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A review by jhbandcats
Southland by Nina Revoyr
5.0
I found this novel a bit difficult at first - it wasn’t holding my absolute complete total interest, there were so many characters and so many generations of them - but I am SO glad I stuck with it. For me, the second half captured my absolute complete total interest - though I still found it challenging to keep the characters straight. I wish there had been a family tree at the beginning of the book. That said, I think it’s definitely a 5-star read.
This novel deals with three generations at tumultuous times in LA: the Japanese internment in concentration camps, the Watts riots, and the period shortly after the Rodney King riots. The main characters are either black or Japanese, many having arrived in LA just after WWI. Both races face overwhelming prejudice, discrimination, and violence in their new home, and that cascades down to the succeeding generations.
Chapters are told from varying characters’ perspectives, sometimes at different ages; for instance, we see Frank in WWII, during the Watts riots, and (from his granddaughter’s viewpoint) in the 1980s and 1990s. We see Lois as a teenager in 1963 and as a middle-aged mom in 1994. Because of the traditional reticence of their parents and grandparents, these contemporary characters know little to nothing of their history, the difficulties their families faced, and the hatreds they endured.
An aside: Every time I read a novel set in the past, I learn so much. For instance, I just learned that the Dachau concentration camp was liberated by Japanese-American soldiers who were never recognized for doing it. Instead, they were shunted aside so white soldiers could take the credit. The irony, of course, is that they liberated a German concentration camp while their families were stuck in US concentration camps.
I highly recommend this one. I can tell that the story will stay with me, always a sign of a great book.
This novel deals with three generations at tumultuous times in LA: the Japanese internment in concentration camps, the Watts riots, and the period shortly after the Rodney King riots. The main characters are either black or Japanese, many having arrived in LA just after WWI. Both races face overwhelming prejudice, discrimination, and violence in their new home, and that cascades down to the succeeding generations.
Chapters are told from varying characters’ perspectives, sometimes at different ages; for instance, we see Frank in WWII, during the Watts riots, and (from his granddaughter’s viewpoint) in the 1980s and 1990s. We see Lois as a teenager in 1963 and as a middle-aged mom in 1994. Because of the traditional reticence of their parents and grandparents, these contemporary characters know little to nothing of their history, the difficulties their families faced, and the hatreds they endured.
An aside: Every time I read a novel set in the past, I learn so much. For instance, I just learned that the Dachau concentration camp was liberated by Japanese-American soldiers who were never recognized for doing it. Instead, they were shunted aside so white soldiers could take the credit. The irony, of course, is that they liberated a German concentration camp while their families were stuck in US concentration camps.
I highly recommend this one. I can tell that the story will stay with me, always a sign of a great book.