Stubborn Twig, Lauren Kessler
Stubborn Twig, Lauren Kessler
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Stubborn Twig
Three Generations in the Life of a Japanese American Family

Author: Lauren Kessler

Narrator: Christine Williams

Unabridged: 12 hr 51 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/29/2008

Synopsis

Stubborn Twig is the true story of immigrants making their way in a new land, a moving saga about the promise and perils of becoming an American. Masuo Yasui arrived in America in 1903 with big dreams and empty pockets. He worked on the railroads, in a cannery, and as a houseboy before settling in Oregon to open a store, raise a large family, and become one of the area's most successful orchardists. As Masuo broke the color barrier in the local business community, his Americanborn children broke it in school, scouts, and sports. But their lives changed forever on December 7, 1941, when they were forced from their homes into vast inland camps. Although shamed and broken, the Yasui family would yet endure to claim their place as Americans.

About Lauren Kessler

Lauren Kessler is an award-winning author and semi-fearless immersion reporter who combines lively narrative with deep research. She has explored everything from the gritty world of a maximum-security prison to the grueling world of professional ballet. She is the author of ten works of narrative nonfiction, including Raising the Barre, Clever Girl, and The Happy Bottom Riding Club. Her books have been BookSense selections, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times bestsellers, Wall Street Journal and People magazine "best" selections, Pacific Northwest Book Award winners, and Oregon Book Award winners.

Her journalism has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Los Angeles Times Magazine, O Magazine, salon.com, Utne Reader, the Nation, newsweek.com, Prevention, Ladies Home Journal, and elsewhere. Kessler is an international speaker and workshop leader. She founded a writers' group for inmates of a maximum-security prison, teaches storytelling for social change to nonprofits in the U.S. and abroad, and works with traditional journalists who want to hone their storytelling skills. She blogs at laurenchronicles.com about living an engaged life. She lives in Oregon.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ruby

Every Oregonian should read Stubborn Twig. It is the history of a Japanese American family, largely based in Hood River, starting with the father's coming to the U.S., landing at Seattle, in 1910. The author charts not only the course of this family's history, but also the course of Japanese America......more

Goodreads review by Mbgirl

The internal fortitude and courage forged by this family... facing injustices from many angles.’easy to become embittered and want to leave, not be a part of a oft-tilted system toward non-ethnics. Hood River— Fruit Loop—- excelled as farmers and at their craft. Were vanguards in technique too. The t......more

Goodreads review by Jim

I attended Concordia Academy in Portland Oregon, at that time a Lutheran boarding highschool. A roommate from Idaho said he could remember begging for berries along the barbed wire fence of an internment camp there. He would have been born in 1935 or 1936 and have been seven at the time of the inter......more

Goodreads review by Stephanie

This book was a fascinating read. A true look into the lives of those effected by the evacuation order during WW II. The book is painfully beautiful. The narrative keeps you coming back for more. I found myself alternately intrigued, angered, disheartened, heartened, pleased, and thoughtful about ho......more

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