A Japanese-American family is sent to an internment camp in 1942 -- told in five spare chapters from five different perspectives.
About This Book
From the bestselling, award-winning author of The Buddha in the Attic and The Swimmers, this commanding debut novel paints a portrait of the Japanese American incarceration camps that is both a haunting evocation of a family in wartime and a resonant lesson for our times. On a sunny day in Berkeley, California, in 1942, a woman sees a sign in a post office window, returns to her home, and matter-of-factly begins to pack her family's possessions.
Who This Is For
Best for readers who want to feel something deeply, books that stay with you long after the last page. The prose is accessible: you can read this quickly and it never asks too much of you. It moves quickly: once you're in, it's hard to stop. If you prefer to read at arm's length, this one may get too close.
Best Read When
Best read when you're in the mood for something moving and emotionally resonant, and a read that's fast and propulsive.
What It Explores
When the Emperor Was Divine explores identity and the gap between who we are and who we pretend to be, family in all its complexity — inherited and chosen, survival and what extreme circumstances ask of people, and power structures and how they shape individual lives.
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