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Dec 27, 1993 | ISBN 9780385468862 Buy
Sep 13, 2016 | ISBN 9780735233904 Buy
Jan 29, 2019 | 570 Minutes Buy
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Dec 27, 1993 | ISBN 9780385468862
Sep 13, 2016 | ISBN 9780735233904
Jan 29, 2019 | ISBN 9780735235878
570 Minutes
Winner of the American Book AwardBased on the author’s own experiences, this award-winning novel was the first to tell the story of the evacuation, relocation, and dispersal of Canadian citizens of Japanese ancestry during the Second World War.
A powerful and passionate novel, Obasan tells, through the eyes of a child, the moving story of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. Naomi is a sheltered and beloved five-year-old when Pearl Harbor changes her life. Separated from her mother, she watches bewildered as she and her family become enemy aliens, persecuted and despised in their own land. Surrounded by hardship and pain, Naomi is protected by the resolute endurance of her aunt Obasan and the silence of those around her. Only after Naomi grows up does she return to question the haunting silence.
Joy Kogawa was born in Vancouver in 1935 to Japanese Canadian parents. During World War II, Joy and her family were forced to move to Slocan, British Columbia, an injustice Kogawa addresses in her award-winning novel, Obasan. Kogawa has worked to educate… More about Joy Kogawa
"This quiet novel burns in your hand." —Washington Post.
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