The Buddha in the Attic

It's been a long time since I finished a book in one day, but I couldn't stop reading Julie Otsuka's The Buddha in the Attic. This novel is unlike anything I've read before. Instead of having a traditional narrator, the story is told by the collective "we." The "we" in the book are the Japanese women who came to San Francisco as "picture brides" for husbands they had never met. The novel follows their experiences through the years, as they adjust to their husbands and a sometimes disappointing life in the U.S., raise their children, and prepare for the mass re-location of Japanese-Americans into internment camps during World War II. By using the collective "we" in the novel, Otsuka illuminates both the variety in these women's stories and the similarities. You would think this approach would distance you, but in fact it makes the stories even more powerful and moving. This novel may be unlike anything you've ever read before, but you won't be disappointed. The Buddha in the Attic is available at the library and as an eBook for your Kindle, iPod or eReader.