This lovely book is full of emotion and sorrow and should be read by every American no matter your race. A short book, I easily read it in one day, but so spellbinding you won’t forget it. Here is my book review The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka.

Uniquely written in eight memorable sections, Otsuka follows the lives of Japanese women from all walks of life who travel to San Francisco as “picture brides” in the early 1900’s. Surviving the long boat journey is only the first of the trials this remarkable women face.

On arrival most of the women find they have been lied to by the marriage broker and their husbands are old, poor and sometimes violent. The women endure hardships of every kind from poverty and hard work in the fields, to the birth and death of children and unrelenting racism, especially as World War II brings the unimaginable and the Japanese families lose everything.

Much of the book is written using the “we” pronoun, in short descriptive sentences that draw the reader into the intimate details of the lives of these women. I highly recommend this beautiful story of tradition and culture, friendship and loss, endurance and hard work. Most of all, it is the American immigration story – the foundation of this country and what does it really mean to be an American.

*****Five stars for The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka. Thank you for reading my book review The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka. We love it when you pin and share our book reviews. Thank you.

See last week’s book review Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron.