When the atomic bomb was detonated over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, the narrator--an intersex individual known as H--was 13. All of a sudden, H's life was turned upside down, her family among the 200,000 victims annihilated, and her body transformed by the blast. Years later, in New York, she meets and falls in love with an American, Jim, who served in World War II, and their stories are intertwined with the search for a Japanese baby Jim cared for during the first five years of the child's life.
Marina Perezagua has written a haunting and strange tale that captures the reader from the get-go as she unveils tiny clues to the true nature of H's life and of the search she embarks on with Jim for the baby he tended. The story twists and meanders, providing insight into a life of duality experienced by some whose gender is not apparent at birth. There are also allusions to a murder, which isn't fully revealed until the end.
Recurring themes of parenthood, love and survivorship dominate this lyrical novel. Perezagua includes graphic details about the Hiroshima victims in the aftermath of the bombing, and she muses on the meaning of sex and sexual identity. While at times she is overly cryptic in her descriptions and slow with plot reveals, the overall effect is mesmerizing and beautiful. The Story of H unfolds like the petals of a flower, exposing humanity at its center. --Lee E. Cart, freelance writer and book reviewer