The novel Atonement is initially set in the English countryside prior to WWII. McEwan sets up the classic chaotic country house. It includes an ineffectual mother, an absent father, three cousins staying as their parents divorce, and the oldest son home for a visit with a friend. Briony is 13 at the time and constantly writing. McEwan captures a 13 year olds view of herself as the center of the universe perfectly.
Briony’s older sister, Cecilia, is home from college and trying to figure out why she’s having trouble getting along with Robbie. Robbie is the son of their cleaning lady and a friend since the age of 7. One of the things that McEwan does best is to describe feelings.
“This was what happened when they talked these days; one or the other was always in the wrong, trying to call back the last remark. There was no ease, no stability in the course of their conversations, no chance to relax. Instead, it was spikes, traps, and awkward turns that caused her to dislike herself almost as much as she disliked him.”
Cecilia and Robbie realize almost simultaneously that they are in love. They have one brief moment together before the events of that night unfold. Briony plays a role in separating them and the juxtaposition between the house in the countryside and Robbie fighting in the war is masterful. Robbie is involved in a horrific retreat from France and keeps flashing back to his former life.
“It seemed like another man’s life to him now. A dead civilization. First his own life ruined, then everybody else’s.”
I highly recommend Atonement and it is on my list of my favorite 10 novels. I don’t usually like reading about war, but the story here is so interesting the war scenes are worth it.
Showing posts with label WWII. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WWII. Show all posts
Friday, September 3, 2010
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
What a great title! This novel, set in Seattle during World War II and 1986, follows Chinese American Henry Lee. Henry is twelve years old in 1942 and has recently had his parents tell him to speak only English. This is difficult as although Henry goes to an all white school on scholarship, his parents only speak Chinese. His father follows the war effort closely and has significant interest in seeing the Japanese defeated in China. He has Henry wear a button that states, “I am Chinese.”
In Seattle at the time Chinatown and Japantown were very close geographically but separate entities, and when a Japanese student, Keiko Okabe, starts at Henry’s school he is unsure what to make of her. They soon become good friends as they are both scholarship students and have to work together at the school. The story revolves around their growing friendship, Henry’s clashes with his dad over this friendship, and the impending internment of Keiko and her family.
I’ve read a few books about the impact of Japanese internment camps on Japanese Americans, including the novel Snow Falling on Cedars and more recently the non-fiction book Stubborn Twig. This novel addresses a few more issues I’ve never considered. There were thousands of Japanese Americans living in Seattle. How were they relocated? What happened to their property and their belongings? The descriptions of the temporary camp at the Puyallup Washington State Fairgrounds and the more permanent one in Minidoka, Idaho seem unreal.
The story of Henry as a young teen during World War II is interspersed with Henry’s life in 1986. He’s now widowed and has a college age son. Henry hears about belongings from World War II found in an old hotel and that starts him on a search to find out what happened to Keiko. I highly recommend this book. It is much more readable than Stubborn Twig and also gives some insight into what other ethnic groups felt about the Japanese relocation and internment.
In Seattle at the time Chinatown and Japantown were very close geographically but separate entities, and when a Japanese student, Keiko Okabe, starts at Henry’s school he is unsure what to make of her. They soon become good friends as they are both scholarship students and have to work together at the school. The story revolves around their growing friendship, Henry’s clashes with his dad over this friendship, and the impending internment of Keiko and her family.
I’ve read a few books about the impact of Japanese internment camps on Japanese Americans, including the novel Snow Falling on Cedars and more recently the non-fiction book Stubborn Twig. This novel addresses a few more issues I’ve never considered. There were thousands of Japanese Americans living in Seattle. How were they relocated? What happened to their property and their belongings? The descriptions of the temporary camp at the Puyallup Washington State Fairgrounds and the more permanent one in Minidoka, Idaho seem unreal.
The story of Henry as a young teen during World War II is interspersed with Henry’s life in 1986. He’s now widowed and has a college age son. Henry hears about belongings from World War II found in an old hotel and that starts him on a search to find out what happened to Keiko. I highly recommend this book. It is much more readable than Stubborn Twig and also gives some insight into what other ethnic groups felt about the Japanese relocation and internment.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Stubborn Twig by Lauren Kessler
This book takes a factual look at multiple generations of the Yasui Family. Masuo Yasui arrived from Japan via Seattle in 1904 to work on the railroad, meeting up with other members of his family. He lived in Portland for a time where he learned English and converted to being a Methodist. He settled in Hood River in 1908. His wife, Shidzuyo, was a well-educated Japanese woman who knew Masuo and his family before he left home at 16. She came to the United States as Masuo’s wife in 1912. Masuo and Shidzuyo are known as Issei or the first generation of Japanese to settle in the United States.
The story of Masuo and Shidzuyo begins like every immigrant’s dream. Masuo opens a store in Hood River that becomes quite successful. They start a family. They begin to buy land and become very involved in the fruit business. However, they were not allowed to become citizens because of a law, more than 100 years old, “that declared nonwhites ineligible for citizenship.” And, then in 1924, Oregon passes the Alien Land Law making it illegal for non-citizens to own land. It is possible to get around this law by putting the land in the names of their children, known as Nisei or Second Generation, who are citizens of the United States.
“By 1941 Masuo owned, co-owned or had interest in close to one thousand acres of orchard land, had a financial stake in one out of every ten boxes of apples and pears shipped out of Hood River and was the area’s biggest grower of several row crops. He had operated a successful store in the heart of downtown for a generation. He had a nice house on a quiet street in a middle-class neighborhood. One son was married and taking over some of the farm operations; another had a law degree. Three children were in college.”
Pearl Harbor changes everything. Read this book to find out what happens to one family of Japanese Americans, citizens and non-citizens, during World War II. The repercussions to the first, second and further generations of Japanese Americans are serious. The culpability of the state of Oregon and the town of Hood River in this loss of land and relocation are astounding. What would Hood River or Oregon look like today if this hadn’t happened? What would you have done if you lived at that time?
“People who spoke up for the Japanese were shunned. When the mother of one of Yuka’s hakujin friends (Masuo’s daughter’s friend) defended the Japanese to the women in her literary club, she was met with silence and stony stares. Her friends rejected her so completely that she took to her sickbed and later left town for several months to stay with her sister.”
Stubborn Twig is part of Deschutes County Public Libraries 2009 A Novel Idea. Also, as a celebration of Oregon’s 150th year of statehood, the book is part of Oregon Reads sponsored by the Oregon Library Association. I am interested to find out what events related to this book will be happening in Bend.
The story of Masuo and Shidzuyo begins like every immigrant’s dream. Masuo opens a store in Hood River that becomes quite successful. They start a family. They begin to buy land and become very involved in the fruit business. However, they were not allowed to become citizens because of a law, more than 100 years old, “that declared nonwhites ineligible for citizenship.” And, then in 1924, Oregon passes the Alien Land Law making it illegal for non-citizens to own land. It is possible to get around this law by putting the land in the names of their children, known as Nisei or Second Generation, who are citizens of the United States.
“By 1941 Masuo owned, co-owned or had interest in close to one thousand acres of orchard land, had a financial stake in one out of every ten boxes of apples and pears shipped out of Hood River and was the area’s biggest grower of several row crops. He had operated a successful store in the heart of downtown for a generation. He had a nice house on a quiet street in a middle-class neighborhood. One son was married and taking over some of the farm operations; another had a law degree. Three children were in college.”
Pearl Harbor changes everything. Read this book to find out what happens to one family of Japanese Americans, citizens and non-citizens, during World War II. The repercussions to the first, second and further generations of Japanese Americans are serious. The culpability of the state of Oregon and the town of Hood River in this loss of land and relocation are astounding. What would Hood River or Oregon look like today if this hadn’t happened? What would you have done if you lived at that time?
“People who spoke up for the Japanese were shunned. When the mother of one of Yuka’s hakujin friends (Masuo’s daughter’s friend) defended the Japanese to the women in her literary club, she was met with silence and stony stares. Her friends rejected her so completely that she took to her sickbed and later left town for several months to stay with her sister.”
Stubborn Twig is part of Deschutes County Public Libraries 2009 A Novel Idea. Also, as a celebration of Oregon’s 150th year of statehood, the book is part of Oregon Reads sponsored by the Oregon Library Association. I am interested to find out what events related to this book will be happening in Bend.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Bat 6 by Virginia Euwer Wolff
The Deschutes County Public Library is doing something a little different for this year’s A Novel Idea. For the past five years one book has been selected with the idea being that the entire county will read it, and the book will hopefully generate community discussion and interest. For past choices, see this blog post about last year’s choice, The World to Come. However, this year three books, a memoir, a young adult book, and a children’s book, were chosen.
I started with the young adult novel, Bat 6, simply because it was readily available. This book initially did not sound that interesting to me as the story revolves around a sixth grade girls’ softball game. It is told in turn by both members of rival teams as they gear up for their annual game. This game is unique as it has been played since 1899 and this year, 1949, is the 50th anniversary of that first game. However, with a Japanese-American girl home from the internment camps on one team and a girl whose father was killed during the Pearl Harbor bombings on the other, the game does not go as anticipated.
I found it an interesting book, and, of course, it reminded me of one of my favorite books, Snow Falling on Cedars. I would be curious to know how well this plays to the intended audience. Will sixth graders appreciate the book? The consequences of a simple softball game are pretty serious and extend beyond the team players to the people in the towns involved. A quote from the author on the back page of the book: “Our daily news is filled with children doing horrifying thing, and I’m fascinated by the question: What is it we notice about these kids but decide not to acknowledge?”
I started with the young adult novel, Bat 6, simply because it was readily available. This book initially did not sound that interesting to me as the story revolves around a sixth grade girls’ softball game. It is told in turn by both members of rival teams as they gear up for their annual game. This game is unique as it has been played since 1899 and this year, 1949, is the 50th anniversary of that first game. However, with a Japanese-American girl home from the internment camps on one team and a girl whose father was killed during the Pearl Harbor bombings on the other, the game does not go as anticipated.
I found it an interesting book, and, of course, it reminded me of one of my favorite books, Snow Falling on Cedars. I would be curious to know how well this plays to the intended audience. Will sixth graders appreciate the book? The consequences of a simple softball game are pretty serious and extend beyond the team players to the people in the towns involved. A quote from the author on the back page of the book: “Our daily news is filled with children doing horrifying thing, and I’m fascinated by the question: What is it we notice about these kids but decide not to acknowledge?”
Saturday, October 25, 2008
The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
The Gift of Rain is set in Malaysia with most of the events taking place before and during World War II. Phillip Hutton is the youngest of four children in a wealthy British family living on the island of Penang. He feels somewhat estranged from his family as the only child born of his father’s second wife, who was Chinese. His father and the three oldest children head to England for their every fifth year trip while Phillip stays in Malaysia. It is during this time in 1939 that he meets Hayato Endo, a Japanese man who is renting a small island from the Hutton family.
Phillip’s friendship with Endo-san sets in motion a number of events that impact his family, Penang, and, according to this story, the Japanese occupation of Malaysia. The author does a remarkable job at getting across the complexity of Phillip’s being an heir to a British company, his connections to the Chinese community through his mother’s family, and his friendship with a man whose country is attacking his. Here Phillip begins to think about how Endo-san has impacted his life on the morning after Japanese troops land on Malaysian soil: “He had linked me to the war, to Japan’s ambitions, and this realization weighed me down as though I had been burdened with another identity, taken deep down to the floor of the ocean.”
The story does have a mystical part to it. Phillip shows Endo-san around Penang and they interact with a fortune-teller who tells them, “‘You and your friend have a past together, in a different time. And you have a greater journey to make. After this life.’” This and some other scenes add a somewhat surreal element at times, but also make some of both Phillip’s and Endo-san’s actions more believable. And, I wonder if it works better with a reader that believes in past lives.
The book reminded me of A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute, primarily as that was set partially in Malaysia and involved a death march under the Japanese army across the country. I’d like to read more stories set in Malaysia at this time (or any other), but told from a Malaysia person’s point-of-view. The Gift of Rain gets across the Chinese and British views of the Japanese occupation, but not the Malaysian. However, it is a remarkable book that examines complex interactions during a difficult time.
Phillip’s friendship with Endo-san sets in motion a number of events that impact his family, Penang, and, according to this story, the Japanese occupation of Malaysia. The author does a remarkable job at getting across the complexity of Phillip’s being an heir to a British company, his connections to the Chinese community through his mother’s family, and his friendship with a man whose country is attacking his. Here Phillip begins to think about how Endo-san has impacted his life on the morning after Japanese troops land on Malaysian soil: “He had linked me to the war, to Japan’s ambitions, and this realization weighed me down as though I had been burdened with another identity, taken deep down to the floor of the ocean.”
The story does have a mystical part to it. Phillip shows Endo-san around Penang and they interact with a fortune-teller who tells them, “‘You and your friend have a past together, in a different time. And you have a greater journey to make. After this life.’” This and some other scenes add a somewhat surreal element at times, but also make some of both Phillip’s and Endo-san’s actions more believable. And, I wonder if it works better with a reader that believes in past lives.
The book reminded me of A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute, primarily as that was set partially in Malaysia and involved a death march under the Japanese army across the country. I’d like to read more stories set in Malaysia at this time (or any other), but told from a Malaysia person’s point-of-view. The Gift of Rain gets across the Chinese and British views of the Japanese occupation, but not the Malaysian. However, it is a remarkable book that examines complex interactions during a difficult time.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
Snow Falling on Cedars is one of my all-time favorite books. This book has everything: a great setting, a mystery, romance, a clash of cultures, and resentment stemming from treatment during WWII.
The book primarily takes place on a fictional island in the San Juan Islands. I grew up near there so it brings back memories of my trips to the islands, but it also has the slightly different and exotic culture of living on an island. It is a mystery and an intriguing one: How did a local fisherman drown? That brings in the fishing culture. “Thus on San Piedro the silent-toiling, autonomous gillnetter became the collective image of the good man. He who was too gregarious, who spoke too much and too ardently desired the company of other, their conversation and their laughter, did not have what life required. Only insofar as he struggled with the sea could a man lay claim to his place in things.” (pg 39)
And, it is set right after WWII. The main suspect in the murder is a Japanese-American man who was sent to a camp and lost his strawberry farm during the war. When I first read this book I had no idea that had happened in the Pacific NW. The book starts in the courtroom with the trial of Kabuo Miyamoto and flashes back to other time periods and is told from various third person points-of-view.
A reporter, Ishmael Chambers, recalls his teenage love for Hatsue, who is now Kabuo’s wife. Guterson does a good job of capturing this first love amid the rainy island beauty. “Ishmael lay down with his hands propping up his chin and looked out at the rain. The inside of the tree felt private. He felt they would never be discovered here. The walls surrounding them were glossy and golden. It was surprising how much green-tinted light entered from the cedar forest. The rain echoed in the canopy of leaves above and beat against the sword ferns, which twitched under each drop. The rain afforded an even greater privacy; no one in the world would come this way to find them inside this tree.” (pg 111) Then Hatsue is sent away to a camp and Ishmael is drafted into the war.
In the present time they are all back on the island and the man Kabuo is accused of killing has taken over what was to be the family’s strawberry farm. It is an interesting look into the time after the war and how people may have reacted when those interred came back home. If you didn’t read this book when it came out, make sure to pick it up now. I am looking forward to reading his most recent book, The Other.
The book primarily takes place on a fictional island in the San Juan Islands. I grew up near there so it brings back memories of my trips to the islands, but it also has the slightly different and exotic culture of living on an island. It is a mystery and an intriguing one: How did a local fisherman drown? That brings in the fishing culture. “Thus on San Piedro the silent-toiling, autonomous gillnetter became the collective image of the good man. He who was too gregarious, who spoke too much and too ardently desired the company of other, their conversation and their laughter, did not have what life required. Only insofar as he struggled with the sea could a man lay claim to his place in things.” (pg 39)
And, it is set right after WWII. The main suspect in the murder is a Japanese-American man who was sent to a camp and lost his strawberry farm during the war. When I first read this book I had no idea that had happened in the Pacific NW. The book starts in the courtroom with the trial of Kabuo Miyamoto and flashes back to other time periods and is told from various third person points-of-view.
A reporter, Ishmael Chambers, recalls his teenage love for Hatsue, who is now Kabuo’s wife. Guterson does a good job of capturing this first love amid the rainy island beauty. “Ishmael lay down with his hands propping up his chin and looked out at the rain. The inside of the tree felt private. He felt they would never be discovered here. The walls surrounding them were glossy and golden. It was surprising how much green-tinted light entered from the cedar forest. The rain echoed in the canopy of leaves above and beat against the sword ferns, which twitched under each drop. The rain afforded an even greater privacy; no one in the world would come this way to find them inside this tree.” (pg 111) Then Hatsue is sent away to a camp and Ishmael is drafted into the war.
In the present time they are all back on the island and the man Kabuo is accused of killing has taken over what was to be the family’s strawberry farm. It is an interesting look into the time after the war and how people may have reacted when those interred came back home. If you didn’t read this book when it came out, make sure to pick it up now. I am looking forward to reading his most recent book, The Other.
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