When the Waves Came

Larson brings home the impact of the 2011 tsunami and nuclear meltdown through intimate portraits of everyday Japanese people.

Larson follows the lives of a hairdresser, a cafe owner, a cattle rancher, and a nuclear-energy worker from the moment the 2011 tsunami hit Japan’s Tohoku region through the subsequent years of recovery, grief, and frustration. In simple, straightforward prose, Larson chronicles their attempts to recover what they had lost despite a government response replete with missed opportunities and predictable missteps.