The Buddha in the Attic

 

The Buddha in the Attic / Julie Otsuka
NY: Knopf, c2011.
144 p.

I checked out this book from my library mainly because of my Century of Books project - it was a year I was missing, and this was a book I'd heard of before. I'm so glad I did, because it was a great read. 

In eight short sections, Otsuka outlines the lives of a group of 'picture brides' coming to San Francisco from Japan in the early 20th Century. She follows their fortunes as they meet their husbands (none like their photos) and work hard in the fields, shops or as maids. In very few words she illuminates a wide range of lives - from their relationships with their husbands, children, wider local Japanese community, those left at home and of course American society. Abusive husbands, childbirth, prejudice, hard hard work, all is shown here. 

The writing style in this book is one of the highlights for me as well. The narration is like a chorus, using "we" at all times, even when describing an individual experience. It really works and I found it both poetic and really effective. It's incantatory, revealing the shared experience of these Japanese women. 

The final section of the book is set during the start of the Japanese Internment camps during WWII. It's disturbing and so visceral. After building up the life stories of the women who worked so hard to belong in their new homes, seeing the senseless war mania that led to the camps is horrifying. 

This last section also uses the same "we" narrative, but it shifts to the non-Japanese people left in the towns after the Japanese have been carted off. I didn't think this worked as well, after the rest of the book focusing entirely on the inner lives of the Japanese women. But it was necessary to show what remained, and the behaviour of those who hadn't said anything one way or another in the face of this event. 

The feel of the book is a little dream-like, a little epic, even if it is pretty short. It's a powerful and sensory read, one that opens up a part of history that's important to tell. A great find.