BURNT SHADOWS by K. Shamsie, Merely a Smoldering Outline

I admired the message BURNT SHADOWS aims to emblazon but is awash in its overly ambitious objectives.  The story begins with the Japanese heroine, Hiroko, in Nagasaki the day the atomic bomb was unleashed.  Hiroko is a gifted linguistics, able to speak and deftly learn foreign languages.  Hiroko falls in love with Konrad, a German for whom she was working as a translator.  Konrad is killed in the bombing while Hiroko survives the devastation.  She moves to Tokyo where her language skills enable her financially & secures herself passage to India.  She sets out in 1947 to find Konrad's sister, Ilse.  Ilse, is also of German descent and married to a Brit.  Ilse & Hiroko form a lifetime friendship that spans the globe and years from 1945 to the 21st C.  Their lives are the underpinnings for the novel's intent:  to expose man's inhumanity in war.  Ilse tells her granddaughter, Kim, "I've lived through Hitler, Stalin, the Cold War, the British Empire, segregation, apartheid."  Hiroko shielded the horrors "too terrible to tell her son" only to wish she had "told everyone, written it down and put a copy in every school."  Shamsie brings in the war in Afghanistan, India & Pakistan conflicts and the attack on the World Trade Center.  Numerous pages state "This page intentionally left blank."  It's commendable  this anti-war novel also speaks of international camaraderie.  But, it fails miserably as a cohesive & engaging story worth your time.