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

4.0

Very hard to describe. The whole book is written in first person plural: "We came... some of us were.... one of us, named so-and-so, was...." It makes for a dreamlike book, the voices ringing out from a larger Greek chorus. There isn't one story line; there are threads that make up a larger picture of what it might have been like to be a mail-order bride/wife/mother in the early 20th century, adapting and adapting again. It's so full of pain, and longing, and acceptance of disappointment. It made me sigh again and again. A rather fast read, but nothing near "light".