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mimyo 's review for:
The Buddha in the Attic
by Julie Otsuka
An interesting book with clear limitations. By focusing on a collective of picture brides the author is able to paint a picture of life might have been like for Japanese-Americans more broadly than focusing on any one individual's experiences. On the other side however the lack of any characters or individual fates to relate to drives in a gaping chasm between the reader (at least in my case) and the stories that are being told. It's like reading 20 book summaries but not a single book. It feels surface level, like an endlessly ongoing list of variables being counted down and at the end nothing sticks out as particularly strong or memorable. The reading experience a fleeting collection of a lot of things, connected by a theme and background that is the only thing holding this book together.