I wished she made it more in chronological order. The only thing I didn't like was how she jumped all over the place! One minute you'd be on the island with Kuribayashi, then the next moment you're in present day at a memorial. I loved reading General Kuribayashi's letters to his wife and kids, I'm so glad that his family decided to share these letters.
I loved how the author included bits and pieces of actual letters, not just summarizing what the man said to his family. The book is like a car-crash, you can't help but read, even though it's terribly depressing. Out of about 23000, only 216 were taken prisoner alive. The men knew that they were more than likely never to return home. The only form of communication was to Head Quarters, I guess. At a certain point in time they stopped delivering letters from the island, so they were mostly isolated. The book only made me tear up a couple of times, mostly when she would share a 'final message' letter that the soldiers would write to their families. It was one of the bloodiest battles out of the whole war. I especially have a high respect for every man who fought in the Battle for Iwo Jima. Even though both of my grandfathers fought in WWII, I still can't help but respect and honor these men. Especially for the Japanese soldiers in WWII. As I said before, I have a respect for the Japanese. This is a true story based on their very real letters. Books like these are always hard to comment on.
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