Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

No-No Boy by John Okada

1 review

scripturizzy's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I had to read this book for my Asian American fiction class and it's been one of the few times in recent memory where I read slowly because the material was just so emotionally laborious to read. The raw and unflinching grief that is central to this book is made even more effective by the outside knowledge that its author never got to see the recognition it got and to have that wide affirmation of the experiences penned. No-No Boy is a post-world war two novel that takes place over a short amount of time, perhaps a few weeks at most, centered on the protagonist Ichiro's return to American society after being in prison for refusing the draft. However, in this short span of time and in the people he reconnects with or meets, Ichiro discovers and re-discovers that there is no American society for him, perhaps there never was, perhaps there never can be. I think one of the standout quotes that encapsulates the overall feeling of the book is when Ichiro thinks: "But it is not enough to be American only in the eyes of the law and it is not enough to be only half American and know that it is an empty half. I am not your son and I am not Japanese and I am not American." There is no name, no place, no way Ichiro can ever find peace with every part of himself together. This book takes a tragic look at the alienation of post-war Japanese-Americans, coupled with a fixation on American masculinity, motherhood, and madness. There's a reason this is the first full novel we read for class, and I'd totally mark it as one of my essential reads. It is raw and difficult and shattering in the complete brokenness and despair it highlights in Ichiro's thoughts and the characters around him, and it's done beautifully.  
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