Tuesday, April 1, 2014

A tiny aspect of the aftermath of Pearl Harbor

When the Emperor Was Divine
When the Emperor was Divine

By: Julie Otsuka

Genre: historical fiction

Pages: 144

Published: 2003

Read: April

4 out of 5


What I loved most about this story was that each of the 5 chapters was told from a different family member’s perspective. Told chronologically through one Japanese family’s experience of the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack – from the news of evacuation (mother), the train ride (the daughter), the camp (the son), arriving home (family), to the father’s reunion (the father) – this novel is a true eye opener. Otsuka gracefully tells this fictional family’s story of one of the world’s most tragic events.  I loved the strength, uniqueness, and bluntness of each character.  It took a long time to get adjusted to all the main characters not having names, but then I realized it was probably because this could have been any family and not a specific family. 

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