'A compelling, powerful portrait of a terrible endurance. Terrific' The Times Four months after Pearl Harbor, signs begin appearing up and down the West Coast instructing all persons of Japanese ancestry to report to 'assembly centers'. For one family - reclassified, virtually overnight, as unwelcome enemies - it is the beginning of a nightmare of oppression and alienation that will alter their lives forever. There is the mother, reeling from the order to 'evacuate', and the daughter, travelling on the long train journey ...
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'A compelling, powerful portrait of a terrible endurance. Terrific' The Times Four months after Pearl Harbor, signs begin appearing up and down the West Coast instructing all persons of Japanese ancestry to report to 'assembly centers'. For one family - reclassified, virtually overnight, as unwelcome enemies - it is the beginning of a nightmare of oppression and alienation that will alter their lives forever. There is the mother, reeling from the order to 'evacuate', and the daughter, travelling on the long train journey away from freedom. There is the son, who struggles to adapt to their new life in the dust of the Utah desert, and the father, who, after four bitter years in captivity, returns to his family a stranger. Based on a true story, Julie Otsuka's powerful, deeply humane first novel tells of a forgotten generation who found themselves imprisoned in their own country, and evokes an unjustly overlooked episode in America's wartime history. 'Outstandingly accomplished and moving' Sunday Telegraph 'Exceptional' New Yorker LONGLISTED FOR THE ORANGE PRIZE WINNER OF THE ASIAN AMERICAN LITERARY AWARD 2003 WINNER OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION ALEX AWARD 2003
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Illuminating as to the feeling's of Americans to Japanese/American's after Pearl Harbor. Fear played such a large part in every aspect of WW II. A great book to read !!
pamela1717
Apr 2, 2008
Simple and emotional
Very stark and removed and I assume that was the intention of the author. I think the starkness serves a large purpose for the story. Many books spend time on character development and story line (not a bad thing), this one doesn't. By omitting these I think the author sets the reader up to imagine so much more than an author can supply and to ask themselves "What if this happened to me?"
Rubycanary
Jan 23, 2008
gorgeous and sad
This is a fantastic depiction of a subject that hasn't been written about nearly enough in contemporary American literature. A family of unknown name, but of Japanese origin, is the example of a common tale. People told to leave their homes to live a life in the desert of Utah. Declared enemies of the state, and told to show their loyalty to the US by allowing themselves to be locked up for years.
The only character given a name is a presumably white girl who dares to write letters to the unnamed boy.
The book is simple, beautiful, and very successfully makes its point.
