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yodamom's review against another edition
3.0
I was interested in the lives the women had lived when brought here under the horrible conditions these women had been, Sold to men in America as wives, directly from Japan some not even passed puberty yet. The details are there, as they traveled through the experience. The are listed like a grocery list with little emotion. It is a collective or truths about the women "WE" their trip, their husbands, their work, their children, their encampment. Little details, big details. Then it just ends. I was disappointed, it felt like a warm up, then nothing.
nelley's review
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
elysenicole213's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Racism, and Racial slurs
jpark's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
lahoori's review against another edition
5.0
This novel was unique in its use of a collective voice. It was written as "we" and "us"' the very specific generation of Japanese picture brides who came to the US and suffered and thrived as a group. The picture brides, and their collective experiences are the main character, and the novel traces their lives through the landmarks of their lifetimes: the journey to the US as new brides, their first meeting of their husbands and sexual experiences as new wives, their working lives and its hardships and successes, their children and their marriages-- until the war. Then, they pack up and collectively disappear from American towns and cities and the narrative voice switches to the "we" of their fellow American citizens and neighbors who notice they have gone. At least for a while....until they are forgotten.
Some readers criticize the collective voice, but I found it incredibly moving and apt. Much has been made about the collective/group psychology of the Japanese, so telling the story as a group experience was clever. I was moved to tears in almost each chapter at the incredible hardships and beauty they found, collectively, as women, wives, mothers, and immigrants. The author cites quite an interesting list of memoirs she read for the novel and it is easy to imagine that some of the details are lifted from real life.
The story ends once they board the trains and leave their belongings and lives behind to go into the internment camps of WWIi. I was surprised the story ended there, but really, the picture brides and the communities of Japanese immigrants disappeared from the American consciousness then, on darkened trains rolling off into the harsh corners of Western states. So many Americans don't know/remember that the Japanese were interned and lost their homes, livelihoods, and presence in many of our communities. It was a very beautifully and carefully crafted novel.
Some readers criticize the collective voice, but I found it incredibly moving and apt. Much has been made about the collective/group psychology of the Japanese, so telling the story as a group experience was clever. I was moved to tears in almost each chapter at the incredible hardships and beauty they found, collectively, as women, wives, mothers, and immigrants. The author cites quite an interesting list of memoirs she read for the novel and it is easy to imagine that some of the details are lifted from real life.
The story ends once they board the trains and leave their belongings and lives behind to go into the internment camps of WWIi. I was surprised the story ended there, but really, the picture brides and the communities of Japanese immigrants disappeared from the American consciousness then, on darkened trains rolling off into the harsh corners of Western states. So many Americans don't know/remember that the Japanese were interned and lost their homes, livelihoods, and presence in many of our communities. It was a very beautifully and carefully crafted novel.
claire_hell's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
missyjohnson's review
2.0
book club 2.0 book, looking forward to the discussion because I did not like the book so much. I often find more to like when we discuss. I was not a fan of the writing style of the author. I found the use of the same phrase to start so many sentences to be monotonous. It may have been a good way to demonstrate the wide variety of choices or options but I found that I wanted to skip a lot of what was being written. I know that the style seemed to emphasis the diversity of people and also the anonymity. That was likely the point and I am just slow. The U.S. history during WWII with the Japanese-Americans is a shameful time. another reminder of how fear is allowed to dictate decisions concerning those of another culture that does not match our own.
elemmire's review against another edition
3.0
interesting take on Japanese immigrants. It is taken from the prospective of the women brought over as brides. I like that it was not one story, but the story of the whole group. It got a bit tedious with all the listing of this person and that. Many unnamed people's lives rattled off at each important moment of life (marriage, moving, child birth, the eventual round up). I would say it was unfocused, but I think that was the point.
utahmomreads's review against another edition
4.0
This review originally posted on my blog : http://utahmomslife.blogspot.com/2011/10/buddah-in-attic-book-review.html
I discovered this spare, little novel in my mailbox the other afternoon. I started reading it while I sat on my front steps watching my children ride their bikes and scooters down the sidewalks (I'm loving this warm, fall weather).
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka is compulsively readable. I really couldn't put it down, in spite of its unique and daring writing style. Otsuka doesn't just tell the story of one Japanese woman arriving on a boat to America as a mail-order bride. She simultaneously tells the stories of all the Japanese women arriving in America in the decades leading up to World War II. It is an interesting and mostly effective technique.
Most novels focus on a single or small group of characters. The reader comes to know and usually empathize with the characters. Novels are a powerful way to change perspective and thought processes. Perhaps they influence the reader to be more understanding of a certain group of people. They touch our hearts and open our minds--think beloved recent novels like The Help or A Thousand Splendid Suns. I don't believe someone can read a novel like this and not question their own perceptions and ideas at least a little.
In The Buddha in the Attic, Otsuka uses a very different style. She never focuses on a single woman. She doesn't give them names. They are like many of us see them--an immigrant group, indistinguishable from one another. Yet, at the same time, she tells their individual stories in America and then their common fate as the country rounds them up and sends them to internment camps during the war.
Spend an afternoon with The Buddha in the Attic. Let your heart be touched and your mind be opened.
I discovered this spare, little novel in my mailbox the other afternoon. I started reading it while I sat on my front steps watching my children ride their bikes and scooters down the sidewalks (I'm loving this warm, fall weather).
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka is compulsively readable. I really couldn't put it down, in spite of its unique and daring writing style. Otsuka doesn't just tell the story of one Japanese woman arriving on a boat to America as a mail-order bride. She simultaneously tells the stories of all the Japanese women arriving in America in the decades leading up to World War II. It is an interesting and mostly effective technique.
Most novels focus on a single or small group of characters. The reader comes to know and usually empathize with the characters. Novels are a powerful way to change perspective and thought processes. Perhaps they influence the reader to be more understanding of a certain group of people. They touch our hearts and open our minds--think beloved recent novels like The Help or A Thousand Splendid Suns. I don't believe someone can read a novel like this and not question their own perceptions and ideas at least a little.
In The Buddha in the Attic, Otsuka uses a very different style. She never focuses on a single woman. She doesn't give them names. They are like many of us see them--an immigrant group, indistinguishable from one another. Yet, at the same time, she tells their individual stories in America and then their common fate as the country rounds them up and sends them to internment camps during the war.
Spend an afternoon with The Buddha in the Attic. Let your heart be touched and your mind be opened.