This was such a beautifully researched work of fiction, it almost feels wrong not to categorize it as a biography. The book can’t be discussed without discussing its use of the first person plural, as in “Some of us read this book. Some of us only looked at it. Some of us never even heard of it.” It’s an unusual choice, and I could certainly see where it could get old. It’s a very slim book and for me, it was just starting to show some […]
When When the Emperor was Divine was just Ok
This is one of the okayest books I have ever read. That sounds mean maybe, and I am not trying be, but that’s what it is. At the end, I was like, yes ok, I read that. That book. The one I read. The story is about Japanese Internment, with especial focus on the order, the disappearance of a father, the children affected, and the accompanying racist milieu in the country at large. This is obviously a relevant topic today for plenty of reasons. We […]
A little piece of American history that is too often overlooked
I’ve been interested in learning more about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II for a while now. After reading The Japanese Lover earlier this year, my interest was piqued, and then I heard about The Buddha in the Attic (2011) by Julie Otsuka, Julie Otsuka tells the stories of Japanese picture brides immigrating to America in the early 1900’s. What makes this book unique but also challenging is that she writes in first person plural. The viewpoint is from an unknown number of various […]
Some of us Will Like this Book
Buddha in the Attic is an experimental novel about the immigrant women who came to the US from Japan in the 1920s and 1930s. How well this novel works for you will depend mostly on how much you like the experimental style the novel is written in. I was less fond of it, so while I found the novel to be worth reading and interesting, it didn’t really move me in anyway and I didn’t find it particularly memorable. Otsuka tells her story in the […]