Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

9 reviews

julietlol's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Racism, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, and Racial slurs

The moderate content warnings that I wrote are some of the central themes of the whole novel.

mrsfishreads's review against another edition

emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This was a tough read.  I think what I wanted is it to flow better, for the POV to stay the same.  There were times I didn't know whose point of view it was coming from..  the mother, the daughter, a stranger?  Beyond the writing, the story was heartfelt and heartbreaking.  The evacuating of Japanese- Americans during WWII was an absolute crime.   One America has never really paid for.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Deportation, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Rape, War, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Racism, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Vomit, Violence, Gun violence, Hate crime, War, Infidelity, Mental illness, Blood, Racism, Murder, Bullying, Death, Deportation, Child death, Confinement, Grief, and Rape

amiably's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I loved the last chapter the most. Check TWs before reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Confinement, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia

Moderate: War, Animal death, and Hate crime

Minor: Sexual assault

abitbetterbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

It feels difficult to describe and rate a book that feels both deeply personal and also impossibly foreign. My own grandparents were interned in camps during WWII in Canada, and I am always searching for stories that can help me make some sense of that experience. After having read The Swimmers, also by Julie Otsuka, I really wanted something that dealt with the subject more directly and not just alluded to. When the Emperor Was Divine definitely fit that bill.

The American- and Canadian- Japanese experience was different, of course, but there were many similarities and notes that made it feel like a gut punch and also a ghost. I’m not exactly sure how else to describe it. I think the telling of a lot of this story through the eyes of children was a brilliant choice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, War, Confinement, and Racial slurs

Minor: Deportation

sharonus's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Racism, and War

tomato_bisque's review against another edition

sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

"And remember, its better to bend than to break." 

Fast-paced story about the forced confinement of Japanese people during the 2nd world war. Its mostly about people keeping their head down to survive. Its one thing to read about the conditions of the camps in a textbook, but its another to read about how mind-numbingly boring and hopeless they were.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Racism, and Xenophobia

directorpurry's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Confinement, Xenophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, and Animal death

Moderate: Torture and War

clrieant's review

sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia

wai's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is slim and a very quick read but one that stays with you. I found the end particularly poignant, discussing the surrealism of returning to society after internment and facing both overt and covert forms of racism and complacency in the white majority. The family survives but the trauma they all faced in imprisonment and the current social climate has taken its toll and begs the question - how much did they really survive? 

I'm a quarter Japanese American and this just reminded me of all the history classes I've taken that discussed WWII, how little they all discussed Japanese internment and how much justification we were given for the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan. More of this rhetoric exists still today than people realize and is hard for Japanese diaspora and their families.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal death, Confinement, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Racial slurs, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Dementia

Minor: Vomit