The Emperor of Any Place

by Tim Wynne-Jones

“Wynne-Jones achieves an extraordinary feat: he illuminates the hidden depths of personalities and families through a mesmerizing blend of realism and magic.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Evan, overwhelmed and bereaved by his father’s sudden death, doesn’t know what to make of the hand-bound yellow book his dad had been reading when he passed away. Why was his father reading the diary of a Japanese soldier stranded on a small Pacific island during WWII? What is in this account that Evan’s estranged grandfather fears — and will he really do anything, even hurt his own grandson, to prevent it from being seen? In this riveting, time-shifting story within a story, the ghosts of war reverberate across hemispheres and generations.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Mystery, Fiction, Fantasy, War, Historical

336 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2015

About the author

Tim Wynne-Jones (born 12 August 1948) is an English–Canadian author of children's literature, including picture books and novels for children and young adults, novels for adults, radio dramas, songs for the CBC/Jim Henson production Fraggle Rock, as well as a children's musical and an opera libretto.

Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best Juvenile (2001): The Boy in the Burning House
Edgar Award
◊ Best Young Adult (2002): The Boy in the Burning House

Reviews

[Ally · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly, I have very mixed feelings about this book. If I had known it was fantasy/supernatural, then I probably wouldn't be acting out like I am right now. But I didn't know, and I was totally surprised when a Japanese monster appeared out of nowhere. And I was like... Wait, but this is Historical Fiction. And there shouldn't be any strange supernatural happenings (unless otherwise stated). So, yes. I was (unpleasantly) shocked by the introduction of the monster and some weird reincarnation (well, actually preincarnation).

Anyway, The Emperor of Any Place is split into two major storylines. One shows the diary of the Japanese soldier who was stranded on the small Pacific island during World War II. The other storyline tells about Evan and his attempts to find the connection between the Japanese soldier and his father. To be honest, the diary plotline is much better told than Evan's arc. It's more exciting, fun, and dangerous. Plus, it feels a lot more realistic (despite preincarnation and the monster), because the soldier is very much human. And Evan... There's not as much growth in him.

The soldier provides an interesting perspective. Serving for his Emperor, he isn't the greatest soldier of all times. He has failed, yes. And he ends up stranded along with an American soldier. His culture has a large root in his personality. I especially love the research put in this book. (But I must point out that I am not Japanese, and therefore, I can't tell how much is accurate. I know only some of the culture. Not all of it.)

And the ending is perhaps the strangest part of all. Ending with Evan's perspective, there is a whole bunch of shenanigans that don't really make any sense. And I end up scratching my head and wondering if I should even try to figure out what's happening. (I decided not to.)

Overall, The Emperor of Any Place leaves me with very mixed feelings. Though it has a great conflict and lots of action, it's definitely not the one for me. I'm thoroughly confused thanks to this book, and I didn't exactly have a (very) fun time reading this book. So no.

Rating: One out of Five

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been waiting beside the bed for ages. The minute I heard Tim Wynne-Jones had a new book out I ordered it, I promote his books a lot at school to our Yr 10 students who like something meaty and quirky. This book was initially a little intimidating, would this grab me? Would it work structurally? Would I buy into the whole two timelines business? The answer to all of these was a resounding, hell yes!

The book is the story of a young man, Evan, whose father unexpectedly dies while he has been reading a book. This makes the book an item of interest for Evan, who wants to find out what is in there and who believes that there may have been some secrets inside the book which he needs to know about. The book involves the story of a Japanese soldier during the second world war who has become stranded on an island. A US war supply plane crashes on the island and there is one survivor. The book Evan finds is written in alternating chapters from the point of view of both these soldiers. The mystery is, what could this possibly have to do with Evan's father? The book progresses both in real time as Evan deals with the fallout of his dad's death and the consequent arrival of his estranged grandfather into his life, and the book. A book within a book.

Reading the reviews here on Goodreads this book obviously isn't to everyones taste, but I really enjoyed it. Stayed up late to finish it and found it very creepy and also very moving in places. It deals with lots of issues such as the aftermath of war, the way that enemies can be friends, the lasting impact of terror and isolation and also has a hefty dose of the supernatural. It was a hit for me.

[Alex Baugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

After his father suddenly dies, Evan Griffin, 16, discovers he had been reading a book written by a Japanese soldier named Isamu Ōshiro, who found himself stranded on a small island in the Pacific during World War II. The book is a memoir of his life on the island, which he called Kokoro-Jima, and is addressed to his new bride, Hisako, back in Saipan. But Evan also discovers a letter to his dad from a man named Leonardo Kraft that seems to connect his estranged grandfather, Griff, a career Marine, to the events that are in the book.

Curious, Evan begins to read the Ōshiro's memoir one night when he gets a phone call from his grandfather that he will be at the house in a little while - arriving a week earlier than Evan expected him. But why? Clearly it has something to do with Ōshiro's story. But what?

Isamu's story, framed by Evan's story, is riveting. He describes his arrival on Kokorro Jima, what he does to survive despite being severely injured, but he also writes about something else. There are ghostly children on the island who hover close by him, and who Isamu calls his ghostly family. Soon, however, he begins to notice that there are also zombie-like ghoulish creatures, which he calls jikininki and who feed off the dead.

It is the jikininki who lead Isamu to a crashed cargo plane and the two dead pilots. Isamu realizes there is a missing person, the navigator, and eventually he finds Derwood Kraft on the beach, seriously injured and who seems to have his own ghost family of children. But along with this gaijin, Isamu also discovers Tengu, a monstrous black creature about to attack the American.

That pretty much sets the stage for this incredibly well-written, well-developed, wonderfully crafted novel. At the heart of the novel is the mystery of what happened to Isamu and why this is connected to Evan's grandfather. But Tim Wynne-Jones keeps the mystery going without even a hint of what happens until the very end, and getting there is never dull or boring.

As far as I'm concerned, The Emperor of Any Place is definitely top-drawer fantasy, and yes, it is also very graphically detailed. The novel switches between the present and past seamlessly, and Wynne-Jones throws in some seemingly unimportant scenes that only serve to deliciously increase the mood and tension. I'm not much of a zombie fan, but I was totally drawn into this novel and hated to put it down when I had to do something else.

But there is something else that Wynne-Jones wants us to take away beside a great story and that is how tenuously connected the lines between war and peace, friends and enemies, love and hate are and how they impact past to present, generation to generation. As Griff explains to Evan, "[war] ends and then it starts again, and the end of one war inevitably grows out of the war that can before it."

The Emperor of Any Place is one of those novels that took me totally by surprise and my only regret is that I can't have the pleasure of reading it for the first time again, but I will be re-reading it soon.

The Emperor of Any Place will be available on October 13, 2015.

This book is recommended for readers age 13+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley

This review was originally posted on Alex's Bookshelves (formerly The Children's War)

[Anh Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I can start with the pros: overall well written. Evan, the main character, is developed pretty well. He's typical for a 17 year old boy, and I enjoyed his dry humor. He isn't the popular type nor the loner type, just your average kid. This book is a "story in a story" in that Evan finds a book that his recently deceased father was reading and begins reading it himself. So the "book" is also presented as Evan is reading it and the reader ends up with a story about a Japanese soldier who was stranded on an island after an attack (this was the book Evan's father was reading when he died) and the present day story of Evan and how he handles life after his father's death. There is a small mystery for Evan to solve--what was his father doing with the book, why he is getting phone calls from a stranger reading the book--and there is the appearance of Evan's grandfather, who has been missing from Evan's life previously and how Evan deals with that.

The crafting of the story within a story was actually well done. I found myself getting immersed in the story of the soldier as Evan read it, but then Evan would be jolted back into reality and I found myself getting immersed into his life as well.

Some things that I thought were not well done--I don't think Evan's grandfather's character was well developed. There were too many inconsistencies and I don't have an overall good feel for who the man was. I also did not like all the supernatural stuff that found its way into the book. It was really weird, especially since the book was otherwise a normal book. It was as if the supernatural stuff was just inserted for the sake of trying to be different. I don't think it worked well.

I also didn't get any sense that Evan was truly grieving. I don't know--his mom skipped out on him when he was young and he has no other relatives besides this grandfather and he's handling it all pretty well. Too well, I think.

However, I can't say the book was a total waste of time. I liked getting to know Evan and I felt that there were some good chapters overall. The story of the soldier on the island was particularly good. I would give this book a half hearted recommendation. Not horrible, but not the best. Maybe good on a flight if you've run out of other reading material.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating: 2/5
***Minor spoilers***

After Evan's father passes away, he receives a call asking if his father has read a certain book. Evan finds this book on his father's desk, and becomes curious as to what it contains. It turns out to be the journal of a Japanese soldier during WWII, who became stranded on an island inhabited by supernatural creatures. This book takes place in two time periods - present day, where Evan struggles to deal with the death of his father and wonders how his grandfather could have been involved in this book, and WWII by reading chapters of the journal entries written by this soldier.

I wasn't a very big fan of this book. It's not the sort of thing I would normally pick up, but it's one I had to read for a book club at my school. It's not even that the writing itself was bad, the book just didn't interest me. I wasn't interested in the characters or the supernatural aspects of the book. Also, some stuff went down at the end that seemed pretty out of left field, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. While it didn't really confuse me, I found it unnecessary. I don't really have much else to say because while it was a decently sized book, not much actually happened that I like or dislike, and I don't want to spoil anything. I will say that Oshiro's perspective was more interesting than the other ones, though.

Overall, this book was written well but just didn't interest me. I can appreciate the way it was written and developed, but the story wasn't my thing, and it didn't have any redeeming qualities to me since I didn't like any of the characters. While I wouldn't particularly recommend it to anyone, you may enjoy it if you like historical fiction mixed with fantasy.

[Jules Verne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Eh

[Cassandra · Rating 1 out of 5]

(Maybe 1.5/5 stars???)

I put it under historical fiction but it's really only the journal entries that are based on history. I wasn't really attached to the characters; the writing was okay until about half-way through I was irritated; I wasn't completely disinterested but I wasn't impressed either (low key only finished it because it's a White Pine novel).Just not for me.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's funny, because Tim Wynne-Jones is no relation to Diana Wynne Jones, but a lot of this book had some feelings of filmmaker Miyazaki, who I associate with DWJ's Howl's Moving Castle. The book's mysteries and supernatural touches kept me turning the pages to find out more about both the strange events that took place on a Japanese island during WWII, and about the conflict between present-day MC Evan and his creepy grandfather, who may or not have been a murderer involved in the historical mystery. Unfortunately, the conclusion of the book does not capitalize well on the tensions set up before : it is basically a fairly boring conversation between Evan and his grandfather, that pushes credibility, both in terms of plot and character. I really enjoyed the concept and in fact wish that this story had been made into a graphic novel like the one alluded to in the novel itself!

[Xander]

DNF at page 50. Not the book for me :(

[Mya Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is a historical fiction, that makes you want to believe it was real. It centers around the memoir of Isamu Oshiro, a japanese soldier and Derwoord Kraf an American soldier during World War 2. The memoir was mainly Isamu, he is writing to his wife, Hisako. The memoir never reached her though or anyone else in relation to Isamu. On July 24th of 1944, Isamu was stationed in Tinian fighting a losing battle. As a last strike method american troops fire onto the island. Isamu is burned, but as a last attempt to save himself he crawls through the sand to a shelter of bamboo. He passes out from pain. The first and second time he awakes, he knows he is delirious as he witness a puppet battle a few feet away from him. However, the third time he cannot tell if he is dreaming or if this the reality. His commanders have drilled into him, that American troops are wretched beast that kill mothers, fathers and children alike. He witness a black soldier and two gaijin's carrying the wounded, japanese and american alike into an infirmary. As their doing so , they hear a infant crying in his dead mother’s arms. Isamu prepares his service revolver ready to shot the men if they harm the child, but they don’t. They pick him up and cradle him. He cannot believe it, however he's not taking any chances of getting tortured. He crawls tattered and burned to the edge of the island's banks, there he finds a wooden boat. As he enters into the water, his eyes are drawn to a flock of ghostly children, that gather around him. In curiosity he touches one, they are like air. He sails off to an island, that is inhabited by humans. It is no more than 4 miles wide and a 1 mile long. He finds a pool, that he believes has healing qualities as he covers himself in it's depth. There at the pool a fawn and it's mother look at him curiously as they drink from the pool. He tells them: Hello, and he won’t eat them, at least not in this state of mind. He travels along the bank of island, where he finds a american assault lunch. He can only suffer the taste of chocolate though. He feeds off the islands fruits and fish. He begins to build a shelter from wood, bamboo and canvas to live in. One day he see’s things of old folktales, jikininki. They are hideous spirits of the people who will never be. They feed on the memories of the dead. Bodies flood in on the beach and Ismau takes up being Chief Mortician. He finds the highest point on the island, and creates a watch tower on a coral tree. With the binoculars he found on a shoulder, he sees he is only a few miles away from Tinian. He won't go back, he decides to wait out the war. One day on Koroko-Jima, Isamu can smell smoke, but he doesn't investigate it for a week. Isamu follows the smoke stench into the forest where he finds the slaughtered fawn and it's mother, his blood boils. Isamu continues to the beach, where he finds a crashed american shipping plane. He examines the inside of the wreckage to find a dead 2 dead pilots. He takes 2 flight logs and a pen to write this memoir. He looks in the back to find bloody bandages and a shipment of assault rifles. The navigator, Derwood Kraft is missing. He is somewhere on the island, by the amount of blood he shed, he won't get far. Isamu finally spots him on the beach with a yellow rescue beacon. With one hand he can hardly crank the lever to operate it. Isamu is about to put a bullet in the american solider when a beast of legend jumps out of the bushes. Isamu fires rounds in it, but all it does is sends the creature away with one eye. He never thought he'd see a cursed Tengu, and he thinks Derwood brought it here. He takes Derwood prisoner, but by morning he has escaped his bound hammock and is pouring tea for the both of them. Isamu hates him, but he won't kill him, his blood has already attracted the tengu who are close, waiting for them to die. They begin to become companions as they fortify the fort just in case the Tengu comes for them. Derwood often sees Isamu in his raft writing in the flight logs, what, he doesn't know. There is little verbal communication between them. It has been a few months since Derwoods arrival when a monsoon hits. Derwood desperately tells Isamu in sign language that they need to make for the caves on the other side of the island. They hide there, when they return their shelter is gone, but the stone table Isamu built. On it is a pile of feces from Tengu he is still alive. Tengu haunts Isamu in his dreams and in real life as he howls into the night. Ismau must fortify the camp again, Derwood isn't much use. In the night Tengu comes. He breaks down the enclosure door, only to fall in a pit of spikes. Isamu stares down at it, he's transfixed. Derwood rolls a tub of gasoline and drenches Tengu in it. Struggling, he picks up a torch and throws it into the pit. The Tengu is dead. In the morning, Derwood struggles to fill the pit with sand, Isamu finishes the rest. Derwood can tell that Tengu took apart of Isamu, as he no longer seems to laugh sat Derwoods singing. Isamu wants to try the rescue beacon. Some time passes before an American squad reaches the island on it Clifford “Griff” Griffin. As soon as the soldiers step on the island they see the child spirits around them, they are preincarnated children. However, Griff doesn't pay mind to them. Derwood greets Griff and tells him of the crash he tells the squad to stay here while he gathers his things. Derwood wants Isamu to go with him but he won't. Derwood bows to him and pledges to return. Isamu feels more lonely than ever. One day he finds his ghost child circled around one of the boys. His body is disappearing. He has been more. His wife, Hisako has had son, the time factor makes sense. When Derwood returns it's with a platoon of troops, they carry the weapons back to their ship. Isamu struggles not knowing if he should stop the enemy from arming themselves. He doesn't not, but he makes himself scarce. Derwood travels back to the compound and gifts Isamu some pens, ink and blank books. Derwood thanks him it is the last time they meet. Neither of them noticed the eyes watching them. It is a few days after the 1st year Isamu has been on the island when a typhoon hits. The water almost sucks up the whole island before dissipating, it the aftermath of the atomic bomb. It is his last entry in the memoir. When the war is over, Griff returns to the island with a framed japanese newspaper. Isamu cannot believe the Emperor Hisato surrendered Japan. He, the emperor of kororo-jima would never surrender. He contemplates whether he should leave the island. Griff awaits on the beach waiting for him. It is his last entry in the memoir. No one knows what happened to Isamu, not even Derwood, nor his son Leo, who have both tried to get the truth from the stubborn soldier, Griff. In the present day, Derwood has died, but Leo is carrying the torch. He wants to see this memoir published, but he cannot do it. The memoir belongs to Griff, he is one who let Derwood see it after all the years have passed. Griff, fathered a child who he never loved, Clifford. Clifford also fathered a son, Evan. When Clifford died, Evan called for the grandfather he never met to handle his affairs. The grandfather who has always been the reason for his father's bad moods, a murder, as Clifford would say. Evan finds this memoir, footnotes and all on his father's desk. He reads it in secret. He believes like his father that Griff killed Isamus and took the memoir, it is a horrible accusation, but with Griff’s overbearing personality, it could be the truth. Evan loathes his Griff, and he feel like he is intruding on his island, 123 Any Place. In the last chapter of the book they have a sit down. Griff tells Evan that Tengu came back to life and killed Isamu. Evan wouldn't have believed it, if it weren't for the memories of such an event happening in his dreams. Evan was on that island as a preincarnated child. It is hard to digest. Griff also tells Evan the reason why he didn't love his father. He was in love with another, in Iceland. He tells Evan that he isn't an orphan but has a family, he had a child with a woman there. The story ends with them both looking for their family.

[Sonja · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was utterly mesmerized by this multilayered story. The contemporary part explores the dynamics of a family torn apart - Evan, 16, just lost his pacifist father, which leads to turn to his ex-Marine grandfather who has never met. The truly entrancing inter-woven story is contained in the slim volume Evan finds with his father's body - the translation of a journal kept by a shipwrecked Japanese soldier during World War II who shares a tiny, lost island with a downed American navigator. Magic and beauty ripples through this story of war, enmity, loss, and redemption.

[Harper Nicholl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of the best books I have ever read. The plot line is amazing and the characters are super deep and the ending is amazing. The main character has a very very very insane life and there are deaths and murder mysteries and I would recommend this book to anyone.

[Mel Raschke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall well written. Evan, the main character, is developed pretty well. He's typical for a 17 year old boy, and I enjoyed his dry humor.

[Andrew Martin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Here are some words or phrases that have been improperly attributed to this book:

thrilling
tense
riveting
mesmerizing
a home run
great
very creepy
very moving

The trouble with writing a mystery novel is that the mystery you come up with has to be remotely interesting. Also, more than one single character involved in that mystery needs to be compelling. Somewhere along the line, those important points didn't get conveyed to the author. I wish I could keep this in my classroom library just for the beautiful cover, but I won't even be doing that.

[Hope · Rating 5 out of 5]

i had been looking for this book for literally TWO YEARS and i finally found it
i love this book sm

[Catherine Rusakova · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had this book since 2017..

Dnf at half way point, not my cup of tea.

[Enid Wray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tim Wynne-Jones doing what he does best… gripping the reader from start to finish with a fantastical story. Historical fiction - part mystery, part supernatural thriller.
Set against the backdrop of the final months of the war in the Pacific. Two soldiers - one Japanese, one American - find themselves stranded on a remote and seemingly uninhabited island
A story about our shared common humanity and the ways in which the costs of war reverberate down through the generations.

[Cathi Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a phenomenal book! Wynne-Jones does an incredible job of weaving the story of a long dead Japanese soldier into the life and imagination of a 17-year old Canadian boy who has just had his entire life rearranged when his father suddenly dies.

I do not like war books and I’m not a huge WWII history fan, but I could not put this book down. The pacing and tension throughout the book had me on the edge of my seat. And I wasn’t just interested in what happened to Isamu but I became invested in Evan’s own story as well. The books moves seamlessly back and forth from present day Ontario to 1944 and a Japanese island dubbed Kokoro-Jima by the Japanese soldier who finds himself stranded there.

The characters in this book have a depth that one doesn’t typically find in these stories. From the protagonist Evan to that long-ago soldier, Isamu Oshiro, to Evan’s retired marine grandfather, Griff, each character had his own complex reality that made him come alive.

The book has everything a successful story has: adventure, mystery, heartbreak and resolution. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a great read. I think it will especially resonate with tween boys, who are reluctant readers.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tim Wynne-Jones hits another home run with The Emperor of Any Place. We get a story within a story when 17 year old Evan discovers a book his father was reading just before he died. It is the "dual" journal of a Japanese soldier stranded on a strange island during World War II, and the army airman who is the sole survivor of an airplane crash on the same island.

Readers are served up generous helpings of mystery, horror, dysfunctional family relationships, history, and coming of age. Somehow, it all works together and builds to a wonderfully satisfying conclusion.

[Susan Monmaney · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Evan is dealing with the recent and sudden death of his father when he discovers the book that his father was reading when he died. The book contains the accounts of two WWII soldiers, one Japanese, and the other American, and this book is the story-within-a-story. Wynne-Jones writes eloquently of the complexities of war and families. Readers may be surprised or confused by the inclusion of Japanese folklore and the supernatural (no reference to either in any book summary); however, their inclusion greatly enriches both tales.

[Annina Luck Wildermuth · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, this book is beautifully written--right away, I knew I was in good hands. I can easily see why the author was named an Officer of the Order of Canada for his services to literature. It's the kind of book where I will go through it again and write down some of the sentences, because they are so good. The plot had several complex threads, including a WW II diary kept on tiny Japanese island and also present-day protagonist dealing with father's death AND a mystery.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, so strange!
One of the strangest things I've ever read. Defenitely very interesting. I wrote a very detailled review on my blog, I had so many thoughts about this novel, it wouldn't really fit for a simple goodreads review. Check it out! https://betamagnificusbooks.wordpress...

[Jenny Crum · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 15%
A grief story of getting over his dad's death and although I didn't read much of it, the character was not written to be very relatable at all, and there was hardly any mystery or magical realism, and I was kinda not really wanting to read it, and it was boring a hole into the back of my mind so I was like ya know what....no. Sorry bro.

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this from Goodreads. This book goes across generations in this time shifting novel. It is a Evan who finds his grandfathers diaries about his experiences in WW11.

[Clay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Printz-worthy.

[Ringo The Cat · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not the book, it's me. I see why it's considered so good by many, it's just not my book.
I have a complicated relationship with WWII-books.

[Saleh MoonWalker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Onvan : The Emperor of Any Place - Nevisande : Tim Wynne-Jones - ISBN : 763669733 - ISBN13 : 9780763669737 - Dar 324 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2015

[Virginia · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The mall: an oasis of got it in a world of gimme. "

[M.G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was ingenious. It had every sort of genre bundled into a cunning and inconceivable adventure. There was history in the notebook that Derwood Kraft had provided, Isamu Ōshiro had written, Griff had found and translated, Leo Kraft had received, Evan had found and read, Clifford had read and died whilst reading, that Yamada was enamored by. It was a history dating from World War II to present times. It explored all sorts of relationships: father and son, father and ghost-son, and a whole complicated range of romantic relationships as well: Griff's, Cliff's, and even Evan's. The characters were fantastic. Though I would have appreciated the presence of more female characters, there was something special about having the story feature three brash men of three separate generations, all family but so utterly complicated at the same time. I loved the little aspects of fantasy on Kokoro-Jima, which turned out to be important. Every word written by Tim Wynne-Jones had a future distinct purpose (except maybe for the walrus penis bone!).

Overall, it had riveting moments, painful moments, lovely moments, humorous moments, bittersweet moments, mysterious moments, and everything in between. It wove a survival story about a war right into the present world, and showed many ways in which wars and their veterans are still so so so so so relevant today. It reminds me of the books The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (in which people change in drastic ways in the African jungle), and The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien (in which it is recalled just what things, both tangible and intangible, soldiers would face before, during, and after their time in the war). I picked this book randomly off a library shelf, which is something I usually never allow myself to do, as I currently have over 1500 books on my tbr list. It was careful, intentional, creative, sly, mysterious writing with a greater picture about love, loss, trust, war, and human nature. Tim Wynne-Jones is such a fantastic writer than he managed to end a novel with a satisfying mystery, which in all other cases would be a true oxymoron.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended by so many sources I respect as a book that would match my grandsons' interests, I was impressed by how realistically and empathically the author captures 16-year-old Evan Griffin's anger and grief over his father's sudden death and his confusion about how to respond to the sudden presence of his career-military grandfather whom he has never met before, long-estranged from his peace-loving, music-loving father who fled to Canada rather than serve in the Viet Nam War.

Dazed by grief, Evan finds a small notebook in his father's den, the journal of Isamu Oshiro, a soldier in the Imperial Japanese Army washed up on an island in the South Pacific in 1943 and then annotated by Flight Officer Derwin Kraft, whose cargo plane crashes on "Kokoro-Jima, the Heart-Shaped Island." Both committed to survival, they find their way to one another, reaching deep within themselves to battle all the challenges of the island.

"I want so much to put my thoughts in order, to tell my story. A simple man thrust into an extraordinary situation. But isn't that the story of every war?"

The novel is steeped in the realities of Evan's present-day life as well as the magical and fantastical of the island. The "jijininki," ghouls whose need is "for their stories not to be lost" and "ghost children," the generations to come, rattle the two soldiers every day. The demon on the island, Tengu, with its malevolent intelligence, parallels the demons in Evan's life, his grief, anger, and dealing with his emotionally detached grandfather. "Derwood Kraft and I are trapped at the bottom of a dark river of fear."

At the heart of this novel is a great adventure story about war and peace, filled with courage, and another about difficult family relationships, a long-ago battle between Clifford and Griff, and a present-day battle between Evan, who wants the truth to be known, and the irascible Griff, who does not want the journal to be published, or his connection to it.

When the mystery is disclosed, the story winds its way into sentimental territory, taking many pages to close down, to a sort of redemption. Days after I finished, I'm still dreaming about it.