Shambling Towards Hiroshima

I found nothing much to like about this satire. Perhaps I'm neither American nor Japanese? It falls short for me on several factors.

Syms Thorley is B-movie actor, where an obvious theme is the love of monster movies. I love ‘em, but I'm not the type to love everything about them - actors, writers, special effects, costumes, conventions, etc. So this doesn't do much for me, just a plot device for an alternate history of the second world war.

As a character, he started off as a roguish smart-talking person who's somewhat likeable, and ended up a sad despairing man unable to move on. The ridiculous things he did in between (specifically how he treats something supposed to be top secret) was only mildly funny, quite unrealistic, and very certainly doesn't go well with the seriousness and suddenness of the anti-nuclear diatribe towards the end.

It's a quick read, so I'd excuse the undeveloped supporting characters, there only to provide some dialogue, but mostly internal monologue.

The whole thing just doesn't jive for me, both from a literary point of view and from an empathic point of view.