The Buddha in the Attic

It was tough beginning Julie Otsuka's The Buddha in the Attic. Last year this time I was trying to complete a paper on Tim O' Brien's The Things They Carried, and the beginning of Buddha evoked memories of Ted Lavender and the paper I never finished.

The way The Buddha in the Attic is written, there is no set narrator, rather a collected group of voices who tell the story of a boat load of women leaving Japan for new lives in America.

An example:

On the boat we carried our husbands’ pictures in tiny oval lockets that hung on long chains from our necks. We carried them in silk purses and old tea tins and red lacquer boxes and in the thick brown envelopes from America in which they had originally been sent. We carried them in the sleeves of our kimonos, which we touched often, just to make sure they were still there.*

I plowed through the first few pages, waiting to get to the good part.  As my eyes devoured the words, I realized the whole book IS a good part.  The style it is written in allows the reader to feel the existence of all the characters, so that the experiences of the Japanese women as a whole can be felt.

This is a powerful story of women as they explain their fears of meeting stranger husbands, discuss their misguided ideals about life in America, try to fit in once they reach America, then the uncertainty of being detained during World War II.

This book has been chosen as Philadelphia's One Book choice.


* Taken from Follow The Thread

The Kommandant's Mistress

The Kommandant's Mistress by Alexandria Constantinova Szeman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Deeply satisfied is how I describe my time spent reading The Kommandant's Mistress.

This isn't a book for casual reading.  Rather, the reader must pay attention because the story is written in a way that an image, a thought, a sound can transport the speaker to another scene.  It's engaging, and engrossing, deserving all the praise that it has received.

The story is about the life of a ranking Nazi officer and his mistress told in their voice with their thoughts and feelings.  It's not graphic although some parts are described so vivid, it's a challenge NOT to feel sympathy for each person despite how dastardly their actions appear.

The book begins with part one, The Kommandant, and immediately it's a challenge to find sympathy for this man given what history has taught us about the Holocaust.  As the story unfolds, we see his rise to power, his ambition, and a small portion of his heart.  The reader is offered a glimpse in his thoughts and although his crimes are heinous, we can see that this man is just doing his "job."

Part two is in the voice of the Mistress.  Here we are seen how a person tries to survive in a world that she has no control over because of both her sex and her culture.  When she does things that will allow her to survive, she is shunned by others in a less 'appealing' captivity.  She is also hurt by those who are 'protecting' her.  She is tortured with her desire for survival while living in an artificial existence.

Part three serves as a wrap up to the book, offering readers an opportunity to have closure while still having some things to ponder long after the book is completed.

The version I read also included a guide for readers who want to follow the story in a linear way as well as the thoughts of Alexandria Szeman. This was another bonus because this type of story is one that BEGS to know what the author was thinking.

While difficult to read for those not accustomed to the scene shifts, I recommend that you stick with this story.  The ride is worth it.


Disclosure ***This post contains affiliate links. Alexandria Constantinova Szeman

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