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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
Walaupun blurb buku macam cerita cinta, tapi sebenarnya bukan cerita cinta pun.
Aku paling suka tengok growth Alex dalam cerita ni walaupun penuu dengan trauma gitewhhhh
Quite refreshing utk aku baca buku WW2 dari POV japanese american sebab selalunya dari POV Jews ja
Aku paling suka tengok growth Alex dalam cerita ni walaupun penuu dengan trauma gitewhhhh
Quite refreshing utk aku baca buku WW2 dari POV japanese american sebab selalunya dari POV Jews ja
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I loved this book so much. I did not expect it to be this good.
3.5 stars. I loved Charlie, so the first half of the book was great. The audiobook reader did a great job reading her letters in her French accent (“I am laughing now” - cracked me up every time). Then it became a lot less Charlie, and a lot more battles, and it wasn’t as much my type of book. Still, this was very well done, horrifying, and emotional. Great writing - just wanted more Charlie.
Fantastic addicting historical—yet incredibly timely—novel. I love books like this, that use a historical moment to talk about the present. This book is set in World War 2, largely about the internment of Japanese Americans. Charlie and Alex are penpals. Both find themselves in WW2 being treated like outsiders: Alex, as a Japanese American, and Charlie as a Parisian Jew. The book uses letters in such a great way for us to get to know the characters, and to see their similarities. Charlie has some incredible lines that really feel particularly resonant in 2021, my favorite being:
“My Parisians are not evil. Or even cowards. They are only people—good people—who are now too busy and tired and distracted, trying to survive in these difficult times. But this is how evil grows, no? When good people are too tired.”
This functions as a sort of thesis for the book. At one point in the book, Alex thinks: “That’s America for you, An absurd contradiction.” I love how this book shows the complex problem of evil in our world, particularly evil in our government and systems. There are Americans who stand up for the Japanese population, Americans who are their friends, and Americans who remain silent. Americans who were once friends who are quickly swept into “patriotic” propaganda and discriminate. But ultimately, no one stops them from being sent to internment camps. No one stops Charlie from being sent to concentration camps. As the war toils on, Japanese Americans are recruited to be soldiers, promised honor and the American dream when that’s so clearly been proven to be a lie in their lives. Even though an all-Japanese American unit frees camps and makes major victories, they are largely unspoken of. This book reminds us to be vigilant, and to focus our attention on what really matters. It reminds us how easily we can be swayed to be distracted and busy with our own lives, our own concerns, while remaining silent about the injustices done to others.
The book is realistic, not shying away from the unfairness of life. Yet there are still glimmers of hope and beauty.
There’s also this wonderfully fantastic image of the leaping frog, subverting the frog that stays complacent in warming water until it’s boiled. Refusing to lose courage in the face of evil, Charlie insists that she is “still the leaping frog.”
“My Parisians are not evil. Or even cowards. They are only people—good people—who are now too busy and tired and distracted, trying to survive in these difficult times. But this is how evil grows, no? When good people are too tired.”
This functions as a sort of thesis for the book. At one point in the book, Alex thinks: “That’s America for you, An absurd contradiction.” I love how this book shows the complex problem of evil in our world, particularly evil in our government and systems. There are Americans who stand up for the Japanese population, Americans who are their friends, and Americans who remain silent. Americans who were once friends who are quickly swept into “patriotic” propaganda and discriminate. But ultimately, no one stops them from being sent to internment camps. No one stops Charlie from being sent to concentration camps. As the war toils on, Japanese Americans are recruited to be soldiers, promised honor and the American dream when that’s so clearly been proven to be a lie in their lives. Even though an all-Japanese American unit frees camps and makes major victories, they are largely unspoken of. This book reminds us to be vigilant, and to focus our attention on what really matters. It reminds us how easily we can be swayed to be distracted and busy with our own lives, our own concerns, while remaining silent about the injustices done to others.
The book is realistic, not shying away from the unfairness of life. Yet there are still glimmers of hope and beauty.
There’s also this wonderfully fantastic image of the leaping frog, subverting the frog that stays complacent in warming water until it’s boiled. Refusing to lose courage in the face of evil, Charlie insists that she is “still the leaping frog.”
There's a lot of historical fiction out there about WWII, but this one has a unique perspective. Much of the book is an exchange of letters between a Japanese-American boy (who spends time in one of the internment camps) and his pen pal, a Jewish girl in Paris.
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Excellent YA historical fiction. Tells a lot about a shameful aspect of America during WWII that I don’t see frequently discussed or written about in novels - the internment of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor. The main characters in this story are fiction, but well-rounded and full of depth/personality. Many factual historical references to people and events are included as well. It’s a gripping and engaging read, but also difficult and sad because it doesn’t shy away from describing wartime atrocities. (Death by gunfire and other violence, disease, starvation. Mentions concentration camps like Auschwitz and the death and starvation there, etc) For this reason, I’d recommend for mature 13+, maybe really mature 12+ if they already have a bit of knowledge on the holocaust and can handle the intensity of descriptions of WWII.
Andrew Fukuda’s This Light Between Us is a historical novel that gives readers the perspective of a Japanese American during WWII and the construction of Japanese Internment camps. The novel provides a main character, Alex Maki, that grows through his journey. Alex begins as a shy kid that feels like an outsider, but by the end he grows into a confident role and actively fights against injustice. The novel produces themes of fighting injustice and not being a bystander to evil. The writer provides intertextuality through letters written between Alex and his French and Jewish pen-pal, Charlie, which gives a more complete picture of the differing realities between the injustices done to the Japanese American and Jewish communities during World War II. This Light Between Us gives an unconventional perspective compared to the typical novel set in this time period. It was interesting to read about the mistreatment of Japanese Americans following the bombing at Pearl Harbor, and it inspires me to learn more about the history of Japanese Internment camps. This is a good example of a YA novel providing historical accuracy to readers wanting to learn more about the injustice done to and the bravery of Japanese Americans following the bombing at Pearl Harbor.
Andrew Fukuda tackles the Japanese American experience This Light Between Us. Teenager Alex Maki begins a penpal friendship with Charlie, a Jewish girl in Paris in the ‘30s. As Pearl Harbor is attacked and war breaks out, author Fukuda draws parallels between the two as each character begins to be labeled enemies of the state. Japanese American Alex and his family face discrimination and ultimately internment, and Alex wonders what has happened to Charlie as the Nazis occupy France. He jumps at the chance to enlist in the Army as a way to escape the camp. Fukuda takes true-to-life events -- the forced relocation of Japanese American families, the formation of an all Japanese-American Combat Team -- and brings them to life on the page, addressing the racism they faced and the horrors of WWII. Throughout, Alex and Charlie’s friendship is lovingly detailed through letters and an unusual connection. This is a teen novel, but it has a lot of appeal for adult readers as well.
The Light Between Us is a well researched historical novel that focuses on Japanese interment camps in America, and the Japanese American 442 military unit. Both of these topics, aren’t widely talked about, and Andrew Fukuda, uses Alex Maki to illustrate the injustices Japanese Americans faced during WWII.
At the beginning, I found myself getting lost in the pages. I couldn’t read fast enough to find out what happened to the Maki family. Once Alex and his family come to the internment camp, the novel slowed to a more leisurely pace, and I found that my mind started to wander. When, Alex joins the army, the writing becomes more factual and at times it felt like I was reading a nonfictional book rather than a YA novel. The novel overall is good, I just wished it was more evenly paced.
At the beginning, I found myself getting lost in the pages. I couldn’t read fast enough to find out what happened to the Maki family. Once Alex and his family come to the internment camp, the novel slowed to a more leisurely pace, and I found that my mind started to wander. When, Alex joins the army, the writing becomes more factual and at times it felt like I was reading a nonfictional book rather than a YA novel. The novel overall is good, I just wished it was more evenly paced.