A review by sarahrahrah
Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara

adventurous dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Mom spoke about kurou, which could be translated to "suffering." But the English word seemed to skim the surface, whereas kurou went deeper. It referred to a gutteral moaning, a piercing pain throughout your bones.

I so fully immersed myself in this reading experience and have completely fallen in love with Hirahara's writing! The mystery was compelling, the characters were interesting, and it is clear that the author has deeply researched and is very knowledgeable about this time period  of JA internment and subsequent resettlement. 

The narrative following the Ito family was engaging and reflective of so many different aspects of the Japanese American experience. The prose was beautiful, like this  example describing LA sprawl:
Everything that I had known in Los Angeles up to that time, in contrast, was spread out like a reclining fat man who didn't care how much space he was taking up.

I learned so much, especially about the resettlement after the time in the camps, which previously was very murky to me (Issei and Nissei don't talk about that time...).
 "Being out of camp does things to you. You're finally free but you're not. It's like there are invisible bars caging you in." 

I also loved how specific she was in describing the buildings and streets of Chicago; it made me want to go back again and look for all the old buildings mentioned or even to follow the paths Aki took in her investigations (they seemed accurate and true based on how they were written, and the extensive research clearly done in writing this)

Being a part of the Japanese American diaspora, there were parts of the historical accounts that felt dragged out and made me think "everyone knows about this", because I've heard these stories and accounts all my life. I'm realizing that's probably not the case though, and so I really think this story did a wonderful job of including these small specific details seamlessly as a part of the narrative. Stuff like how they had to stuff their own mattresses when arriving at the hastily made barracks, that the toilets weren't private, the tensions between the accomodationists and dissenters, that cemeteries wouldn't accept Japanese bodies, the WRA's role in resettlement but also the distrust many felt, that white (hakujin) people lost their citizenship for marrying Japanese Issei, the mutual aid groups, the social dances (both in camp and after), etc., etc. 

Finally, I loved the inclusion of Japanese words/concepts because they were applied judiciously and meaningfully. There were as many that I was familiar with as ones that were new to me, and for the most part it was easy to grasp the meanings from context clues. 
Souji, or cleaning up, was perfectly respectable, and perhaps I needed to do some soul cleaning myself.
(^ this is my 2024 energy)

All in all, a fantastic read - the story was engaging but so were the historical tidbits sprinkled through.

Final quotes about pride, and some insight into the generational trauma we carry:

Issei nurserymen eventually planted a garden and cherry blossom trees ... as if plants could heal the wounds of displacement.

Our periods ... disappeared altogether while we were in camp, a sign of the terrible stress we were under. Even though we didn't voice our complaints out loud, our bodies knew our truth. 

"Never shame us. All we have is our reputations."

None of us were going to give other Americans the satisfaction of seeing us look miserable. We were going to look out best, with our lipstick freshly applied, our hair styled and our clothing neat and unstained.

Her acceptance of her new lot in life was as heroic as it could get.
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