted on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Never again!

[Hathaway Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This thought provoking book shares the unimaginable reality of the atomic bombs that hit Japan within three days of each other. Highly recommend this historical text.

[Sabaha · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @30%

couldn't engage with it at all

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, this was a truly compelling read. Left me with goosebumps and tears in my eyes, but though all the pain and destruction there is an uplifting message about human nature.

Makes you really think about the ‘ifs’ of life.

Received through Box of Stories

[Adam Biddlecombe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shocking, grounding and life affirming.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extraordinary story of a man who survives both atomic bomb attacks, bringing to life the horrific aftermath, but retaining some humanity and positivity.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different to anything I’ve ever read - interesting concept and I really enjoyed the Japanese politics and culture insights running through the plot.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Two Bomb is the memoir of an unfortunate Japanese man, who after surviving the first nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima, decided to change his life and make amends with his estranged wife, who lived in Nagasaki. He was in Nagasaki for less than 2 hrs. before he noticed bombers perform the exact same maneuver as in Hiroshima. He recognized that this portended another atomic bomb blast. He had time to take cover behind a stone wall, but he could not convince his wife in time.

There are many profound insights in this book--the most significant being the realization of the blessing of life and its correlate, redemption. Another is that many of our decisions are utterly inconsequential--the clothes we wear, the way we walk to work, if we take tea break near a window or against a cement wall--but on certain days, like the day the bomb dropped, almost every decision, in retrospect, made a difference between life and death.

On average, Americans have no image of the great suffering we caused. I say we, but actually it was not a democratic decision. The US military made this decision on their own, despite the objections of the scientists that solved the technical problems of generating the bomb. Truman believed that he saved American lives by using this weapon. That is likely so. Some lives were spared by not invading mainland Japan. But the number of lives saved balance the 200,000 people wiped out with 1 kg of uranium (in Hiroshima alone), even if the enemies lives are discounted severely. I cannot imagine, even in war, discount human life completely to zero.

Many died immediately, many were half burned alive and left to die of dehydration over the next day or two, others lost limbs, or had large regions of skin denuded along with their clothes. The radiation caused cancer in many in the long run, but in the short term, caused leukopenia, and sepsis followed from any open would due to their immunocompromised state.

Mr. Two Bomb reads like a movie. Tragic suffering, yes, but also friendship, joy and salvation.

[Sally Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harrowing but rewarding. A story of a man who survived 2 atomic bombs - Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This isn't a book you can 'enjoy' - it contains too much human suffering. However it is well written and compulsive, and very educational for those of us who didn't experience WWII. Above all, this book is life-affirming and a thoroughly recommended read. It will live on in your mind.

[William Coles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first came across this story in America in 1998. A friend, Butcher, had interviewed one of the few people to have survived both atomic bombs. I was quite captivated by the story. Imagine surviving the first bomb in Hiroshima - and then going back home to Nagasaki to get immediately hit by the second one. Would that mean you were lucky - or unlucky?
I spent some time researching the story. At first I was thinking of doing it as a biography of perhaps the dozen men who'd survived both bombs. But although some interesting things had happened to these men, there was nothing really to hang a whole book on.
So the project fell into abeyance for a while, and then I suddenly realised how it could work. It would be a piece of fiction - with just one guy. And we would pin all the best bits of all the stories onto him.
All I needed now was a dynamo - an engine to make the story work. What is that's driving this guy on? I thought about a love-story; racing back to Nagasaki to be with his wife and kid.
But in the end, I opted for a story of redemption. Imagine a guy like Scrooge - he's an awful human being. And through the bombs, he is transformed.
I've read a lot of books on the bombs - well over 100. This is the first one that I've come across that has a truly uplifting ending. I was quite pleased with it.

[Holly (spoopyhol) · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘One man miraculously survives the Atomic Bomb of Hiroshima. Two days later he catches the last train home. Home to Nagasaki. He arrives just 90 minutes before the world s second atomic bomb explodes into his life. As he battles through the scene of apocalyptic destruction, surrounded by unthinkable suffering, he is plagued by one constant question: is he lucky, or unlucky? This is his answer: he's the luckiest man alive.’

This book interested me from the get go because this is based on the true story of the dude who survived two atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I must add that it’s pretty loosely based on it, I think the basic story is there but flourished with a few fictional things.

I didn’t expect to get as emotional as I did with this, I almost cried on the train reading the ending of this. It starts out portraying the main character as a cold, unloving selfish asshat and his character journey is incredible. You really end up rooting for the three main characters through out the HORRORS that they endure.

There’s a good chunk of societal commentary of the war, America and Japan, the fruitlessness of fighting and bombing and hurting. There’s a lot about Japanese government in there and it was super interesting to read!

[Adelyne · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars.

Despite the premise that I found interesting especially given the time/place setting and its basis on a true story, I struggled to get along with the writing style of this one. Although I felt for his experiences in the war, I thought the protagonist was written as a properly unlikeable person - not sure if this is based on true fact or the writer's liberties - and I hated how he looked down on everyone from women he was seeing to just general acquaintances. And, if I'm honest, I don't quite get the point of the plot events covered in the book. Yes, it features as a main character someone that has gone through something horrible and statistically very unlikely, but instead of reflecting on these events the book seemed to focus more on relatively mundane aspects of his life.

The author tries, and in my opinion fails quite miserably, to imitate the style of a Japanese writer. I would have much preferred this book had he just written it in his own style i.e. a reporter who covers Japan but is not personally ingrained in the culture, rather than trying to be something he clearly is not. I started losing interest about a third-way through and speed-read to the end to see if the vibe changes but it was pretty much that way till the end.

[Jon Mountjoy]

A man survives the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima, drags himself out of the flattened and burned out city to travel to Nagasaki, just in time for the second atomic bomb. He survives this too, and asks himself if he's really lucky, or really unlucky. Apparently there were people who survived both, and this tale draws a picture of what it must have been like.

A tale of redemption, chance and human nature - along the way uncovering a little about what Japan was like at the time, a little about the attitude of America, the propaganda on both sides (for example Japan convincing its own citizens that they were going to win the war, America about covering up the nature of radiation poisoning) - and of course the gruesome nature of these bombs and the utter and horrific destruction they cause.

I enjoyed the book, even if I did read the paragraphs describing the gruesome aftermath rather quickly - it's an undeniable part of the story.

As an aside: Ever since learning about these bombings in school, I could never undertand why the second bomb was dropped. It felt totally uncalled for, almost immoral. The book says a little about it - not enough to change my school boy thoughts.

[Reuben Davey · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly tragic and interesting story and a man who survived both nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. I liked how you really go on this journey of survival with the main character and other good side characters are introduced. It really went into detail about the horrors of the explosion and more specifically, the horrors experienced in the days following from the explosion, which was quite an eye opener. It felt quite educational too reading about the various side effects the population experienced. Great story.

[Lea Manning · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very emotional story that vividly depicts the devastating effects of nuclear power. Although horrifying, these events must remain active in our minds to prevent reoccurrence. I had thought and hoped that this book was an autobiography but was not disappointed by the way William Cole presented his novel.