Why she left us : a novel / Rahna Reiko Rizzuto.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rizzuto, Rahna R.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Japanese Americans--Forced removal and internment, 1942-1945--Fiction.

Japanese Americans.

World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--West (U.S.)--Fiction.

World War, 1939-1945.

Genre:

Fiction.

Historical fiction.

Domestic fiction.

Physical Description:

viii, 295 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : HarperCollins, [1999]

Summary:

A haunting novel of uncommon emotional power, Why She Left Us weaves in and out of the personal tragedies and political persecution of three generations of a Japanese American family and exposes the complex, often destructive bonds of love and honor that tie a family together.

At the center of the story is Emi Okada, a young girl who finds herself pregnant and alone on the eve of World War II. She gives up her firstborn, Eric, for adoption, but her mother finds the boy and brings him home, intent on raising him as part of the Okada family. This crucial event becomes a turning point in the story as it dramatically alters the lives of Emi's parents, siblings, and, later, her children. Betrayals and secrets tear apart a family that is already struggling with assimilation, intergenerational conflict, and war.

Narrated in turn by Emi's two children, Eric and Mariko, her mother, Kaori, and her brother Jack, Why She Left Us crisscrosses the century--from Japanese picture brides and migrant farm workers to the internment of Japanese Americans in the Colorado desert to contemporary Los Angeles and Hawaii, where Emi's two children have settled as adults. When, fifty years after the war, Mariko applies for reparations from the American government for the family's losses during their internment, she stumbles upon more than one family secret. As she tries to unravel the mystery that shrouds the events of the past, and to find her lost brother, Eric, Mariko must come to terms with her complicity and her own secrets, as well as her feelings of guilt for being the child Emi chose to keep.

Sparely and exquisitely written, Why She Left Us is a superbly accomplished first novel that illuminates the universal relationships between mothers and their children, while evoking the power of history to affect individual lives.

Contents:

1 Hold Your Breath, 1946 / Eric 1

2 Family Numbers, 1990 / Mariko 17

3 Pearl Harbor, 1941 / Jack 27

4 So Strange, This Remembering / Kaori 40

5 Perfect Daughter, 1990 / Mariko 50

6 How She Left Us / Kaori 60

7 Runaway, 1950 / Eric 70

8 Soldier in Waiting, 1943 / Jack 83

9 The Day That Never Was, 1950 / Mariko 98

10 What He Is, 1956 / Eric 109

11 Bringing Him Home / Kaori 123

12 Purple Hearts, 1944 / Jack 135

13 The Woman He Sees, 1968 / Mariko 144

14 The Best Thing That Ever Happened / Kaori 157

15 Welcome Home, 1945 / Jack 169

16 Talia, 1967 / Eric 183

17 Horse Racing, 1990 / Mariko 198

18 Bastard, 1942 / Jack 209

19 First Harvest / Kaori 220

20 Shikata ga nai, 1990 / Mariko 233

21 Tumble and Fall, 1990 / Jack 243

22 Clues, 1990 / Eric 255

23 Reunion, 1990 / Mariko 272

24 Birth Day / Kaori 286.

ISBN:

0060193700

OCLC:

40489331