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Camp Nine: A Novel
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the U.S. military to ban anyone from certain areas of the country, with primary focus on the West Coast. Eventually the order was used to imprison 120,000 people of Japanese descent in incarceration camps such as the Rohwer Relocation Center in remote Desha County, Arkansas. This time of fear and prejudice (the U.S. government formally apologized for the relocations in 1982) and the Arkansas Delta are the setting for Camp Nine . The novel's narrator, Chess Morton, lives in tiny Rook Arkansas. Her days are quiet and secluded until the appearance of a "relocation" center built for what was, in effect, the imprisonment of thousands of Japanese Americans. Chess's life becomes intertwined with those of two young internees and an American soldier mysteriously connected to her mother's past. As Chess watches the struggles and triumphs of these strangers and sees her mother seek justice for the people who briefly and involuntarily came to call the Arkansas Delta their home, she discovers surprising and disturbing truths about her family's painful past.
206 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
November 21, 2011
Vivienne Schiffer’s Camp Nine is a quiet, moving coming-of-age story detailing life at fictionalized Camp Nine, a place teeming with life and culture in the 1940s. In modern times, it’s difficult to believe that places like this actually existed on American soil — but while reading, I had to remember the mayhem that followed the dark days after Sept. 11, 2001. The rampant fear and uncertainty. The chaos and confusion. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, the American people struggled to make sense of the attack and questioned the loyalties of anyone of Japanese descent — the new enemy. Sound familiar?
This is not at all to justify what happened — that would be impossible. I suppose I just had to repeat to myself that it was a different time, a different time.
And this time, indeed, was scary. If Chess wasn’t playing witness to the despair within Camp Nine, she was dealing with the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in Rook. Growing up with black servants she also considered friends, Chess can’t make sense of the hatred spreading through Rook like a sickness. The military installation of thousands of Japanese Americans nearby was like throwing a match into a powder keg.
What I liked best about Camp Nine, aside from the lovely writing, was the way Schiffer chose to tell us Chess’ story from her adult perspective. Though we don’t know exactly how the story ends, we know that Chess is reflecting upon her early experiences as a married mother herself. We know she remembers these hazy days in Rook clearly, but that doesn’t mean her memories haven’t taken on a soft patina with time. Narrator Chess is wise, thoughtful, intelligent. She recalls moments at Camp Nine with a clarity her young self could not understand. Her narration was very moving.
If you’re looking for a book ripe with action and plot, Camp Nine might not quench your literary thirst. The novel is definitely a character exploration examining family dynamics, race relations, this particular moment in history — and what came after. Though I love historical fiction, this is the first book I’ve read detailing the experiences of Japanese Americans in the U.S. during World War II. The situation was deplorable, and I feel like I’ve gained a new perspective.
Schiffer has crafted a fine-tuned, lyrical and affecting work and doesn’t waste a single word in her narrative. Dropped immediately into Arkansas, readers experience a great progression — a sincere, unexpected journey — with Schiffer’s well-drawn, sympathetic characters. If you like historical fiction and character studies, add it to your wishlist.
This is not at all to justify what happened — that would be impossible. I suppose I just had to repeat to myself that it was a different time, a different time.
And this time, indeed, was scary. If Chess wasn’t playing witness to the despair within Camp Nine, she was dealing with the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in Rook. Growing up with black servants she also considered friends, Chess can’t make sense of the hatred spreading through Rook like a sickness. The military installation of thousands of Japanese Americans nearby was like throwing a match into a powder keg.
What I liked best about Camp Nine, aside from the lovely writing, was the way Schiffer chose to tell us Chess’ story from her adult perspective. Though we don’t know exactly how the story ends, we know that Chess is reflecting upon her early experiences as a married mother herself. We know she remembers these hazy days in Rook clearly, but that doesn’t mean her memories haven’t taken on a soft patina with time. Narrator Chess is wise, thoughtful, intelligent. She recalls moments at Camp Nine with a clarity her young self could not understand. Her narration was very moving.
If you’re looking for a book ripe with action and plot, Camp Nine might not quench your literary thirst. The novel is definitely a character exploration examining family dynamics, race relations, this particular moment in history — and what came after. Though I love historical fiction, this is the first book I’ve read detailing the experiences of Japanese Americans in the U.S. during World War II. The situation was deplorable, and I feel like I’ve gained a new perspective.
Schiffer has crafted a fine-tuned, lyrical and affecting work and doesn’t waste a single word in her narrative. Dropped immediately into Arkansas, readers experience a great progression — a sincere, unexpected journey — with Schiffer’s well-drawn, sympathetic characters. If you like historical fiction and character studies, add it to your wishlist.
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May 14, 2012Based on personal experiences of the author who lived in Arkansas when Japanese citizens were forced into relocation centers, this remarkable story is told by a young girl trying to make sense of a mother’s complicated indignation. Family dynamics, race and class, and the Blues connect in a love story intertwined with history and horror at the situation.
Perhaps the novel’s truth comes as Chess, the young narrator, attempts to understand her beloved Arkansas Delta. When David Matsui, her new Japanese American friend calls the place a sinkhole, she takes umbrage. Only later does she realize that “stark criticism by a native is tolerated—from a stranger, it is not.” By book’s end, Chess accepts that “no one could really appreciate one’s home except through the eyes of outsiders.”
The story of the Japanese American internment camps in the 1940s South is not well known. This beautifully-written new novel should rectify that.
(from my review in Delta Magazine)
Perhaps the novel’s truth comes as Chess, the young narrator, attempts to understand her beloved Arkansas Delta. When David Matsui, her new Japanese American friend calls the place a sinkhole, she takes umbrage. Only later does she realize that “stark criticism by a native is tolerated—from a stranger, it is not.” By book’s end, Chess accepts that “no one could really appreciate one’s home except through the eyes of outsiders.”
The story of the Japanese American internment camps in the 1940s South is not well known. This beautifully-written new novel should rectify that.
(from my review in Delta Magazine)
November 3, 2011
I loved this well-researched, creative story about an unfamiliar aspect of our country's history.
October 31, 2011
This book tells a fictionalized account of the interned Japanese US citizens during WWII. A camp was set up in Arkansas and our government moved law abiding CITIZENS to a military base simply because they were Japanese. It was one of the worst offenses post-slavery that this country had sanctioned.
Chess Morton is just a child when the Camp is established on land that was hers; her grandfather is guardian of her estate and he sells it to the government. She is of the "landed gentry" in the area and very protected. Her mother was born of immigrant parents and not at all what was expected in a wife for a Morton. Chess's father died young leaving her with a mother trying to what was best for her child in a difficult time.
Into their protected world drops Camp Nine, the Japanese internment prison. The colonel in charge of the camp is an old friend of Chess's mother and she becomes involved with him and the people at the camp. She starts teaching art classes and becomes friendly with one family in particular, the Matsuis.
Chess tries to remain ignorant of the camp but her mother forces her to acknowledge it. She starts going to the camp and she befriends the young Matsui boys, David and Henry. She learns that there is a whole other world outside of her pampered, Southern upbringing.
In spite of learning some harsh facts about the world at large Chess still remains in the dark about much that goes on around her until the conclusion of the book when a final meeting lays bare a past she thought she understood and exposes truths as lies.
This was a beautifully written book covering a horrible topic. Despite this, Ms. Schiffer has crafted a novel that I found to be one that I will keep and read again. I don't do this often. Chess is the focus of the tale, not the Camp. It is her story; as she grows and learns and finally discovers her painful past. All of the adults in her life wanted to protect her from the worst of life and I am not sure they did her any favors.
I think this is book that will be even better on a second reading. The foreknowledge of the ending will allow the reader to better appreciate some of the characters' actions. In spite of the awful topics - internment, racial hostility, the Klan - the book is softly written. I will look forward to further writings from Ms. Schiffer.
Chess Morton is just a child when the Camp is established on land that was hers; her grandfather is guardian of her estate and he sells it to the government. She is of the "landed gentry" in the area and very protected. Her mother was born of immigrant parents and not at all what was expected in a wife for a Morton. Chess's father died young leaving her with a mother trying to what was best for her child in a difficult time.
Into their protected world drops Camp Nine, the Japanese internment prison. The colonel in charge of the camp is an old friend of Chess's mother and she becomes involved with him and the people at the camp. She starts teaching art classes and becomes friendly with one family in particular, the Matsuis.
Chess tries to remain ignorant of the camp but her mother forces her to acknowledge it. She starts going to the camp and she befriends the young Matsui boys, David and Henry. She learns that there is a whole other world outside of her pampered, Southern upbringing.
In spite of learning some harsh facts about the world at large Chess still remains in the dark about much that goes on around her until the conclusion of the book when a final meeting lays bare a past she thought she understood and exposes truths as lies.
This was a beautifully written book covering a horrible topic. Despite this, Ms. Schiffer has crafted a novel that I found to be one that I will keep and read again. I don't do this often. Chess is the focus of the tale, not the Camp. It is her story; as she grows and learns and finally discovers her painful past. All of the adults in her life wanted to protect her from the worst of life and I am not sure they did her any favors.
I think this is book that will be even better on a second reading. The foreknowledge of the ending will allow the reader to better appreciate some of the characters' actions. In spite of the awful topics - internment, racial hostility, the Klan - the book is softly written. I will look forward to further writings from Ms. Schiffer.
July 1, 2012
Just finished reading the novel “Camp Nine” by Vivienne Schiffer. I was moved by the story, a first-person telling of the years that Japanese-Americans were interned at a fictional detainment camp in Arkansas, on the Mississippi. The story is based on the Rohwer Relocation Center, and the narrator is a pre-teen white girl, negotiating the class and racial divides so powerful in the Deep South in the 1940s and beyond. One heroine and focal point of the tale is the narrator’s mother, a widow of Italian-American descent, who confidently manages the narrow cultural judgments of the hamlet’s inhabitants. Schiffer ably conveys a sense of place: the dense, lush stillness of a Bayou culture that time forgot, complete with allusion to Klan activities, jolted awake by a shameful episode in American history. The reader is drawn into the past, and the lives of those who suffered at the hands of racist policy, one too easily dismissed by our history books.
A white lawyer from Houston, Schiffer was raised in the town of Rohwer, and although the story is layered and provocative, the writing is not particularly strong. That’s unfortunate, because this is a story that could serve as a staple of young adult fiction if told in a more artful manner. Nonetheless, I recommend “Camp Nine” for those with an interest in the internment camps or 20th Century history of the Mississippi Delta, or who are drawn to coming-of-age stories addressing race or class. It’s only by chance I found this book - I happened upon in on the stacks one day - so I thought I’d spread the word: reading “Camp Nine” will make my understanding of the detainment camps richer for the novel’s emotional rendering of tender relationships and devastating injustice.
A white lawyer from Houston, Schiffer was raised in the town of Rohwer, and although the story is layered and provocative, the writing is not particularly strong. That’s unfortunate, because this is a story that could serve as a staple of young adult fiction if told in a more artful manner. Nonetheless, I recommend “Camp Nine” for those with an interest in the internment camps or 20th Century history of the Mississippi Delta, or who are drawn to coming-of-age stories addressing race or class. It’s only by chance I found this book - I happened upon in on the stacks one day - so I thought I’d spread the word: reading “Camp Nine” will make my understanding of the detainment camps richer for the novel’s emotional rendering of tender relationships and devastating injustice.
July 27, 2012
I found this book in the new fiction section at the library one morning. Once again, a historical fiction novel set in my favorite time period. Unlike the others, this one takes place in the USA. For the first time, or my first time anyways, I found a WWII book about America that wasn't directly about the war. This story takes place in Arkansas. A young girl and her mother are living on the large plantation, near the parents of the deceased husband. There's not much to do in this little town except talk to the help and visit the general store. Until one day when a large plot of land gets turned into a living area. Suddenly there are barracks, houses, a school, and guard towers. All at once, this sleepy little town is home to an internment camp for hundreds of Japanese Americans who have been relocated out of California. Through this camp, the main character learns true life lessons about life, race, and love.
It was an interesting story and covered a topic that generally gets swept aside. I enjoyed it as a random read, I recommend it, though it wasn't the MOST interesting book I've ever read.
It was an interesting story and covered a topic that generally gets swept aside. I enjoyed it as a random read, I recommend it, though it wasn't the MOST interesting book I've ever read.
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March 13, 2016Page 121.
"It would be many years before America would become accustomed to talk like that, the idea that the world at large is alive, not just something to plow up and chop down and bend to our will. But they were the same sentiments I'd heard from Ruby Jean and her family. Despite the atrocities they were forced to commit against the earth with our newfangled chemicals and poisons, they maintained a reverence and respect for nature that went far beyond our desire for dominance over what we could never truly hope to tame."
How did we allow tens of thousands of our citizens to be imprisoned in their own country? Lack of understanding? Knowledge? Or just a need to feel better than someone anyone?! To blame someone else for your problems thereby not shouldering any responsibility? Like Trump followers? Could it happen again? I am watching.
"It would be many years before America would become accustomed to talk like that, the idea that the world at large is alive, not just something to plow up and chop down and bend to our will. But they were the same sentiments I'd heard from Ruby Jean and her family. Despite the atrocities they were forced to commit against the earth with our newfangled chemicals and poisons, they maintained a reverence and respect for nature that went far beyond our desire for dominance over what we could never truly hope to tame."
How did we allow tens of thousands of our citizens to be imprisoned in their own country? Lack of understanding? Knowledge? Or just a need to feel better than someone anyone?! To blame someone else for your problems thereby not shouldering any responsibility? Like Trump followers? Could it happen again? I am watching.
November 16, 2012
Following an "all things Asian or the like" appetite I was picking up any book with an almond blossom on the cover for sure. "Camp Nine" was about the internment camps for the Japanese in the United States during WWII. Not a world shattering expose but a well told story with believable characters struggling to find a sense of belonging in a greater tale of war and the many forgotten victims.
I was only little aware of the camps, so I was thankful for Schiffer giving voice to a page often left out of the histories. I believe she also gives a fair hand to the telling. There is no raging fist that blames, but an unfolding of lives that may have never been so entwined if they were not forced to be so. In "Camp Nine" they do just that, unfold.
I was only little aware of the camps, so I was thankful for Schiffer giving voice to a page often left out of the histories. I believe she also gives a fair hand to the telling. There is no raging fist that blames, but an unfolding of lives that may have never been so entwined if they were not forced to be so. In "Camp Nine" they do just that, unfold.
May 31, 2023
Camp Nine" is a historical novel written by Vivienne Schiffer. The book is set in Arkansas during World War II and explores themes of racism, loyalty, and family dynamics. It tells the story of a Japanese-American family who is forced to leave their home and live in an internment camp called Camp Nine. The novel sheds light on the injustices faced by Japanese-Americans during this tumultuous time in American. The book also shows that human beings are blind to the shortcomings of societies, especially when they are raised in those societies.
December 3, 2018
I personally did not enjoy reading his book. It was not very interesting to me and I had a hard time focusing on the story. This book is about a girl and her mom who live next to a Japanese camp. I read this story because it is about Arkansas and the history. I currently live in Arkansas and really love reading stories that take place in Arkansas. This is a good book for high school students who might be reading about this subject in schools.
March 14, 2017
Very easy to read and an interesting story. My biggest compliant was that the author tried to add drama and intrigue into a story that was really pretty simple. Lots of "Little did I know that telling him that would change the course of his life forever," etc etc. Overall though, it was enjoyable and an important piece of American history to be told.
March 11, 2021
I read this for a book discussion at my local library. I've only live in Arkansas for 4 years, and had no idea that there was a interment camp for Japanese here during WWII. While readers will learn about the camp, it is more the story of Chess Morton, when her life intersects with camp inhabitants. We had a lively discussion!
July 8, 2018
Beautiful story of a life we don’t talk about enough in US History. I couldn’t put the story down, wanting to know more. Highly recommend for Historical Fiction lovers or those just looking for a good novel.
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August 24, 2023Poison-Roots-tree on the cover-Japanese Americans are moved from California to detention camp in Arkansas early 1940's. The struggles of the detainees and a local mom and daughter try to deal with and improve the situation. sad
December 11, 2023
Took me several moths to finish because I read a hard copy, but what a great finish for me because with two chapters left, we went to McGehee and the Japanese internment museum. Great historical fiction
April 25, 2018
Adult book....enjoyed!
January 12, 2021
WWII Japanese here in US
December 25, 2023
Audiobook. I considered it boring.
January 12, 2012
For some strange reason, I've been reading a lot of books this year that relates a story during World War II. I've never been a big fan of war history or that particular time period, so I have found it all that more curious that I seem to be reading everything that comes my way that deals with that era of history. They have for the most part been nonfiction and the few fiction books have been mysteries or Gothic that just happens to be set during that period. Up until this point, I hadn't read a fiction books that needs to be set in that period in order for the story to work. Camp Nine is the first one and if they are all like this one, I have a very busy life ahead of me. For me this book wasn't about the history, though it played a huge part, it was more about the story itself.
Now while this book does deal with race, class, and the societal structures of the day, that's not what I focused on as I was reading it. Those elements needed to be there in order for the story to progress, but I couldn't take my mind off the characters long enough to really analyze the rest of it. This experience was all about some of the most wonderful characters I have had the pleasure of discovering in a long time.
The action revolves around Chess and her mother from the beginning and it never leaves them as the other characters are introduced. The way they interact with one particular family in the internment camp, the Matsui family, made me feel hope and relief that there may still be people who are willing to fight for what's right and just, even if it's only in the smallest way. They, despite their faults and blindness to other issues, do what they can to make the lives of those in the camps a little better and develop close friendships with some of them. I can't even start to explain the richness of all the other characters as they bought in their voices and stories to the tale. These will a cast of extraordinary people that I don't think I will forget for a very long time.
But the one character that set this book apart from a lot of others, was the place. The land became the most important character as it dictated so many of the relationships between the human characters. The land controlled the fates of those who owned and those who worked. It gave some riches and caused others to be little more than serfs of those who owned the land. It was the canvas that gave life to all those who lived on it and it wouldn't hesitate to take it all back. It was a living, breathing entity that provided a lush and rich background for the dynamic relationships that I found so much pleasure in.
Now while this book does deal with race, class, and the societal structures of the day, that's not what I focused on as I was reading it. Those elements needed to be there in order for the story to progress, but I couldn't take my mind off the characters long enough to really analyze the rest of it. This experience was all about some of the most wonderful characters I have had the pleasure of discovering in a long time.
The action revolves around Chess and her mother from the beginning and it never leaves them as the other characters are introduced. The way they interact with one particular family in the internment camp, the Matsui family, made me feel hope and relief that there may still be people who are willing to fight for what's right and just, even if it's only in the smallest way. They, despite their faults and blindness to other issues, do what they can to make the lives of those in the camps a little better and develop close friendships with some of them. I can't even start to explain the richness of all the other characters as they bought in their voices and stories to the tale. These will a cast of extraordinary people that I don't think I will forget for a very long time.
But the one character that set this book apart from a lot of others, was the place. The land became the most important character as it dictated so many of the relationships between the human characters. The land controlled the fates of those who owned and those who worked. It gave some riches and caused others to be little more than serfs of those who owned the land. It was the canvas that gave life to all those who lived on it and it wouldn't hesitate to take it all back. It was a living, breathing entity that provided a lush and rich background for the dynamic relationships that I found so much pleasure in.
March 31, 2012
Raised by her headstrong mother and near her disapproving but wealthy grandparents, Chess is a product of the time and the land, in an era where land still defined American status and wealth. However, the world is not all peaceful and bucolic in Vivienne Schiffer's Camp Nine. Pearl Harbor has dragged America into the second World War, and the government buys land in the Arkansas Delta from Chess's grandfather, Mr. Morton, for an internment camp for Japanese citizens from San Francisco. The community reacts in the ways you'd expect a southern town at that time to react: with fear and thus, prejudice.
Chess's mother Carolina, raised Italian and considered not good enough by her wealthy in-laws, does not plan to sit idly by while these innocent people sit behind barbed wire at Camp Nine. She flies into the face of southern deportment, visiting the camp often with a former (now-marrried) beau, bringing her daughter along and making friends with the Matsuis. Her attachment alone is enough to bring talk, but her affinity for and defense of the Japanese families in the camp brings the tension to a head, exposing Chess to the ugly side of southern "hospitality."
One of the aspects of this novel I appreciated the most was Chess's adult insight. She isn't judgmental or sentimental but rather looks at her life and the events in it with a curiosity that is both honest and endearing, as though she is questioning it ever happening or more likely, her naïveté. Instead of overcompensating for her hindsight or excusing the actions of her family, Chess sticks to stark observations, remarking about the true nature of the KKK and the ruling class's opposition:
Its opposition of the Klan was not so much that it felt a noble obligation to protect vulnerable blacks. The Klan threatened its valuable work force, the means through which its wealth was achieved.
This sort of explanation could easily have felt heavy handed, but there were only a few instances toward the end of the novel when Chess meets up with David Matsui after many years that there was any sort of protracted explanation. However, that's being quite nitpicky because I raced through this novel, enjoying it and - as many a good novel makes me do - turned to Internet research to learn more about the internment of the Japanese and Japanese Americans and both the intense shame these families felt but also their struggles to take back any sort of life after the war. Fascinating and horrifying stuff.
Read this: if you have any interest in World War II, particularly the American experience. Would also make for an excellent book club book.
Chess's mother Carolina, raised Italian and considered not good enough by her wealthy in-laws, does not plan to sit idly by while these innocent people sit behind barbed wire at Camp Nine. She flies into the face of southern deportment, visiting the camp often with a former (now-marrried) beau, bringing her daughter along and making friends with the Matsuis. Her attachment alone is enough to bring talk, but her affinity for and defense of the Japanese families in the camp brings the tension to a head, exposing Chess to the ugly side of southern "hospitality."
One of the aspects of this novel I appreciated the most was Chess's adult insight. She isn't judgmental or sentimental but rather looks at her life and the events in it with a curiosity that is both honest and endearing, as though she is questioning it ever happening or more likely, her naïveté. Instead of overcompensating for her hindsight or excusing the actions of her family, Chess sticks to stark observations, remarking about the true nature of the KKK and the ruling class's opposition:
Its opposition of the Klan was not so much that it felt a noble obligation to protect vulnerable blacks. The Klan threatened its valuable work force, the means through which its wealth was achieved.
This sort of explanation could easily have felt heavy handed, but there were only a few instances toward the end of the novel when Chess meets up with David Matsui after many years that there was any sort of protracted explanation. However, that's being quite nitpicky because I raced through this novel, enjoying it and - as many a good novel makes me do - turned to Internet research to learn more about the internment of the Japanese and Japanese Americans and both the intense shame these families felt but also their struggles to take back any sort of life after the war. Fascinating and horrifying stuff.
Read this: if you have any interest in World War II, particularly the American experience. Would also make for an excellent book club book.
November 28, 2011
Overall, a well-researched book that suffered from a weak protagonist. Unfortunately, Chess is too much of a passive observer. She is constantly pushed into acting as opposed to asserting herself as an actor in the story. You could almost say this was her mother's story, but Chess assures us it's hers, too--I would have been more convinced of that had she been more aware, more eager to learn who she was, who her family was, and how Camp Nine affected her life. She's still playing catch up years later, which only goes to show how little her character grows.
The narration was also a lot of telling instead of showing; the biggest example I can think of is Chess' crush on Henry Matsui. She says they've bonded over common interests, but prior to that declaration, we've seen them interact once. Their later interactions carry more meaning, but they're clumsily introduced because the reader doesn't see a relationship until Chess tells us it's so. And when we learn of Henry's death, Chess' reaction is supposed to be emotional, but it rang hollow.
Again, it was a well-researched novel, and a look into a shameful period of the nation's history, but I feel it fell short of the mark. With Chess as the narrator, there were a lot of missed opportunities to fully explore the impact of the camp on families, the communities, the country, simply because Chess doesn't like confronting truths. As hard as it is to do so, it would've made for a more compelling character who is able to understand and interpret what's going on around her instead of having to be told everything.
In the end, 2.5 stars from me; this was a Goodreads Giveaway win.
The narration was also a lot of telling instead of showing; the biggest example I can think of is Chess' crush on Henry Matsui. She says they've bonded over common interests, but prior to that declaration, we've seen them interact once. Their later interactions carry more meaning, but they're clumsily introduced because the reader doesn't see a relationship until Chess tells us it's so. And when we learn of Henry's death, Chess' reaction is supposed to be emotional, but it rang hollow.
Again, it was a well-researched novel, and a look into a shameful period of the nation's history, but I feel it fell short of the mark. With Chess as the narrator, there were a lot of missed opportunities to fully explore the impact of the camp on families, the communities, the country, simply because Chess doesn't like confronting truths. As hard as it is to do so, it would've made for a more compelling character who is able to understand and interpret what's going on around her instead of having to be told everything.
In the end, 2.5 stars from me; this was a Goodreads Giveaway win.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 1, 2011
Original review posted here
For such a small book (151 pages), this one sure packs a punch.
I know very little about the camps created here in the states for the Japanese after Pearl Harbor. But over the last year, I’ve been reading more fiction about the horrible treatment not only received by the Japanese, but other immigrants during that time period (Also, see Lost in Shangri La by Mitchell Zuckoff).
This book tells a fictional story of “Camp Nine”, based on a camp that was located in the authors hometown (name changed), and based on real life characters. It’s heart-breaking, inspiring, and eye-opening – three things that make up a powerful book. However, it’s such a quiet story that the full impact didn’t even hit me until I’d set it down and thought about it for a while, a fact that makes me shake my head in wonder. I do love it when a story creeps up on you like that.
While I enjoyed reading about Chess and her mother, David and Henry Matsui and some of the other interesting characters in the book, my attention was very much captured by Cottonmouth Willie. Schiffer does a beautiful job building up this quiet, background character and giving him a voice that sings as beautifully as his music appears to. When describing his style of blues, I could hear it in my head – and as a musician, something like that is invaluable to me.
This would be a fantastic book to give any history buffs in your life. It’s unusual, very unique, and enlightening, to be sure.
For such a small book (151 pages), this one sure packs a punch.
I know very little about the camps created here in the states for the Japanese after Pearl Harbor. But over the last year, I’ve been reading more fiction about the horrible treatment not only received by the Japanese, but other immigrants during that time period (Also, see Lost in Shangri La by Mitchell Zuckoff).
This book tells a fictional story of “Camp Nine”, based on a camp that was located in the authors hometown (name changed), and based on real life characters. It’s heart-breaking, inspiring, and eye-opening – three things that make up a powerful book. However, it’s such a quiet story that the full impact didn’t even hit me until I’d set it down and thought about it for a while, a fact that makes me shake my head in wonder. I do love it when a story creeps up on you like that.
While I enjoyed reading about Chess and her mother, David and Henry Matsui and some of the other interesting characters in the book, my attention was very much captured by Cottonmouth Willie. Schiffer does a beautiful job building up this quiet, background character and giving him a voice that sings as beautifully as his music appears to. When describing his style of blues, I could hear it in my head – and as a musician, something like that is invaluable to me.
This would be a fantastic book to give any history buffs in your life. It’s unusual, very unique, and enlightening, to be sure.
November 15, 2011
Camp Nine by Vivienne Schiffer is told from the point of view of Cecilia “Chess” Morton as she looks back on her time in Desha County, Arkansas, during the late 1940s when Camp Nine was erected near her childhood home. As a child, she grew up without a father, but she had a mother who doted on her, though she often butts heads with Chess’ grandfather, who owned half, if not more, of the town, Rook. Her grandfather controlled much of Chess’ land inheritance and sold a good portion of land, which he deemed useless, to the government for Camp Nine, which he was told would hold German prisoners of war captured during WWII, which was in full swing at the time the story takes place.
Chess is a curious child, but often her inquisitiveness gets shut down by the adults around her who dismiss her desire to know about her family, particularly the feud between her mother and Mr. Ryfle, who tends the grandfather’s land and often makes empty promises about helping Chess’ mother plant her land. There is a great deal of mystery in the early stages of the novel, including her mother’s past in California and why Camp Nine is being used to house Japanese Americans. Chess also laments the unspoken code of behavior expected of Blacks, like Ruby Jean who helped raise Chess’ mother.
Read the full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2011/11/c...
Chess is a curious child, but often her inquisitiveness gets shut down by the adults around her who dismiss her desire to know about her family, particularly the feud between her mother and Mr. Ryfle, who tends the grandfather’s land and often makes empty promises about helping Chess’ mother plant her land. There is a great deal of mystery in the early stages of the novel, including her mother’s past in California and why Camp Nine is being used to house Japanese Americans. Chess also laments the unspoken code of behavior expected of Blacks, like Ruby Jean who helped raise Chess’ mother.
Read the full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2011/11/c...
May 8, 2012
Chess Morton lives on a large plantation slab of land in rural Arkansas with her widowed mother. Her paternal grandparents live on the same land in a mansion. Chess and her mother get by with minimal contact with her grandparents as the adults are always in a conflict over something. The latest conflict stems from the selling of Camp Nine, land that was left to Chess, to the US Government to use for a Japanese Internment Camp. The story is engrossing and very well written; Chess and her mother become involved in the camp and in the lives of the Japanese people held captive there. I think the reader gets a good picture of the needless hardships endured by the men, women and children taken from their daily lives and relocated to camps due to the fear produced by the Pearl Harbor attacks of World War 2. This would make a great pick for book clubs.
January 16, 2014
Schiffer is an incredible writer. The story is very interesting and Schiffer gives just enough information throughout the story to help the reader understand yet also leaves room for the imagination.
Camp Nine is based on Rohwer Relocation Center, a camp in eastern Arkansas in the Delta area. Looking back on this time in history through a 21st century lens, it is hard to believe that such a thing could take place; today, this would be considered racial profiling.
And yet I cannot judge history too harshly, as I can imagine that the attack on Pearl Harbor must have caused a lot of fear among Americans and I can see where Japanese-American citizens would have been suspect as well as feared by some.
To my Little Rock friends, the Butler Center at the Arkansas Studies Institute has some wonderful archival material on the two internment camps that were located in Arkansas.
Camp Nine is based on Rohwer Relocation Center, a camp in eastern Arkansas in the Delta area. Looking back on this time in history through a 21st century lens, it is hard to believe that such a thing could take place; today, this would be considered racial profiling.
And yet I cannot judge history too harshly, as I can imagine that the attack on Pearl Harbor must have caused a lot of fear among Americans and I can see where Japanese-American citizens would have been suspect as well as feared by some.
To my Little Rock friends, the Butler Center at the Arkansas Studies Institute has some wonderful archival material on the two internment camps that were located in Arkansas.
February 15, 2012
Lovely, quick reading story of a young girl growing up in Arkansas during WWII. Japanese families are moved from California to a camp near her home. The interaction of her and her mother with these families, as well as an officer from her mother's past, make for a great story. Chess, the young woman, is wise beyond her years and I really liked her, as well as her spirited but resigned mother. The problems of the confined Japanese gave me a picture of what this time must have been like for them. They were all treated as potential spies in spite of their status as loyal Americans and were prisoners of the US military. Because the book was short, it didn't bog down with too many details, but the story was well written and one that I recommend.
July 3, 2012
This book gave me a good view into the lives of Japanese-American internees (I didn't know there was a camp in the east) and a bit of the townsfolk nearby. Though obviously centered on the protagonist, a young white girl whose grandfather owns a huge plantation in that swampy part of Arkansas, we still learn quite a bit about Japanese-American culture and society. It certainly made me squirm to read again about how horribly the U.S. can treat its own citizens. I would have liked to have known what other townsfolk thought about Camp Nine, instead of the limited view of the Ryfles and Grandpa Morton.
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August 10, 2016This review was deleted following Amazon's purchase of GoodReads.
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The review can still be viewed via LibraryThing, where my profile can be found here.
I'm also in the process of building a database at Booklikes, where I can be found here.
If you read/liked/clicked through to see this review here on GR, many thanks.
March 26, 2013
This novel, which reads like a memoir, is about a Japanese internment camp in Arkansas - just outside a fictional tiny, poor town (but based on a real place). While the author does describe life in the camp, the main character is a young white girl who lives next to the camp and her growing awareness of the injustices being committed in her backyard. White/black relations of the time are explored in detail and provide an interesting counterpoint to white/Japanese relations.
December 2, 2013
This should be on the reading list right next to "To Kill a Mockingbird".
The imagery is beautiful without overwhelming the reader or taxing your patience. The story itself examines the less talked about Japanese "relocation" camps of WWII in the rural American south - Arkansas in this instance.
The characters are very much alive and rich. You have a vested interest in all of them and they are all very human and true to nature. This will go on my shelves as a classic.
The imagery is beautiful without overwhelming the reader or taxing your patience. The story itself examines the less talked about Japanese "relocation" camps of WWII in the rural American south - Arkansas in this instance.
The characters are very much alive and rich. You have a vested interest in all of them and they are all very human and true to nature. This will go on my shelves as a classic.
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