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mehsi's review against another edition
5.0
I generally don't like verse.
I feel like someone just grabbed a good story, grabbed some scissors and went off to snip at random places and paste them like that. It felt unhinged. Still this book was good, since it also had some normal story telling.
This book is about a dark period in the history of the US. After the bombing on Pearl Harbour there was a time where people were suspicion of Japanese people, started to shun them, call them names, restrict them in their ways, and eventually had them "evacuated" to camps, where they had to stay for years.
This is the story of one such Japanese person, a little girl, who doesn't understand why everything is happening, is doing her best at becoming American. She gets put in a camp, and she tells us about her experiences, she writes letters to her best friend (yes, miraculously not everyone was hating on Japanese people), and later also writes and gets letters from her brother. She also writes to her brother. In between that we get a very stunning look on her life during this period. Camps, with barely anything, classes where they are taught about being an American, and how they eventually after years, were freed and how they got home.
I would truly recommend this book to everyone. Read it!
I feel like someone just grabbed a good story, grabbed some scissors and went off to snip at random places and paste them like that. It felt unhinged. Still this book was good, since it also had some normal story telling.
This book is about a dark period in the history of the US. After the bombing on Pearl Harbour there was a time where people were suspicion of Japanese people, started to shun them, call them names, restrict them in their ways, and eventually had them "evacuated" to camps, where they had to stay for years.
This is the story of one such Japanese person, a little girl, who doesn't understand why everything is happening, is doing her best at becoming American. She gets put in a camp, and she tells us about her experiences, she writes letters to her best friend (yes, miraculously not everyone was hating on Japanese people), and later also writes and gets letters from her brother. She also writes to her brother. In between that we get a very stunning look on her life during this period. Camps, with barely anything, classes where they are taught about being an American, and how they eventually after years, were freed and how they got home.
I would truly recommend this book to everyone. Read it!
bernee's review against another edition
5.0
A very powerful little book. I learned so much about what happened to Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor - very sad. This book needs to be read in history class!
buoymehome's review against another edition
5.0
Wonderful moment of reading.
In verses, in a fluid way, we are taken through the life of Masako and her family, following the attack on Pearl Harbor. What does it mean to be American when you are young Japanese, parked inside a camp, thousands miles away from your home?
In verses, in a fluid way, we are taken through the life of Masako and her family, following the attack on Pearl Harbor. What does it mean to be American when you are young Japanese, parked inside a camp, thousands miles away from your home?
ameschreiber's review against another edition
5.0
Beautifully written free verse narrative about an ugly time in US history; reminiscent of Out of the Dust
novelesque_life's review against another edition
3.0
3 STARS
(I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review).
Dust of Eden is a short story/novella that tells the story of Mina who is American but is only seen as Japanese when Pearl Harbor is attacked. We see how their life evolves from 1940 to 1945. The short story often turns into poetry. I think it worked better as a full-length novel.
(I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review).
Dust of Eden is a short story/novella that tells the story of Mina who is American but is only seen as Japanese when Pearl Harbor is attacked. We see how their life evolves from 1940 to 1945. The short story often turns into poetry. I think it worked better as a full-length novel.
fernweh85's review against another edition
4.0
I received a copy of this via netgalley and it was the first time I have ever read anything regarding the Japanese internment camps. Honestly I knew precious little about that aspect of history and it made a very interesting read.
Although at first I found the prose a little different to anything I've read before - part poetry, part letters, part diary-style retelling - I found it kept my interest hearing from several of the main characters.
I tore through this book in a couple of hours and would be interested in reading more on this topic. My only slight criticism is that Mina was so endearing I would have liked to have known her a little better by the end of the book.
Although at first I found the prose a little different to anything I've read before - part poetry, part letters, part diary-style retelling - I found it kept my interest hearing from several of the main characters.
I tore through this book in a couple of hours and would be interested in reading more on this topic. My only slight criticism is that Mina was so endearing I would have liked to have known her a little better by the end of the book.
daisey's review against another edition
3.0
This is a poignant story of a young Japanese American girl's experience following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It details her thoughts and emotions as people start to treat her differently, her father is arrested, and her family is forced to leave their home in Seattle for an internment camp. Through Mina's eyes we see the devastating effects of these events on her family and her personal struggle to define her own identity. At the same time we see how the family perseveres with quiet strength to make the best of a situation that was completely out of their control.
Written mostly in verse, but interspersed with letters between characters, this was a quick read for me. However, I can see the format and slow start making it difficult for some younger readers to be drawn into the story.
* I received an electronic copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review.
Written mostly in verse, but interspersed with letters between characters, this was a quick read for me. However, I can see the format and slow start making it difficult for some younger readers to be drawn into the story.
* I received an electronic copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review.
alainajreads's review
3.5
Actual rating: 3.5/5
This one didn’t impact me quite as much as other books I’ve read about Japanese-Americans during WWII (We Are Not Free & They Called Us Enemy), as it was much shorter and less in-depth, and I couldn’t get into it quite as much. There was conflict between Mina, the 13 year old protagonist’s, anger at the US Government for interning her family in the camp, and her sense of patriotism, but the resolution of “now I know what it means to be a real American” felt a little abrupt. I wish there were more entries for each month and I noticed some typos.
On the other hand, I do enjoy novels in verse and though the use of freestyle verse wasn’t always as effective in some other novels in verse I’ve read, it used powerful metaphors of growth and change through Mina’s Grandfather’s rose garden. (I enjoyed Mina’s Grandpa’s character especially, while it was harder to connect to Mina’s own character development.) I also enjoyed the element of letter correspondence between Mina and her brother Nick, and her friend from back home, Jamie.
This one didn’t impact me quite as much as other books I’ve read about Japanese-Americans during WWII (We Are Not Free & They Called Us Enemy), as it was much shorter and less in-depth, and I couldn’t get into it quite as much. There was conflict between Mina, the 13 year old protagonist’s, anger at the US Government for interning her family in the camp, and her sense of patriotism, but the resolution of “now I know what it means to be a real American” felt a little abrupt. I wish there were more entries for each month and I noticed some typos.
On the other hand, I do enjoy novels in verse and though the use of freestyle verse wasn’t always as effective in some other novels in verse I’ve read, it used powerful metaphors of growth and change through Mina’s Grandfather’s rose garden. (I enjoyed Mina’s Grandpa’s character especially, while it was harder to connect to Mina’s own character development.) I also enjoyed the element of letter correspondence between Mina and her brother Nick, and her friend from back home, Jamie.