太陽の子 ・ 灰谷健次郎

『赤ん坊の泣き声が敵に漏れたら全滅だ、おまえの子供を始末しなさい、それがみんなのためだ、国の為だ、天皇陛下の為だ。わし達を守りに来た兵隊が言ったんだ。沖縄の子供たちが死んで、その兵隊が生き残った。』

This book evolves around a 11 year old girl, Fuuchan, who lives with her parents who run an Okinawan restaurant in Kobe.  The story, presumably set in the 1950s/60s, follows Fuuchan as she tries to find out the true reason behind her fathers illness. 

***

Nothing much happens for the beggining half of the book. The end half of the book does have some thought-provoking moments, as well as one more-than-too-vivid recollection of WW2, but I can't say "it left me in tears" like how other reviews suggest. Maybe I am just heartless. That said, the relationship between Fuuchan and her teacher was quite interesting, as was the way Fuuchan's friend, Kiyoshi, deals with the life he has been given. 

"Taiyo no ko Teda no fa" was made into a film and a TV drama in the 1980s, so it obviously did have something going for it. I'm obviously just missing it.  

I will only remember this book for the strong Kobe dialect used throughout :-)