Books by Ian Buruma
language
English
review 1: We like to think of history as a long salami: rectilinear and to be cut up in easily digested slices. Ian Buruma's "Year Zero" shows that reality is messier and more complex. The first year after the end of WWII, far from being a tranquil oasis of peace, was turbulent and difficu...
language
English
review 1: I heard Buruma talk engagingly at the Sydney Writers Festival this year and bought the hardback.It is important to see that Buruma is covering the world stage, this book is not just about the devastation in Europe. Some reviewers have missed this point. That said, in a book of ma...
language
English
review 1: Parts I and II of this were good, and I enjoyed them. (The first-person narrator of Part II is a very thinly disguised Donald Richie, by the way, in case that might interest you.) But part III was silly almost beyond belief, and I'm still wondering what could have possibly been ...
language
English
review 1: I tried. I was keen to read about Japan and China. But I just never 'got' there. I tried again and my mind wandered. The print of the edition I got from the library was too small, I needed my glasses. I could never get out of bed to get my glasses. I wanted to read it. I just los...