GODZILLA ON MY MIND: Fifty Years of the King of Monsters, by William Tsutsui. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, 240 pp., $12.95 (paper).
Toward the end of "Godzilla on My Mind," William Tsutsui tells us that "Godzilla lives on in the hearts and minds of those who grew up with him, those who can never forget his haunting roar and resounding footsteps, those who love him." As Tsutsui clearly is one of those who possess strong feelings for the monster, we believe him when he asserts that there are people out there who can "never forget" Godzilla.
What, however, of those of us who have only vague memories, at best, of watching, circa age 11, a Godzilla movie or two. Our feelings for the big guy fall well short of love. Is there anything this book for us? The answer is yes, and not the least of this volume's pleasures is seeing how the nostalgic longing that Tsutsui and his fellow fans have for Godzilla shapes the various narratives Tsutsui spins around the monster's 50 years of life.