When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka

 

What is your favorite banned book?

A Japanese family that is living in Berkely California is evacuated to a Japanese internment camp in Utah.  Their father was arrested on December 7^th and shipped somewhere separately.  Each family member is impacted in a different way.  As they return after the war, it is hard to adjust back to life amongst neighbors who labeled them the enemy.

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This was a short, but powerful book.  It was very thought provoking.

·       Sparse prose describes the story of one family of Japanese heritage that was taken to an internment camp by the U.S. Government during WWII and how it impacted their lives.

·       The book is written in five chapters, each with a different perspective (mother, daughter, son, family, father).

·       The family remained unnamed through the novel and could have been anyone.

·       This book was banned in Muskego, Wisconsin, by the school board in 2022 for the advanced English class as it did not have a “balanced” viewpoint as it only showed the Japanese internment camp survivor’s perspective.  What a ridiculous reason to ban a book.  I thought this book would be a perfect book to read and discuss in a literature or history class.

·       This was a great read for Asian American Pacific Islander month.

Overall, When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka is a powerful book about one family’s experience in the Japanese Internment campus during WWII.  I’m still thinking about this book a week after finishing it.

Book Source:  Purchased from Amazon.com