Name: Hist.txt
Subject:  Canadian History
Title:  A review of Obasan
Grade: 75%
System: College
Age: 18
Country: Canada
Comments:  Good book review of the novel Obasan
Language: English






	I decided to read the novel by Joy Kogawa entitled Obasan.  The 
novel was written in 1981 and told the details of how the Japanese were 
discriminated against during World War 2.  The author’s main purpose was 
to educated the reader on how hard life really was for her family and 
other Japanese Canadians living in British Columbia, and especially in 
Vancouver.  Joy Kogawa tried to show how ignorant British Columbians 
really were, and that we still do not fully understand what really 
happened during the war.  She also tries to teach Canadians the culture 
of the Japanese.

	The novel starts in the seventies with Naomi a teacher in 
Northern Alberta finding out that her uncle has died.  When Naomi returns 
home to console her Aunt Obasan, she begins to relive the difficulties of 
her life.  She recounts the struggle against the government and 
themselves while trying to stay in Vancouver.  Naomi is very small at the 
time of the war and did not really fully understand what was happening to 
her race.  The novel recounts the struggle of Naomi’s Aunt Emily to 
ensure that her family would be together in whatever place they were sent 
to.  Aunt Emily wanted to head east to Toronto, but was unable to get the 
documentation for the entire family which included her sister children, 
who she was taking care of.  The novel discuses the camps that the 
Japanese families were sent to in Hastings Park during the war.  It 
described the treatment the families received while there, including the 
lack of food and the smell of manure.  Naomi during this time was being 
sexually molested by her next door neighbor and did not tell anybody 
about this.  Naomi seems resentful during the novel, as she comes across 
as a quiet little girl, who does not seem to interact with many people.  
Aunt Emily finally finds a place in Slocan for the family to go live, but 
just before they leave finds out her and her immediate family could go to 
Toronto.  This leaves Aunt Emily going to Toronto and everybody else 
moving to Toronto.  In the end almost everybody ends up dying.

	The novel had many strengths and weaknesses.  One strength that 
really got to me is the great detail in how the Japanese were treated, 
though they were Canadian citizens.  Obasan also taught me a lot about 
the Japanese culture and background.  I enjoyed learning that it was 
custom to take a bath with your family when you were younger.  I also 
learned that the government took away the vehicles of the Japanese and 
auctioned them off, which really shocked me.  Joy Kogawa also brought in 
a good insight about what the Japanese Canadians were really feeling and 
going through during these tough times.

	On the flip side there were also many weaknesses in the book 
Obasan.  One major weakness was the failure to distinguish between 
present time and the past.  There were to many times that I did not 
realize that Naomi had switched into a flashback or vice versa.  This 
left me rereading many pages over.  I also did not like the way that the 
novel would drag on.  It sometimes failed to have much to do with the 
rest of the story, and is to wordy.  I believe the story could have been 
told in about one hundred and eighty pages instead of the two hundred and 
fifty pages.  I think that the novel could have also gone into a little 
more detail about the living conditions at Hastings Park, and also a 
political aspect of why this was happening to these people.

	All and all I would have to say this novel helped me a lot in 
understanding what happened during the Second World War.  Before reading 
this novel, I would have to admit that I really did not even know this 
happened in Canada, which is really sad.  I did know though that the 
Japanese in the United States were sent from the west coast, but did not 
realize that it reached the west coast of Canada.  Obasan is a very good 
novel for anybody who did not know what happened during the Second World 
War.  I would recommend this novel to all Canadians, but especially to 
British Columbians.  Obasan was on the most part well written and gives 
an excellent account of the Japanese reviews.  Obasan was a good novel to 
help better understand our Canadian history.

˙WPC‡