Obasan

Name: Obasan
Brand: Penguin Random House
Availability: InStock
Author: Joy Kogawa
ISBN: 9780735235878

Author: Joy Kogawa

Narrator: Mary Ito

Unabridged: 9 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Canada

Published: 01/29/2019

Categories: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Cultural Fiction, Historical Fiction

Synopsis

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.

About The Author

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 Canadians about the history of Japanese Canadians, and she was active in the fight for official governmental redress. In 1986, Kogawa was made a Member of the Order of Canada and in 2010, the Japanese government honored her with the Order of the Rising Sun "for her contribution to the understanding and preservation of Japanese-Canadian history."

Reviews

Goodreads review by Zanna on March 02, 2016

Obasan took me by surprise. If it weren't in 500GBbW, I may never have read this, and the story it tells might have remained for me one bald, shame-concealing line in victorious history books. I started reading, not knowing what it was about. It opens gently, quietly, with a scene of undulating hill......more

Goodreads review by Jin on September 19, 2007

when i was recommended with this book from my english teacher for summer reading just because i'm asian, i was not excited about this book.. a story about a japanese family who lived in canada during wwii.. i heard stories about the time that japan ruled over korea from my grandparents.. i learned a......more

Goodreads review by RKanimalkingdom on October 03, 2017

Wow this is late. Blame school. Ok, here we go. Looking at what's going on in the world today only furthers my belief that people need to educate themselves. Your education system, wherever you are, will only be the best if it's a course related to STEM. Sure you maybe lucky like me and have strong de......more

Goodreads review by Stephanie C on July 11, 2022

(Audio to hear the Japanese language spoken) - Obasan started off as an AMAZING book, with rare synesthesia where you have several bodily senses activated at the same time. Not a typical WWII book whatsoever for the first quarter of the book, and I was simply not prepared for this wonderful experien......more

Goodreads review by David on September 09, 2013

A bit too light and wispy? Our narrator is very fond of looking at the scenery and only shyly alluding to the human rights abuses going on all around her. But ... crucial reading ... I'd liked to hope Japanese internment was only a mad USA thing. Canada! Part of the Empire! Bloody hell.......more

Quotes

“An internationally acclaimed, widely studied novel firmly entrenched in the Canadian literary canon.” — Kerri Sakamoto