May 2012: The Buddha in the Attic (Otsuka)

Post date: May 18, 2012 1:55:56 AM

Many thanks to Betsey for hosting a group of 15 alumnae on May 16 for our discussion of Julie Otsuka’s The Buddha in the Attic. We were joined by 3 new faces as well as many longtime stalwarts, and the group included our usual broad spectrum of graduating class years, although the decade of 50’s was absent this time.

All of us found this book’s stories of Japanese picture brides compelling, and heartbreaking. A few were disconcerted by the book’s style, particularly its lack of narrative thread, while others found it effective. Jennie particularly noted the use of “we”; it’s unusual to find a book written in the first person plural. MaryAnn found the writing so beautiful that she wished she had written it herself. Sandy felt that the book lost its true voice at the end, when it moved beyond the women to their children and the white community. Many of us agreed. We felt that the reaction to their departure for the internment camps was important to include, even so. Having so recently read Every Man Dies Alone, with its descriptions of life in wartime Germany and one couple’s act of defiance, Sherrill was struck by the fact that as Americans we often feel outrage that so many German citizens allowed their Jewish neighbors to be harassed and taken away without protest, and yet of course that was what happened here with people of Japanese origin. Several of us brought up the suspicion and prejudice faced by Muslims today as a parallel case. This led us to choose a book about the American Muslim experience for our next meeting.