Books
by Julie Otsuka
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The Buddha in the Attic |
This is the story of 'mail order brides' who left Japan for California in the early 20th century. After wide research into personal memories Otsuka creates a collective voice - 'we learned'... 'some of us' - rather than individual stories, and it works amazingly well, from stunned disappointment (where were those handsome, successful husbands?) through bewilderment, alienation, backbreaking labour, and finally the tragic deportation to WW II camps for Enemy Aliens. Poetic, incantatory, haunting, absolutely beautiful!
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 86 Autumn 2017) |
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