Amazon.com: The Buddha in the Attic (Pen/Faulkner Award - Fiction) (9780307744425): Julie Otsuka: Books
The Buddha in the Attic (Pen/Faulkner Award - Fiction) Paperback – March 20, 2012
by Julie Otsuka (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars 901 customer reviews
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Exquisitely written. . . . An understated masterpiece…that unfolds with great emotional power. . . . Destined to endure.” —The San Francisco Chronicle
“Arresting and alluring. . . . A novel that feels expansive yet is a magical act of compression.” —Chicago Tribune
“A stunning feat of empathetic imagination and emotional compression, capturing the experience of thousands of women.” —Vogue
“Otsuka’s incantatory style pulls her prose close to poetry. . . . Filled with evocative descriptive sketches…and hesitantly revelatory confessions.” —The New York Times Book Review
“A fascinating paradox: brief in span yet symphonic in scope, all-encompassing yet vivid in its specifics. Like a pointillist painting, it’s composed of bright spots of color: vignettes that bring whole lives to light in a line or two, adding up to a vibrant group portrait.” —The Seattle Times
“Mesmerizing. . . . Told in a first-person plural voice that feels haunting and intimate, the novel traces the fates of these nameless women in America. . . . Otsuka extracts the grace and strength at the core of immigrant (and female) survival and, with exquisite care, makes us rethink the heartbreak of eternal hope. Though the women vanish, their words linger.” —More
“Spare and stunning. . . . By using the collective ‘we’ to convey a constantly shifting, strongly held group identity within which distinct individuals occasionally emerge and recede, Otsuka has created a tableau as intricate as the pen strokes her humble immigrant girls learned to use in letters to loved ones they’d never see again.” —O, The Oprah Magazine
“With great daring and spectacular success, she has woven countless stories gleaned from her research into a chorus of the women’s voices, speaking their collective experience in a plural ‘we,’ while incorporating the wide range of their individual lives. . . . The Buddha in the Attic moves forward in waves of experiences, like movements in a musical composition. . . . By its end, Otsuka’s book has become emblematic of the brides themselves: slender and serene on the outside, tough, weathered and full of secrets on the inside.” —Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
“A gorgeous mosaic of the hopes and dreams that propelled so many immigrants across an ocean to an unknown country. . . . Otsuka illuminates the challenges, suffering and occasional joy that they found in their new homeland. . . . Wrought in exquisite poetry, each sentence spare in words, precise in meaning and eloquently evocative, like a tanka poem, this book is a rare, unique treat. . . . Rapturous detail. . . . A history lesson in heartbreak.” —Washington Independent Review of Books
“[Otsuka] brazenly writes in hundreds of voices that rise up into one collective cry of sorrow, loneliness and confusion. . . . The sentences are lean, and the material reflects a shameful time in our nation’s past. . . . Otsuka winds a thread of despair throughout the book, haunting the reader at every chapter. . . . Otsuka masterfully creates a chorus of the unforgettable voices that echo throughout the chambers of this slim but commanding novel, speaking of a time that no American should ever forget.” —Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“Daring. . . . Frequently mesmerizing. . . . Otsuka has the moves of cinematographer, zooming in for close-ups, then pulling back for wide lens group shots. . . . [Otsuka is] a master of understatement and apt detail. . . . Her stories seem rooted in curiosity and a desire to understand.” —Bookpage
“Precise, focused. . . . Penetrating. . . . See it and you’ll want to pick it up. Start reading it and you won’t want to put it down. . . . A boldly imagined work that takes a stylistic risk more daring and exciting than many brawnier books five times its size. Even the subject matter is daring. . . . Specific, clear, multitudinous in its grasp and subtly emotional.” —The Huffington Post
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About the Author
Julie Otsuka was born and raised in California. She is the author of the novel When the Emperor Was Divine and a recipient of the Asian American Literary Award, the American Library Association Alex Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She lives in New York City.
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Customer reviews
3.6 out of 5 stars
901
3.6 out of 5 stars
5 star 37%
4 star 24%
3 star 17%
2 star 13%
1 star 9%
Top customer reviews
Joseph J. TruncaleTop Contributor: Boxing
TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE
4.0 out of 5 starsA wonderful and enlightening story about Japanese women who came to the U.S.A. in the early 1900s.January 27, 2014
Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase
This type of novel is not a book I would normally read; however, I found "The Buddha in the Attic" by Julie Otsuka an absolutely delightful and interesting read. I picked up this volume at the library and because I have always had an interest in Japanese martial and cultural arts, I decided to read it. It is a short (129 pages) novel, and it was so compelling I finished it in a few hours.
This is a novel about Japanese women who came to America in the early 1900s. They came from different parts of Japan and they came by ship. They were motivated to come to America by Japanese men who had written them to be their wife. These women only photographs of the men along with their letters. This book tells of the hardships and difficult times, but this tale is also about courage and the ability to adjust to a new country with men who often lied to them. It is a book about Japanese families and what they had to endure with being strangers in the U.S. This is also a story about what many Japanese people had to adjust to when World War 11 began and they were sent to camps.
The strength and determination these ladies showed makes this book a must read for anyone who desires to understand the heart soul of the Japanese people. A great read.
Rating: 4 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: The Samurai Soul: An old warrior's poetic tribute).
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L. G. Ruch
5.0 out of 5 starsworth 5 stars, worth a lookSeptember 22, 2017
Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase
I read a lot and rarely give 5 stars. This was one of the best books I've read in quite a while. It's subtly told, and yet brutal in its honesty, providing a clear glimpse of hope and hope re-adjusted. It also tells the under-represented story of a place and of the people who populated it, shaped it to what it is today, a story that enriches understanding of both the place and people. Not a quick read and attention to all the details is worth it. Highly, highly recommend it.
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S. Warfield
5.0 out of 5 starsLiterary, lyrical and poeticJanuary 2, 2012
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
The Buddha in the Attic, a National Book Award Finalist written by Julie Otsuka, is a beautifully written novel about the Japanese picture brides who came to this country early in the 20th century. It is told from a first person plural point of view, as if all the women who were on the boat coming over from Japan speak collectively. Each woman carries a picture of her new husband with her, and the women have expectations that are higher than what reality and life is going to hand them.
Instead of the vision of the American Dream that the Japanese women have in their minds, they find only fields of vegetables to pick, fruits of orchards to pick and backbreaking work wherever they go, and they travel from farm to farm, orchard to orchard in California with their husbands, just as the nation is on the brink of war.
The title was a puzzle for a while, and it's mentioned briefly toward the end of the book, but I remembered one of the women hadn't thought of her religion nor had she thought of the Buddha for a long time, a Buddha in the attic seems stored away like so many other things that these women had to give up and forget about when they came to a strange country. This was a Japanese diaspora, women leaving their own country for one where they knew nothing of the language, customs or traditions, and many of their children would grow up as Japanese-Americans, but no longer caring about their Japanese culture and heritage.
Reading this book is like reading poetry. It is lyrical and flows from chapter to chapter like the uninterrupted flow of quiet water. The author did a lot of research for this book, so everything that is written is very believable and might well have happened as far as the everyday lives of these women.
I loved this book and I've downloaded the Kindle version of Otsuka's When the Emperor Was Divine so as not to miss her other book which actually led into The Buddha in the Attic.
Highly recommended.
Read more
Comment| 8 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?
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Read-A-Lot
4.0 out of 5 starsCompact but powerfulApril 15, 2012
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
The perspective of this story is very interesting. It is told in first person plural, the first time I believe I have encountered such a style. For me it mostly works, and I think the author was trying to convey a sense of sameness. In eight short chapters the journey from Japan to America to disappearance is told in tight, poetry-like prose.
Because the book was so short, I thought the use of the first person plural was necessary genius. Although each woman may have had a different and unique experience, their similarities where abundant enough to be grouped in a we perspective. She cleverly uses sentences to make distinctions in the shared involvement of these Japanese "picture" brides. Frequently, she diverts from the simple, "we....." to the more canny, "Some of us..." or even the singular "one of us...." In a book this short, it would have been hard to give depth to a main character. And the focus here is clearly on the collective experience of these Japanese women.
The use of the we narrative forces the reader to deal with the existence of the various trials, as a whole, rather than focus on an individual and come away with a conclusion that is parochial. The reader comes away with a sense of what it must have been like for these women, one should feel the pain, the angst, the mistrust that these women felt, and using a single protagonist would have made this difficult in this brevity of space. I think I'm going to read her other book, because this one was very well done!
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Delta108
4.0 out of 5 starsReview of Buddha in The AtticDecember 17, 2017
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
This novel takes the point of view of several Japanese women as they are boarding a ship heading to America to start their new lives in the early 1900’s. The novel is missing the intimacy of one protagonist’s point of view and continues the groups point of view throughout the novel.
It was interesting, a good novel, not great.
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raleigh, nc
4.0 out of 5 starsStory reviewAugust 27, 2017
Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase
This was a very good story. A lot of information poured into one book. Due to the writing method, presenting the information/story from multiple situations at once, it was occasionally hard to follow and would often make the story tedious to me. I am still glad that I read it.
Comment|Was this review helpful to you?
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NoReport abuse
Customer reviews
3.6 out of 5 stars
901
3.6 out of 5 stars
5 star 37%
4 star 24%
3 star 17%
2 star 13%
1 star 9%
Top customer reviews
Joseph J. TruncaleTop Contributor: Boxing
TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE
4.0 out of 5 starsA wonderful and enlightening story about Japanese women who came to the U.S.A. in the early 1900s.January 27, 2014
Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase
This type of novel is not a book I would normally read; however, I found "The Buddha in the Attic" by Julie Otsuka an absolutely delightful and interesting read. I picked up this volume at the library and because I have always had an interest in Japanese martial and cultural arts, I decided to read it. It is a short (129 pages) novel, and it was so compelling I finished it in a few hours.
This is a novel about Japanese women who came to America in the early 1900s. They came from different parts of Japan and they came by ship. They were motivated to come to America by Japanese men who had written them to be their wife. These women only photographs of the men along with their letters. This book tells of the hardships and difficult times, but this tale is also about courage and the ability to adjust to a new country with men who often lied to them. It is a book about Japanese families and what they had to endure with being strangers in the U.S. This is also a story about what many Japanese people had to adjust to when World War 11 began and they were sent to camps.
The strength and determination these ladies showed makes this book a must read for anyone who desires to understand the heart soul of the Japanese people. A great read.
Rating: 4 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: The Samurai Soul: An old warrior's poetic tribute).
Read more
Comment|Was this review helpful to you?
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NoReport abuse
L. G. Ruch
5.0 out of 5 starsworth 5 stars, worth a lookSeptember 22, 2017
Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase
I read a lot and rarely give 5 stars. This was one of the best books I've read in quite a while. It's subtly told, and yet brutal in its honesty, providing a clear glimpse of hope and hope re-adjusted. It also tells the under-represented story of a place and of the people who populated it, shaped it to what it is today, a story that enriches understanding of both the place and people. Not a quick read and attention to all the details is worth it. Highly, highly recommend it.
Comment|Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
NoReport abuse
S. Warfield
5.0 out of 5 starsLiterary, lyrical and poeticJanuary 2, 2012
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
The Buddha in the Attic, a National Book Award Finalist written by Julie Otsuka, is a beautifully written novel about the Japanese picture brides who came to this country early in the 20th century. It is told from a first person plural point of view, as if all the women who were on the boat coming over from Japan speak collectively. Each woman carries a picture of her new husband with her, and the women have expectations that are higher than what reality and life is going to hand them.
Instead of the vision of the American Dream that the Japanese women have in their minds, they find only fields of vegetables to pick, fruits of orchards to pick and backbreaking work wherever they go, and they travel from farm to farm, orchard to orchard in California with their husbands, just as the nation is on the brink of war.
The title was a puzzle for a while, and it's mentioned briefly toward the end of the book, but I remembered one of the women hadn't thought of her religion nor had she thought of the Buddha for a long time, a Buddha in the attic seems stored away like so many other things that these women had to give up and forget about when they came to a strange country. This was a Japanese diaspora, women leaving their own country for one where they knew nothing of the language, customs or traditions, and many of their children would grow up as Japanese-Americans, but no longer caring about their Japanese culture and heritage.
Reading this book is like reading poetry. It is lyrical and flows from chapter to chapter like the uninterrupted flow of quiet water. The author did a lot of research for this book, so everything that is written is very believable and might well have happened as far as the everyday lives of these women.
I loved this book and I've downloaded the Kindle version of Otsuka's When the Emperor Was Divine so as not to miss her other book which actually led into The Buddha in the Attic.
Highly recommended.
Read more
Comment| 8 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
NoReport abuse
Read-A-Lot
4.0 out of 5 starsCompact but powerfulApril 15, 2012
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
The perspective of this story is very interesting. It is told in first person plural, the first time I believe I have encountered such a style. For me it mostly works, and I think the author was trying to convey a sense of sameness. In eight short chapters the journey from Japan to America to disappearance is told in tight, poetry-like prose.
Because the book was so short, I thought the use of the first person plural was necessary genius. Although each woman may have had a different and unique experience, their similarities where abundant enough to be grouped in a we perspective. She cleverly uses sentences to make distinctions in the shared involvement of these Japanese "picture" brides. Frequently, she diverts from the simple, "we....." to the more canny, "Some of us..." or even the singular "one of us...." In a book this short, it would have been hard to give depth to a main character. And the focus here is clearly on the collective experience of these Japanese women.
The use of the we narrative forces the reader to deal with the existence of the various trials, as a whole, rather than focus on an individual and come away with a conclusion that is parochial. The reader comes away with a sense of what it must have been like for these women, one should feel the pain, the angst, the mistrust that these women felt, and using a single protagonist would have made this difficult in this brevity of space. I think I'm going to read her other book, because this one was very well done!
Read less
Comment|Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
NoReport abuse
Delta108
4.0 out of 5 starsReview of Buddha in The AtticDecember 17, 2017
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
This novel takes the point of view of several Japanese women as they are boarding a ship heading to America to start their new lives in the early 1900’s. The novel is missing the intimacy of one protagonist’s point of view and continues the groups point of view throughout the novel.
It was interesting, a good novel, not great.
Comment|Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
NoReport abuse
raleigh, nc
4.0 out of 5 starsStory reviewAugust 27, 2017
Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase
This was a very good story. A lot of information poured into one book. Due to the writing method, presenting the information/story from multiple situations at once, it was occasionally hard to follow and would often make the story tedious to me. I am still glad that I read it.
Comment|Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
NoReport abuse
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