A review by halfformedthing
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

5.0

This novel was written in the tradition of those like The Virgin Suicides or A Rose for Emily in which a town tells a story—but, in this case, a diaspora tells its story. Each chapter is anecdote piled on top of anecdote, like multiple one-sentence short stories that accumulate together and provide the reader with one, faceless yet identifiable community that has been largely overlooked in history. In the same way that the “we” in the last section of the novel forgets the individuals that were their neighbors, classmates, friends, gardeners, etc., I find myself walking away with general impressions of a group of people and so many story threads that provided a window into their lives but never full access. There is intimacy, a sense of community, a sense of loss, and the clear development of a new sense of identity in the American-born generation all rolled into this relatively short novel. It is one of the better books I’ve read in the past few months.