A review by carnisht
Eyes of the Emperor by Graham Salisbury
3.0
Tod Carnish Response #2
Eddy, a Japanese-American teenager, has lived in Hawaii his whole life. He has never felt out of place or like an “other,” until Japan bombs Pearl Harbor. He decides to fight for his country and enlist in the Army, but his experience is not what he expects. While the white soldiers are getting trained in combat and sent to the front lines, Eddy and his Asian-American comrades are stuck doing manual labor across America. They eventually find stability on an island off the coast of Mississippi where they are used in the training of K-9 units that are specially trained on how to hunt (and kill) Japanese.
This story sent me on a rollercoaster. When I first picked it up, the cover had me extremely turned off to the whole book. But, I chose to follow the old proverb and not judge the book by its cover. So I started reading it… and I was thoroughly shocked and impressed by how much I liked it. Then, about halfway through, I began losing interest and finding it difficult to keep going. It just grew to be a bit tedious and predictable and, unfortunately, a bit redundant. All of that aside, though, there were definitely some redeeming qualities to the story. First, I had literally never heard of these events. I knew about internment camps, and that’s about it. I was impressed by Salisbury’s ability to provide a unique, true story about World War II that I had no idea even existed. Even more so, this whole storyline revealed some atypical racist beliefs from America’s past (i.e. against Japanese – or Asians in general due to society’s ignorance). Again, I knew these beliefs existed, primarily due to the advanced nature of my high school’s history curriculum, but I never knew how unjust and widespread these biases were. Also, beyond all of this World War II drama, there was still a superbly interesting subplot of family dynamics. The relationships between Eddy and his Pop, his mother, and his brother were potentially my favorite parts of the book (if for no reason other than I hate war stories). I really liked seeing them develop from Eddy’s time at home, through his duration on Cat Island, and into his return home. I kept finding myself wondering what his family was doing and wanting more information on them, but I appreciated Salisbury’s inclusion of this subplot for the less war-interested readers.
Eddy, a Japanese-American teenager, has lived in Hawaii his whole life. He has never felt out of place or like an “other,” until Japan bombs Pearl Harbor. He decides to fight for his country and enlist in the Army, but his experience is not what he expects. While the white soldiers are getting trained in combat and sent to the front lines, Eddy and his Asian-American comrades are stuck doing manual labor across America. They eventually find stability on an island off the coast of Mississippi where they are used in the training of K-9 units that are specially trained on how to hunt (and kill) Japanese.
This story sent me on a rollercoaster. When I first picked it up, the cover had me extremely turned off to the whole book. But, I chose to follow the old proverb and not judge the book by its cover. So I started reading it… and I was thoroughly shocked and impressed by how much I liked it. Then, about halfway through, I began losing interest and finding it difficult to keep going. It just grew to be a bit tedious and predictable and, unfortunately, a bit redundant. All of that aside, though, there were definitely some redeeming qualities to the story. First, I had literally never heard of these events. I knew about internment camps, and that’s about it. I was impressed by Salisbury’s ability to provide a unique, true story about World War II that I had no idea even existed. Even more so, this whole storyline revealed some atypical racist beliefs from America’s past (i.e. against Japanese – or Asians in general due to society’s ignorance). Again, I knew these beliefs existed, primarily due to the advanced nature of my high school’s history curriculum, but I never knew how unjust and widespread these biases were. Also, beyond all of this World War II drama, there was still a superbly interesting subplot of family dynamics. The relationships between Eddy and his Pop, his mother, and his brother were potentially my favorite parts of the book (if for no reason other than I hate war stories). I really liked seeing them develop from Eddy’s time at home, through his duration on Cat Island, and into his return home. I kept finding myself wondering what his family was doing and wanting more information on them, but I appreciated Salisbury’s inclusion of this subplot for the less war-interested readers.