The Buddha in the Attic (Pen/Faulkner Award - Fiction)

I was just in Japan where I often pondered the distinctions between those who stayed and those who emigrated. I had great grandmothers who traveled across the sea to America. As a read this dream-like remembrance of so many women, I felt grateful for a glimpse of understanding.« The sea rose and fell. The damp air stifled. At night we dreamed of our husbands. We dreamed of new wooden sandals and endless bolts of indigo silk and of living, one day, in a house with a chimney. We dreamed we were lovely and tall. We dreamed we were back in the rice paddies, which we had so desperately wanted to escape. The rice paddy dreams were always nightmares. We dreamed of our older and prettier sisters who had been sold to the geisha houses by our fathers so that the rest of us might eat, and when we woke we were gasping for air. For a second I thought I was her. »

We are a book group of 12 and have been together for 12 years. We are mothers and wives. Some work - some don't. We gather once a month to talk about the book, but mostly talk about our kids. We are like most women in most book groups - opinionated, sometimes intellectual, sometimes irreverent. We always have fun. We are good friends.This is our first official book review. We chose "Buddha" before it was released - it was not yet on any top ten or top 100 list, bucket list, or best-seller list - lists we often choose from. There were no reviews. We entered our reading with no pre-existing sway. Some loved "Buddha" - others not so much. The book provoked great debate. It was a book we actually discussed at length. Together we share, in a less-than-perfect attempt at "collective voice":The happy hausfrau cum MSW, LCSW loved this work of poetry. "The form punched the story beautifully: basic humanity crumbles in the face of fear, war sucks, three pages of rape is a drop in ocean of what women have suffered in and out war time. Each paragraph (stanza?) told a hundred stories. This one small book told volumes of tales in plain, rhythmic language; like the breath and beating hearts of each individual she describes, but collectively! And what about the title of the book? And the single sentence in the text that refers to it?? Is the Buddha just a little piece of identity hidden but preserved, watching over the house? Or a representation "self/spirt" hidden away, denied, stifled in the dusty attic with with other ghosts? Identity and self quietly preserved and celebrated? Or a God demoted, obsolete and even dangerous to recognize in a new land?" 4 StarsThe marketing consultant couldn't get past page pp. 19 to 21 and tried three times. "The book lacked character development." 1 StarOne rockin' housewife found the book to be stylistically superior in its deviation from a traditional narrative form. "Through her use of first person plural the author captures `a people' rather than individual characters; she powerfully and effectively illustrates the Japanese migration to America culminating in the war's effect on the culture. Otsuka's stylistic use of contrary statements creates a denser, richer and ultimately cleaner and more concise work." 5 StarsUne femme de moyenne age thought that the book failed to connect with the reader in a meaningful emotional way due to the use of the multiple character list format. "At the beginning of the book the novelty of this writing device seemed interesting but by the end of the book it seemed like it was a grocery list of people and activities that served to minimize, instead of enhance, the development of empathy and understanding with the characters. I simply lost interest in reading the lists." 1 StarThe diabetes doctor, chocolate loving mother thought the book an exquisite piece of prose that effectively described the collective experience of female Japanese immigrants in the U.S. "The book described the hopes and dreams and illuminated the suffering, challenges and sometimes the happiness they discover in their new homeland."5 StarsThe desperate housewife found the book piquing her interest in the first chapter. "The varied snippets of the many Japanese wives' thoughts set the stage for what promised to be an interesting book. Little did I realize that the author's use of multiple voices would go on (and on and on . . .) throughout the book. I soon found myself losing interest and becoming frustrated at not knowing even one person's entire story. The promise of the first chapter never came to fruition -- disappointing." 1 StarOne member, an avid reader and former expatriate, found the narrative quite compelling. "I likened the style of prose to a conversation between friends, or documentation of an oral history project." 4 StarsThe crazy professor, but mostly sane mother said: "The book was composed of many quick and beautiful brush strokes that painted a picture of Japanese women's experiences as they tried to navigate a new life during a very difficult time in US history; however, I yearned for the author to slow down and depict the events more purposefully and with greater detail."1 StarThe teacher of many found the book to be very thought provoking and relevant. "The multiple nameless characters brought home the sheer magnitude of the injustices endured by this entire community. I also found the historical parallels interesting. Buddha in the Attic reminds us that fear and ignorance have spurred the mistreatment of entire races and cultural groups throughout history, and it is sadly still happening in modern day America. Many important reminders and lessons in this book." 4 StarsThe cynical realist said that at the risk of being skewered by the aforementioned intellectuals; found this book to be an enjoyable read despite the serious subject matter. "Though it is narrated in an atypical style, I found the snippets of many nameless people's lives provided a collective glimpse into one of our nation's `dirty little secrets'. The book is easy to read whether you do it in a few minutes at a time or in one sitting. At completion, this beautiful little book also looks lovely on a coffee table!" 4 StarsThe multi-tasking mom thought the book started out very enjoyable and is poetically written, but after a few chapters became boring and annoying. "Everything was `listed' and nothing had any depth. I would have rather followed the lives of 5 women instead of 50 stories never followed through. At least the author kept the story short because with any more pages I don't think I would have finished it." 1.5 StarsThe one who recommended the book, and main-stream-reader in the group had hoped her recommendation would be a good read for all but because of the non-traditional literary style, worried about the group's response. "I thought the subject matter might make the book a `page-turner' but as I made my way through the first chapter, quickly determined that the writing would lend to a discussion more on style and less on content. Though I too, struggled with the `lists', I appreciated the author's research efforts and respect her daring experimentation in style. I believe that in the end, Otsuka's choice to write in a collective voice imparted an eloquence and poignancy in her story telling. I was thrilled that the book provided our group a vibrant discussion." 3.5 Stars

This is a brief story of a group of Japanese mail-order brides who came to California with a sense of innocence and hope. Those dreams are soon dashed as they face the reality of the exaggerations and downright deceit of their new husbands. It's written as a group experience rather than a documentary of particular people. For example, in the boat ride over, Otsuka describes some of the group's high qualifications thus: "We knew how to serve tea and arrange flowers....how to write short, melancholy poems about the passing of autumn that were exactly seventeen syllables long." But , "We often wondered: Will we like them?" And "In the evening, when the hatch was closed , the darkness was filled with whispers. Will it hurt?" It moves on to the reality of the nuptial nights. "They took us with apologies for their rough, callused hands, and we knew at once they were farmers and not bankers." "They took us leisurely from behind, as we leaned out the window to admire the city lights down below." "They took us frenziedly on top of yellow stained sheets." "They took us in six seconds, and then collapsed on our shoulders with small shuddering sighs, and we thought to ourselves, That's it?" When it came to children, "We told them stories about...baby doves that always remembered to let their parents perch on the higher branch." Consequently, they "preferred not to speak to their fathers at all. Whenever one of them had something to say, it always went through us." Some learned humility and accepted abuse as a fact of life, saying, "We're just a bunch of Buddhaheads." Others "went around late at night looking for other people to fight. (Let's go beat up some Filipinos.)" And then there was the racism that made their lives miserable. "They did not want us as neighbors. They did not want us as friends." Others said, "We cared only about money....our farming methods were poor," yet they accused us of success, saying, "We were taking over their cauliflower industry....We were an unbeatable, unstoppable economic machine, and if our progress was not checked, the entire western US would soon be the next Asiatic outpost and colony." As for the Japanese reaction to this unfair profiling, "One of us blamed (the whites) for everything and wished they were dead. One of us blamed them for everything and wished that SHE were dead." When Pearl Harbor was bombed, they became suspected traitors and were slowly stripped of their civil rights, culminating in a round-up of all Japanese into detention camps. Once again, Otsuko personalizes it with warmth and poignancy. One man "began going to sleep with his clothes on, just in case tonight was the night. Because the most shameful thing, he said, would be to be taken away in his pajamas." They tried to avoid the inevitable, with hopes that, "If we finished ironing the laundry before midnight, our husband's name would be removed from the list." But eventually, as they were called up and marched off, "Most of us left in a hurry. Many of us left in despair. A few of us left in disgust, and had no desire to ever come back." And here is where the book really hits hard with simple but poignant vignettes. "One of us left after having her hair done....for the first time in her life." One left "wondering whether or not she had unplugged her iron, which she had used that morning to touch up the pleats of her blouse." One left "convinced she was being punished for a sin she had committed in a previous life. (I must have stepped on a spider.)" A Japanese Baptist Reverend urged people to forgive and forget, and a Japanese fry cook urged him to "give it a rest." This book of full of images that will remain in my head for many years to come. I highly recommend it.

Novel is one of the few works that deal with the immigration of Japanese women and their existence as they labored in back-breaking jobs and raised children in the US--a country in which they will remain aliens and will be forcibly removed to concentration camps. Author's writing style is imaginative in repeated use of plural pronouns.

Essential. Heartbreaking. Unlike anything I've read before. Though the sprawling language can seem too much at places, this book is very well worth our time.

Libro per la scuola

Perfecto estado y rápido el producto. La historia no me gusta

Simple but evocative. A point in history not often explored. Easy to read but memorable. Novel third person perspective. Would love to know what happened next.

題名がBuddhaとあったので、仏教関係の書籍かと思ってキンドルから取り寄せた。しかし、内容は日本人のアメリカの日系一世の話しだった。　書き出しは、太平洋戦争前の恐らくは昭和初期の頃なのだろう、「Come, Japanese」という、日本人花嫁が太平洋を渡ってアメリカへ行く船中での話しから始る。多くの人々からの聞き取りで構成されたと思われるが、花嫁を呼び寄せるために代書屋にいい加減な嘘を書いて呼び寄せていたことや、船中での彼女達の生活やまだ見ぬ夫への期待と不安が語られていて、興味深いものがあった。ここで述べられている物語の語り手は、すべて女性である。大部分が日本の困窮家族の元から逃れるように、或は追い出されるようにして嫁に出された様子がうかがえるのだった。　その後、「First Night」という、花嫁達がアメリカに着いて夫と始めて会ったときの様子が、少なからず衝撃的な文体で語られる。そして、「White」と続き、ここでは日本人の雇い主の白人達のことが語られ、その当時の黄色人種への差別の様子が述べられる。しかし、日本人の律義さと真面目さが、他の移民達、中国人、フィリピン人、メキシコ人等と比べて際立っていることを白人達が気付いて認めていることも書かれている。　「Babies」では、貧困の中で満足な施設も無い環境下で子供を産んだときの苦労が書かれ、「Children」では、家族を持った幸せが語られるが、一方で、子供達がアメリカに同化して日本語を忘れる寂しさも語られている。　そして、太平洋戦争前夜の日系社会を描いた、「Traitor」、戦争が始まった頃の「Last Day」と続き、「Disappearance」では、日系人収容所への移動により町から日系人が居なくなった状態を描いて終わるのだった。収容所での生活はここでは述べられていない。「Disappearance」の項では、居なくなった日本人の律儀さを懐かしく思い、同情の気持ちを抱いていたアメリカ人もいたことを知り、安心した。　題名の「The Buddha in Attic」は、収容所に連行されるにあたっての、荷物の制限と短い時間の荷造りのために、屋根裏部屋に仏壇を忘れてきたことを述べているもので、数行の記述だった。作者にすれば、それを題名にすることで、無慈悲に扱われた日系アメリカ人の無念さと哀れさと表したかったのだと思う。