The Buddah In the Attic

I am appalled at the fact that our country had internment camps for the Japanese in during World War II. It is shocking to me. To be honest, I did not even know about these camps until I read a book called The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. That was the book that introduced me to this ridiculous chapter in America. I had never heard about these camps in school. Growing up on the East Coast, I don't know if they just didn't teach it to us, or between being shuffled from Philadelphia to North Carolina, I just missed that lesson. But I do know that had I known about it as a young person, there is no way I could have forgotten it. Did Doc Vi teach it to me in American History in 11th grade? Honestly I cannot recall ever hearing about this.
In the beginning of the twentieth century, women were brought to the United States to marry men they had never met. These men were Japanese, had money to send for the women, and needed wives for companionship, to make families, or to become legalized slaves. Women from the ages of 10 and up, (so really some of them weren't really women,) were brought to this country with a vision of something better for themselves than what their mothers had. In Japan, many of the women ended up doing labor day and night. In the fields. They ate little more than rice. Their children were mostly neglected, through no fault of their own, until they were old enough to work as well. When the opportunity came for them to send their daughters to be married to men in America, they thought for sure it was for something better. They were wrong.
When the women got here, they discovered that many of the men who had sent for them had lied. They were no better off than the families in Japan. They wanted the women to work just as hard or harder than the mothers in Japan had worked, in the fields. Living conditions were not much better, either.
As the years progressed, things did get a little better. The children of these women grew up knowing English. They got an education. They were able to read and write. The women felt that they had moved to this country for a reason. Maybe not to better themselves, but to better their progeny.
And then the bombing of Pearl Harbor occurred. The people who had become their neighbors, their friends, their employers, their customers, were afraid of them. That was when the men started disappearing. They were taken in the night. Gone without a trace. The women were fearful without their husbands, the children were fearful without their fathers. But at least the white Americans could relax. But I guess the Government did not think that it was enough to take just the men. They had to take the women and children too, because heaven only knows what secrets they were holding.
The federal and state governments told the people that the Japanese were taken away to some where safe. Where they could be safe. They did not tell the people that they had them in camps, like prisoners in the Rocky Mountain West. The children missed their playmates. The adults missed their employees, their grocers, their florists, their neighbors. All because the government was scared.
I am terrified that this could happen again. Maybe not to a race of people, but what about Mormons? People could decide that they don't like my religion and want to round us all up and put us somewhere that we can't "brainwash" them. Or maybe it will be the Muslims. People were awfully afraid of Muslims after 9/11. I like to think that we are more evolved than that. I like to think that we, as Americans would never treat people like animals.
This book opened my eyes and made me a little fearful. But it also gave me hope. I know that this is part of our past, but I hope it is never part of our future.                                              

Column No. 4

Capote, the American Icon

            Truman Capote was an iconic American writer of many genres. Reading his short stories, his fiction and his non-fiction causes me to marvel at his diversity and his ability to engage the reader on so many different levels.

            “A Christmas Memory” is a short story about his life as a child and his experience one Christmas with a much older cousin, a woman with developmental disabilities. Capote’s friendship with her was an enduring one, and their innocence is captured flawlessly in this autobiographical recollection of Truman Capote’s boyhood in rural Alabama. This was my introduction to Truman Capote.

            I was fascinated by Capote and his writing, which led me to next read “In Cold Blood.” This groundbreaking novel, the first of the true-crime genre, turned my world upside down. The writing was so beautiful and transcended traditional prose. The content was shocking, but as a young college student it did not affect me in the way it would many years later when I re-read the novel.

            Capote recounts the events that occurred on and around November 15, 1959 in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas. With no apparent motive for the crime, four family members were murdered in their home. Capote reconstructs the crime, the investigation, the capture of the murderers, the trial and the execution.

            Even though I already knew the outcome of the crime, I could not help but be swept up in the story. It shocked me, it mesmerized me, it made my gut clench. The characters are real men with seemingly no moral compass. They are so depraved and lacking in compassion that I had no trouble disliking the murderers instantly.

            But Capote spent five years researching this crime. He met with the men who committed the crime. He interviewed them, and became involved with them, creating a sort of friendship.

            While the verdict is cut and dried, and you know without a doubt that these men are guilty, the way that Capote writes their story almost makes the reader sympathize with them on some unfathomable level. Capote claimed to have written this with an unbiased perspective, but it is obvious on each page that he had a personal connection to the characters in this story.

            Immediately after reading the novel, I went to the internet to do research about the crime. Every aspect of the story, the characters and the setting had penetrated my psyche.

            While the story is disturbing, the prose is decidedly poetic. There is no profanity to speak of, and while the violence is shocking, it is in no way gratuitous.

            Capote is an American writer who transcended the typical genres of American fiction. He created the new genre of non-fiction novel which others have attempted to replicate numerous times, with much less success.

This book changed the way I look at literature—fiction and non-fiction—as well as how I perceive crime in this world of ever-deteriorating morals.

Don’t be afraid to try Capote’s work. Start with his short stories. Once you read his lyrical prose, you will want to read every word he has ever written.

Family Pictures

Column No. 3

            A light read for the Halloween Season

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love to dive into my storage boxes and pull out my comfy sweaters, wool socks and fuzzy slippers. It is the time of year that I get out the knitting projects that I did not finish last winter. I bake cookies, cakes and pies. I love the smell in the air of apples and wood smoke. One of my favorite things about fall is the array of book choices!

            I love to read books that are about Salem, Massachusetts. They usually revolve around witches and the history of witches. This week’s book is perfect for this time of year. October is for Halloween and Halloween means witches!

            The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane is the kind of book that lets me delve into the world of the supernatural and learn some history as well. The author, Katherine Howe, is an actual descendent of two women who were connected to the Salem witch trials of 1692—Elizabeth Proctor, who survived the witch hunts, and Elizabeth Howe, who did not.            

            Taking a page from the author’s own life, the main character of her book also has roots in that intriguing period of Salem’s history. Connie Goodwin is working hard on finishing her PhD, mastering the scholarship around the Salem witch trials. When she is preparing her deceased grandmother’s home for sale, Connie finds bottles filled with some interesting liquids and powders, a cat who has been in residence for years and a slip of paper with the words “Deliverance Dane” tucked inside a 300-year-old family Bible. Her curiosity piqued, Connie cannot stop until she uncovers the significance of these words.

            When Connie discovers that Deliverance Dane is a woman—an ancestor—she has to unearth the story behind the name, which leads her to a “physick” book of spells and recipes for healing potions. With the help of a new friend, Sam, Connie not only finds the story of Deliverance Dane, but she finds out about part of her heritage that she never knew existed.

            The book alternates between Connie’s modern-day story and the historically based narrative of Deliverance Dane. The historical fiction interspersed throughout the main storyline gives the reader an idea of what things were like for the women accused of witchcraft in the latter part of the seventeenth century.

            With the plot twists, the little mysteries and the wonderful historical background that tells us about what may have really happened during the witch hunt of 1692, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane is a book that kept me hooked from the very beginning. It is a light read that does not take a lot of energy to get through. Although the writing is sometimes a little flat, the engaging plot makes up for the lack of eloquence.

            It is the first novel by Howe, and while I would not suggest the book for a book group to discuss, it is definitely a fun read for this time of year.

            I also want to mention a really cool website that I found this week while I was looking for some books. Readinggroupchoices.com is a great site dedicated to making the most of your book club. You can register your book club and receive monthly newsletters about new books that would be a good fit for your group. They also have archives of their old newsletters from the past three years. The newsletters not only have great book choices, but also articles about new authors, different types of book clubs, (have you ever skyped a book club?) and a spotlight on a book club of the month. This is a great source for book clubs and single bookies alike!

            Don’t forget to find me on Goodreads.com to see what I am reading now!