Facing the Wave by Gretel Ehrlich

Facing the Wave by Gretel Ehrlich

Kirkus Best Books of the Year - Kansas City Star Best Books of the Year

A passionate student of Japanese poetry, theater, and art for much of her life, Gretel Ehrlich felt compelled to return to the earthquake-and-tsunami-devastated Tohoku coast to bear witness, listen to survivors, and experience their terror and exhilaration in villages and towns where all shelter and hope seemed lost. In an eloquent narrative that blends strong reportage, poetic observation, and deeply felt reflection, she takes us into the upside-down world of northeastern Japan, where nothing is certain and where the boundaries between living and dying have been erased by water.

The stories of rice farmers, monks, and wanderers; of fishermen who drove their boats up the steep wall of the wave; and of an eighty-four-year-old geisha who survived the tsunami to hand down a song that only she still remembered are both harrowing and inspirational. Facing death, facing life, and coming to terms with impermanence are equally compelling in a landscape of surreal desolation, as the ghostly specter of Fukushima Daiichi, the nuclear power complex, spews radiation into the ocean and air. Facing the Wave is a testament to the buoyancy, spirit, humor, and strong-mindedness of those who must find their way in a suddenly shattered world.

Gretel Ehrlich divides her time between California and Wyoming. She is the winner of a National Endowment for the Arts award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters for Distinguished Prose award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her books include This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland, The Future of Ice: A Journey into Cold, and The Solace of Open Spaces.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780307949271
ISBN 10	0307949273
Title	Facing the Wave
Author	Gretel Ehrlich
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Random House USA Inc
Year published	2014-03-11
Number of pages	240
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.