A review by agiali
Under the Blood-Red Sun by Graham Salisbury
3.0
☼ 215/ 100
This was a fantastic story that was gifted to me by an old coworker when I asked for book recommendations that made her cry. Whilst I didn't cry this was a very emotional story.
It follows Tomi, a Hawaiian-Japanese boy whose grandparents had immigrated from Japan to Hawaii to escape poverty. It takes place during World War II, when the U.S. had yet to 'join' the war and Tomi believes the war won't touch him since he's in the middle of the ocean. That all changes when Japan bombs Pearl Harbor and Japanese men are taken from their families and arrested. Tomi now has to take care of his little sister and mother. Not only is this a novel about history but it also tells the story of Hawaiian locals and friendship excellently, in my opinion.
I was born and raised in Maui, Hawai'i my whole life, and one thing Graham Salisbury did fantastic was getting the lingo DOWN. I find it hard to read books that are told in a certain dialect/ accent, but I guess growing up here helped me not struggle that much in this novel.
I will say this was well-written, but I found myself bored because I think this is written for a younger male audience and I am the opposite of both of those things. I was mostly bored of this though because I didn't realize I had watched the movie for this back in high school and they did a fantastic adaptation, so the plot of this was repetitive in my brain.
I'm probably going to pass this book along since I probably won't think about this book again, but I am glad I read it.
This was a fantastic story that was gifted to me by an old coworker when I asked for book recommendations that made her cry. Whilst I didn't cry this was a very emotional story.
It follows Tomi, a Hawaiian-Japanese boy whose grandparents had immigrated from Japan to Hawaii to escape poverty. It takes place during World War II, when the U.S. had yet to 'join' the war and Tomi believes the war won't touch him since he's in the middle of the ocean. That all changes when Japan bombs Pearl Harbor and Japanese men are taken from their families and arrested. Tomi now has to take care of his little sister and mother. Not only is this a novel about history but it also tells the story of Hawaiian locals and friendship excellently, in my opinion.
I was born and raised in Maui, Hawai'i my whole life, and one thing Graham Salisbury did fantastic was getting the lingo DOWN. I find it hard to read books that are told in a certain dialect/ accent, but I guess growing up here helped me not struggle that much in this novel.
I will say this was well-written, but I found myself bored because I think this is written for a younger male audience and I am the opposite of both of those things. I was mostly bored of this though because I didn't realize I had watched the movie for this back in high school and they did a fantastic adaptation, so the plot of this was repetitive in my brain.
I'm probably going to pass this book along since I probably won't think about this book again, but I am glad I read it.