Ghosts of the Tsunami
Death and Life in Japan's Disaster Zone
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Ghosts of the Tsunami
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Narrated by:
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Simon Vance
About this listen
Winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize 2018
On 11 March 2011, a massive earthquake sent a 120-foot-high tsunami smashing into the coast of Northeast Japan. By the time the sea retreated, more than 18,000 people had been crushed, burned to death, or drowned.
It was Japan's greatest single loss of life since the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. It set off a national crisis and the meltdown of a nuclear power plant. And even after the immediate emergency had abated, the trauma of the disaster continued to express itself in bizarre and mysterious ways.
Richard Lloyd Parry, an award-winning foreign correspondent, lived through the earthquake in Tokyo and spent six years reporting from the disaster zone. There he encountered stories of ghosts and hauntings. He met a priest who performed exorcisms on people possessed by the spirits of the dead. And he found himself drawn back again and again to a village which had suffered the greatest loss of all, a community tormented by unbearable mysteries of its own.
What really happened to the local children as they waited in the school playground in the moments before the tsunami? Why did their teachers not evacuate them to safety? And why was the unbearable truth being so stubbornly covered up?
Ghosts of the Tsunami is a classic of literary nonfiction, a heartbreaking and intimate account of an epic tragedy told through the personal accounts of those who lived through it. It tells the story of how a nation faced a catastrophe and the bleak struggle to find consolation in the ruins.
©2017 Richard Lloyd Parry (P)2017 Audible, LtdListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Ghosts of the Tsunami
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Steve Tipper
- 20-10-17
great read, factual and informative
Really enjoyed listening to this book, well written and goes to the core of humanity when disaster strikes. full range of emotions with a deeply spirtual twist
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Vincent C.
- 03-09-18
Hauntingly compelling
Just amazing, terrifying and tragic but the definition of a page turner, don't miss it
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Lucy
- 26-10-22
A tragic tale
This book was mostly about the school and it’s students who became victims of the tsunami in Japan, so wasn’t exactly what I expected from the titles description, however the stories of the people were very moving and the author has done them great justice in the retelling. Richard really captures the pain and suffering at the heart of such a tragic event, this book really pays homage to the victims and their families.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 25-02-21
Bad pronunciation
The pronunciation of Japanese words and names is really bad and a distraction. They should have chosen someone with a knowledge of Japanese pronunciation especially as this is the story of someone who has lived in Japan for a number of years.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- RuthieRavie
- 05-04-24
Sensitive and factual
Didn’t quite know what to expect - but was surprised at how sensitively the author had addressed this awful tragedy. The human side to the suffering and the grief - without being melodramatic and gushy. Well narrated too. Couldn’t stop listening - finished within 2 days. Felt very humbled by the Japanese people who suffered dreadful grief - yet still helped others … and the school children 😢. Was surprised at the outcome too. Recommended this read for its historical significance if nothing else .
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- JDH
- 15-06-20
Very powerful story and storytelling
I was very impressed with this story, which navigates the writer's own story, with those of those affected. Parry asks the right questions of the things he witnesses, and has the courage not to provide us with easy answers.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Ms. Jm Harrington
- 18-04-19
Engaging, Intriguing, Impossible to Put Down
I lost count of the number of late appointments because of this book! I would sit in the car after just a little more to hear told.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- RMacG
- 10-06-18
Highly recommend!
So compelling, sad, heart wrenching, moving and beautifully told. Such an interesting glimpse of Japanese culture too. Such a tragedy. One that the whole world may yet pay for, as Fukushima continues to seem radioactive material into the ocean 😕
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Yoshay
- 07-02-21
A must listen
Ghosts of the Tsunami is at once heartbreaking and at the same time exhilarating account of how we see life it the face of death. How we find the courage to go on, and how we lean on to the ghosts of the departed to make sense of our living, to heal and to see life beyond the dying.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- RI
- 22-08-23
Fabulous, haunting,
I vividly recall RLP reporting the devastation in the aftermath of the tsunami; the courage of the survivors and parents of lost children and their search for answers and justice is moving and humbling
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