Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese American Internment Camps

by Mary Matsuda Gruenewald

The author at 16 years old was evacuated with her family to an internment camp for Japanese Americans, along with 110,000 other people of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast. She faced an indefinite sentence behind barbed wire in crowded, primitive camps. She struggled for survival and dignity, and endured psychological scarring that has lasted a lifetime.

This memoir is told from the heart and mind of a woman now nearly 80 years old who experienced the challenges and wounds of her internment at a crucial point in her development as a young adult. She brings passion and spirit to her story. Like "The Diary of Anne Frank," this memoir superbly captures the emotional and psychological essence of what it was like to grow up in the midst of this profound dislocation and injustice in the U.S. Few other books on this subject come close to the emotional power and moral significance of this memoir.

In the end,the reader is buoyed by what Mary learns from her experiences and what she is able to do with her life. In 2005 she becomes one more Nissei who breaks her silence.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Memoir, World War II, Biography, Japan, American History

227 pages, Paperback

First published March 10, 2005

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

We had lost our right to be in the privacy of our own home, the right to come and go as we pleased, the right to voice our opinions openly without fear of retaliation, the right to be involved in creative activities of our choosing. I was loyal to the country that guaranteed these rights—and that country no longer existed for me. The sudden loss of all these rights forced me to realize that this whole mass movement against the Japanese in America was the culmination of more than a half-century of anti-Asian prejudice. And no one, not even the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court, would defend us. The clear message to me was that we did not deserve to be in the world because we were different. And because we were different, we must also be bad.

Ouch. Just, ouch.

Nonfiction about World War II, and especially the internment of Japanese-Americans, is one of my particular interests in an attempt to understand a deeply-gutting issue that could have touched my family, were circumstances a little different.

I'm still amazed by how little I've heard about internment over the course of my life; Mary Matsuda Gruenewald talks about that a bit, as the silent generation, an ugly chapter of American history that white Americans at the time perhaps didn't fully understand (especially thanks to the sensationalist war-time media propaganda machine), and it seems people afterwards don't like to think about. But with things like George Takei's recent Broadway musical Allegiance (which made me curl in on myself in my seat with convulsive sobs), I'm hoping that awareness will spread. It's still so important today, to be self-aware about this country's history of racism and xenophobia -- it's relevant considering, for example, growing Islamophobia post-9/11. It's important to hear stories from the past in an attempt to prevent it recurring in the future. And the author states that plainly, that it's one of her motivations in finally opening up about a past that she'd otherwise been incredibly reticent about, to the extent of her own family not knowing about it.

Style-wise, Mary Matsuda Gruenewald's writing is a little stilted. There's lots and lots of precise, slightly-awkward dialogue that I'm not sure how she could have remembered (I can hardly remember the phrasing of conversations I had last night, let alone 60 years ago). But her use of so much dialogue and straightforward description makes the book very readable, almost like a young adult novel about this teenager's experiences.

And the style isn't really the important thing here, which is why I'm still giving it 5 stars. It's content, and that content is important. In close personal focus, Gruenewald paints the details of her and her family's experience: the overwhelming emotions and terror and uncertainty; the complicated position they were placed in, of being loyal to a country that so wholly ostracised them without due cause; a teenager having her eyes opened to prejudice for the first time, and wrestling with that shame over her self-identity, a shame validated by our own government; the sacrifices the 442nd made, dying by the score to win back their country's trust for a crime they didn't commit; navigating the line between not being fully Japanese, but not allowed to be American either. And it's so horrifying to think that the Matsudas actually had one of the relatively better experiences (which I feel weird stating about someone else's life, but the author herself describes that she was shocked to realise how much less prejudice/hardship she'd experienced compared to families from California, and that the Pacific Northwest had kept her in a bit of a protective bubble). The Matsudas weren't torn apart by the loyalty questionnaire, either, which is certainly a thing that happened.

Several parts of this memoir made me quietly cry while reading (and since my main places for reading are the subway, restaurants over lunch, and airplanes, that was awkward). It's a punch to the heart, and I'm so glad that Gruenewald decided to tell her story.

One of likely many memoirs I'll read on the subject, to keep gathering different perspectives and personal stories from this time.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Several reviewers decried the author's writing and/or dismissed it as young adult fiction. While the writing style is certainly accessible to younger readers, this is, after all, a memoir. As a memoir, it is well-written and eye-opening. One gets the sense that it is not embellished ala James Frey. Like most baby boomers, I am well aware of the plight of Japanese Americans and their abrupt imprisonment after Pearl Harbor and for much of World War 2. I was not aware that these people were required to sign documents that forced them to decide between their Japanese selves and US American selves. This alone caused untold damage to the thousands of internees - and discord within that community lasts to this day. While it is always unwise to judge the actions of people in reaction to historical events, it has an analog to today's widespread animus towards Middle Eastern and Hispanic people in our country. It is unlikely we'll be imprisoning people based on their heritage, but it's common knowledge that racism is alive and well in 21st century America.
The author does a good job describing the horror and fear experienced by herself and her family. At times, they fully expected they would be marched into a forest and executed. On several occasions, they were threatened with death by their fellow (white) citizens for the crime of being Japanese Americans - the author reports an incident where a barber grabbed her, as she was walking down a street in Nampa, Idaho, and held a razor to her throat wishing aloud he could kill her.
While I have always been a little suspicious of dialog in a memoir (who can remember who said what over 60 years ago?) the author's use of dialog adds a welcome dimension to her narrative. And the dialog is highly believable. I got the sense that the events of her experience as a prisoner of war (A US citizen imprisoned by and in her own country . . .) served to burn these memories into her psyche such that she really did remember conversations.
As with most memoirs, I found myself wanting more. The narrative ends shortly after the family's release. Little information is given about the author's children (I am a friend of her son) and many readers might like more details. Otherwise, go to the library and get this book - you'll be glad you did.

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're unaware of the history of the Japanese internment camps in America during WWII, or even if you do have knowledge, I highly recommend this book! Matsuda Gruenewald records her family's experiences living in Washington state prior, during, and after the Japanese internment. While informative, the emotional aspect of their plight was engrossing to read. Their faith and outlook during everything was inspiring. I'll definitely be looking for more accounts specifically about the 100th Infantry Battalion, of which the author's brother became a member. The bravery of these men for the very country that was ostracizing them based on nothing more than their family's country of origin is incredible.


Format: Audiobook via Hoopla, ordered a physical copy
Rating: 5 stars
Book 79 of 2024

[Lois · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must issue a disclaimer. This will be the most biased book review ever! Reason being, the author, Mary Matsuda Gruenewald, is my aunt by marriage, and the mother of three terrific cousins.

Now that I have that out of the way, let me begin. I read this book shortly after it was published. I was home to see my parents and my mom said Aunt Mary had written a book. Oh, well, that's nice, what did she write about? I came home with an autographed copy, and it sat on my bookshelf awhile, until I got around to reading it. Not only did I learn things about my aunt that I didn't know, but I learned a whole lot about an event in our nation's history that wasn't ever covered in school.

I'm not going to summarize the book, because the edition has an adequate blurb. Also, I read it several years ago, so the specific details escape my memory. But in reading it, I was struck with the heart in it, the human interest, the feeling of "why in the world don't history books even mention American interment camps?"

I am really proud of my aunt for publishing this story about her experiences. It really makes history come alive when you are personally acquainted with the players. This book should be assigned reading for high school students. Believably, readers will relate to other forms of prejudice and stereotyping currently evident in our society.

Very well-written and provocative.

[Madeleine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read a lot about the mass incarceration of the Japanese American community. Most of the first-hand, published accounts I've read were written fifteen or twenty years ago (or more). Reading Looking Like the Enemy, I realize how those earlier authors held back in what they produced for public consumption--heartbreaking though all their books are.

Mary Matsuda Gruenewald strikes me as a very courageous woman, writing at a time when the silence surrounding the mass incarceration has finally accumulated some deep cracks. And so there are things here that the reader doesn't encounter in Nisei Daughter or Farewell to Manzanar. I guess I knew a lot of this, already, but I knew from digging around in dusty archives and from reading scholarly books. Not from published books for general readers.

The windows on the trains to the camps were covered. Matsuda Gruenewald writes that they didn't know where they were going, that she fainted because of the heat and fear. She writes about the terror--not the occasional fear that earlier authors found enough leeway to slip in, but the terror. The not knowing whether the guards were going to shoot. The barbed wire fences facing in. The being caught in a searchlight trying to go to the bathroom at night. The not knowing if she was going to leave alive. She writes about the friend who died of an "unknown disease"--a disease that I know and you SHOULD know was quite possibly treatable outside (the medical care facts about the camps are awful, and not well known). If not treatable, at least it was most likely known. She writes about the depression. About not wanting to get out of bed for days. About families breaking apart, about being angry when asked to salute the flag, about feeling sick when the war ended with Hiroshima. Of course people felt all these things, and reading Looking Like the Enemy makes it clear how much less freedom earlier Nikkei authors had to truly tell their stories of the Internment.

This is a five-star book, content-wise...and a three-star book when it comes to writing. Something that irks me to no end about memoirs is "conversation" recreated sixty years later in a way that seems stilted and unnatural. As other reviewers have pointed out, there is some of that. I encourage *everyone* even those of you who are snobs about good writing to read the book anyway.

[Hannah Notess · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took the U.S. government four decades to apologize for interning 120,000 innocent people on the basis of their race. Mary Matsuda Gruenewald waited 60 years to publish her memory of that experience as a teenage girl. And yet you can tell by reading this that she did not forget a single thing about what happened to it and how it made her feel. This book is not written in a literary style, but it's so vivid, maybe especially because the narrator/author is a teenage girl trying to figure out her place in the world, even in the midst of this horrible injustice happening to her family. I will be thinking about this story for a long time.

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another of the heartbreaking and heartwarming stories of a dark period of US history. Although there are better books out there, this one is well worth reading, especially if you are interested a story of what happened to some of the Japanese in the Puget Sound during WWII. The author skillfully recounts the horror experienced by so many Japanese as they were herded into internment camps in WWII. We need to remember this history so we do not repeat it on some other group in the future.

[Phoebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I honestly have to say that I was pretty biased when I started reading Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese American Internment Camp. I was pretty biased because I thought that it was just another book written by an American author who was going to complain about the war between Japan and America, as well as placing the blame on Japan for all of their struggles. But this book is actually the complete opposite of that. Looking Like the Enemy is written by Mary Matsuda Gruenewald, a Japanese-American born in the year 1925. In this book, Matsuda writes about the experience of having her life turned upside down when war broke out between America and Japan.

I really liked this book because of the raw emotion Matsuda puts into the retelling of her experiences. She writes it in such a way that even though I didn’t personally go through what she did, I could still feel the emotions that she was feeling during both the happy and sad times. I like how she was honest about sharing how she felt about the situation instead of trying to place blame on any one country just to fit into a specific “stereotype” about one being better or worse than the other. In fact, she talks about how at some point during her imprisonment at the camps, she experienced a dislike (or strong hatred) towards both countries. I also really liked how Matsuda was honest in sharing how she struggled for the longest time of understanding where exactly she fit in. She talked about how she felt like she was an outcast because she was a mix of both American and Japanese, and how she felt like she had to suppress one side herself in order to be “normal”. Although I haven’t been forced into an internment camp, I have often felt like I don’t belong with a certain “race.” Because of this, I really related to Matsuda’s book and was able to empathize with what she had gone through. This just shows that, although the internment camps don’t exist anymore, there are still people who may feel like Mary Matsuda because they face similar situations (such as racism or discrimination) to this day. That just makes her writing all the more relatable to people who choose to read her book. I would definitely recommend this book to people who are interested in history or even learning about other cultures. I think that people interested in those topics would like this book because it definitely brings to light the struggles that most Japanese-Americans faced during the internment camps that isn’t known by the majority of people.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised by how little I knew about Japanese internment camps and this book did an excellent job at shedding some light on my ignorance of the matter. The book has a very colloquial feel to it that makes it really easy to enjoy. I really felt like I was right there with the Matsuda family.

I was especially intrigued by the "Yes/Yes" and "No/No" dilemma that Japanese-Americans faced. In an attempt to ascertain the loyalty of those in camps the US government surveyed them asking whether or not they would be willing to pledge loyalty to this country and disown their former, and they were asked of their willingness to serve in the armed forces. Some felt that saying yes to either was a tacit endorsement of the way they had been treated by the U.S. government and thus felt a moral obligation to oppose it. Others felt the only way to regain their freedom and the trust of other American citizens would be by proving their loyalty on the battlefield (often being thrown on the front lines). This survey led to a rift in the Japanese American community that lasted long after the war. This presented an especially challenging situation to many first-generation immigrants as the U.S. government had never given them citizenship. They were essentially being asked to make themselves stateless as their current country had rejected them and they had already willingly left their former country.

All in all, a great memoir on the horrible challenges Japanese-Americans were submitted to by the U.S.

[Cameron Rhoads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to on Audible. A sad and moving account by an eyewitness of Order 9066, when the United States government imprisoned Japanese Americans because of racism and because of war with Japan (1941-1945).

[Trey Brockbank · Rating 4 out of 5]

So powerful. Yoneichi was such a brave man to fight for a country that didn’t even care about him. America will never be forgiven for Hiroshima. The prejudice against Japanese-Americans runs deep in this country and i hope that the future is brighter for these amazing people.

[Judith Praag · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many of us have a story within that begs to be told. We put it off, and off, telling ourselves: "One day, I'll sit down and write it down." Often we need a little push.

Around 1990, Mary Gruenewald Matsuda's son and middle child said, "Mom you have never told us about Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Yonei." Gruenewald (65 at the time) figured that if her own three children, and her brother Yoneichi's four daughters (their father died in 1985) were interested in their family history, it was up to her to tell the story.

She started by listing the facts as she knew them. In January of 1999, Gruenewald's daughter-in-law mentioned author and teacher Brenda Peterson was leading a writers group in Seattle. Until she joined the group, Gruenewald's writing had been all-inclusive. Peterson suggested she ought to write a memoir focused on the war years and her camp experience. She advised her student to make a laundry list, of everything she wished to address.

That done, the writer listed years —starting with 1941— on a stretch of butcher paper, laid out on the floor. Next she added the items from the laundry list; content for scenes and chapters. In Peterson's class she learned how to apply tools of fiction: adding character, dialogue and story line to her factual material.

In Looking Like the Enemy: My story of Imprisonment in Japanese-American Internment Camps, Gruenewald doesn't just relate her own story in an engaging manner, her writing is a tribute to the mother whose wisdom she wishes to share with people who aren't lucky enough to have (had) such a wise parent. Exposing her heart and soul on paper was not easy. Gruenewald remembers how Trip, a fellow writing student said: “Mary we came to class ready to read your words about Mama-san and you dismissed her in 200 words!"

Gruenewald then knew she had to go back to her desk, write with all the beautiful detail she had learned to use, excavating the painful as well as dear memories. Double hard because: "Culturally it was not done to reveal."

And yet writing has proven to be rewarding and gratifying to the now octogenarian author. Gruenewald says she's not same person she was, before she started to write her memoir.

She had for instance been prejudiced against "No, no!" people (those against Japanese young men fighting for US army). Mary's family belonged to the "Yes, yes!" sayers.

While working on the book, she came to understand that both sides were living according to their convictions, each equally valuable and difficult. The "No, no!" sayers had to withstand rejection, they were ostracized. Gruenewald remembers situations in the camp, where a father was pro Japan, and the son was not: "Families got torn apart that way."

Writing gave Mary respect for those who thought differently. She learned to appreciate the value of democracy, where you have the right to dissent.

"During the 70's and 80's there was a movement to extract an apology from the US Government. Less than 1% of the Japanese American population stood up."

That this movement did not bring the people together pains Gruenewald till today. She states that both the soldiers of the 442nd, and the "No-no!" sayers, need to be honored next to each other. "We need both of them, those loyal and critics."

Gruenewald cried a lot while writing her war memoir, but it was cathartic, and she recommends writing —getting that story down on paper— to others. She says that people have been coming out of the woodwork since her book was published, people from her past, people she grew up with. She talks more now, than ever; her heart is lighter and she's been told that she smiles more.

A senior friend showed her his life story, 25 written pages. Remembering her own starting point, and knowing that each paragraph could be made into one whole chapter, she told her friend: "Have courage! Be brave!" For that's what it takes to write in all honesty, delve deep into one's own, and family's past.

Gruenewald's advice for those who want to embark on a similar adventure: "Enroll in a writing group, write with people. You learn from each other. Come with pages to class. You get notes and a different perspective on your material, while you remain the authority."

Reconciled with her past, the author of the beautifully crafted memoir plans to visit Japan this coming spring. Finally. No telling what the title of her next book will be.


Previously published on October 5, 2005 in the International Examiner.
© 2005 Judith van Praag, All Rights Reserved

[James Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a thoroughly excellent book on the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. It's a first-person account of a girl who was 17 at the time. It covers her life and family before the internment, during and after the internment, and goes into a lot of very interesting detail about her life and the life of her family. They were at several camps and one assembly area during the time period.

One of the more moving parts is about what happened on December 7th, 1941, how the family found out about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and how they reacted to that attack. In their particular neighborhood, an island in Puget Sound, they were lucky in that they did not run into the immediate vicious anti-Japanese prejudice. Mary, the author, actually had a much better time at school then did many other Japanese-American children in other schools after the attack.

The neighborhood was fairly small, and the people rather close, so this probably accounts for the lessened hatred of persons of Japanese ancestry after the attack. These were people, PJAs and whites, who had known each other for years and had gotten along very well.

She writes about radio broadcasts that claimed “Japanese sympathizers in Hawaii cut arrows into the cane fields, directing Japanese planes to Pearl Harbor. There were reports of Japanese-American sabotage on the West Coast and of an impending attack on our continent.”

She then spends time talking about the Issei and Nisei culture, and its relation to American culture. She then goes into what her family did after Executive Order 9066 was announced, and how they, like many other families, destroyed mementos from Japan, destroying their own family's history in order to avoid possible trouble with American authorities.

The first place they went to was the Pinedale Assembly Area, and she describes the rather primitive living conditions they all had to adapt to, with only one light bulb in a 20'x 20' area, with no running water, no indoor plumbing, and no way to fix food.

Later, her family was moved to Tule Lake, and she again describes the conditions and the kinds of things that happened, especially in relation to the loyalty questionnaire and how there was some violence at that camp (and others) over questions 27 and 28. They were then relocated to the Heart Mountain camp, and her brother went into the Army and she went into nurse's training.

She even talks about her family's release from the camp after the war. They were very lucky in that they returned to their original home in Puget Sound and it was still there. They were able to re-start their lives and their farm, not encountering the considerable hatred that many others encountered when they tried to go back to their original homes.

This is a very good book about the camps, very personal and very comprehensive. One of the best ones I have read.

[Carol Brusegar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, near her 80th birthday, Mary Matsuda published the story of her and her family's internment during World War II. Her account of their removal from their home, a strawberry farm in Vashon Island, Washington, into a series of internment camps in desolate areas provides a unique view into those horrible years.

She was 17 years old when they were first removed because they were Japanese and not trusted after Pearl Harbor. Her parents were born in Japan, she and her brother were nissei--born in the U.S. The descriptions of the conditions and effects on people are vivid and the account of the emotional toll and lifelong impact heart-rending. Her brother enlisted in the U.S. army and served in Europe in the renowned 424th, and never spoke of his experiences there.

The author puts all of this into the historical context of anti-Asian sentiment and legislation in the United States. Reading this with the anti-immigrant rhetoric and issues we are facing now in 2019 made it especially impactful.

[Salsabrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary and her family raised strawberries like many of the other Japanese families on Vashon Island but life came to a crashing halt with Executive Order 9066. As a teen, Mary experienced anger and confusion about being American and Japanese; as an American-born, how could her own country treat her this way? Yet as a Japanese, Americans would never see her as anything but. Despite this scary, frustrating time, her parents’ stoicism and faith that all would work out keep her grounded at the times she needs it most.

The more I read about people's experiences in the internment, the more flabbergasted I am to think our government thought this was a good idea. A powerful witness to maintaining our civil rights!

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have known personally Japanese and Japanese-Americans who had been detained and then put into the camps after the attack on Pearl Harbor. And I knew generally what they had gone through. But Looking Like the Enemy really brought home to me the deeper implications of what they had lost. Mary Matsuda's family was more fortunate than most as they were able to recover the family farm and start their fruit and vegetable business up again. Many lost everything and recovered nothing. She gives a very detailed first hand account of daily life in the camps and the humiliation of being an American citizen yet kept in what were essentially prisons because of their Japanese heritage. Highly recommended for everyone.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I was to judge this book purely by its writing, I would say it is poorly written and give it a lower review. However, that is not what this book is about. This book is the true story of one survivor of the Japanese Internment Camps. It sheds some light on what Japanese Americans endured during WWII. I thought her story was interesting, but on the surface. Being an internee from Washington, where prejudice was at a minimum, Matsuda experienced life in the camps quite differently than a number of people. There is very little reference to the uprisings and danger that would develop during the second half of the internment years.

[Mary Lou]

(My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese-American Internment Camps) I appreciated the glossary of Japanese words & phrases & a bibliography. An 80-yr old recalls her family's eviction from their farm & subsequent incarceration. They had enough warning to make arrangements for their farm to be worked in their absence & thus did not lose it. They felt very fortunate as many other Japanese lost all of their belongings. While they were deprived of all their rights, Mary was required to recite the pledge of allegiance daily at the makeshift high school where she finished her last year & they were all required to sign a loyalty oath. Sentimental but informative.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941, Mary Matsuda was a high school junior living on Vashon Island in Washington. Mary’s first encounters with racism came in the following days. Her family was soon sent to the first of the four internment camps, leaving their farm in the care of a local deputy sheriff. The book describes life in each of the camps, the challenges facing the internees at all times, intensified when asked to affirm their loyalty to the U.S. near the end of the war; her brother’s deployment after he was drafted; and her own departure for nursing school. The last chapters of the book tell what happened to the family after the war ended. Powerful, well-told story.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the local connections of this story, which starts and ends on Vashon Island, an important place in my own youth. I vaguely remember the author's brother, who taught at my high school. I can only imagine how his experience may have shaped his social studies classes.

The author explains one motivation for telling her story being to prevent recurrence of the prejudice she faced in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack. Her family's allegiance to the USA was sincere but still they were not trusted because others with similar heritage had proven dangerous. I hope our country does not follow a similar path today in response to terrorism.

[Donna Oyama · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, setting in motion the evacuation and relocation of 120,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans who were then held prisoner in camps for the duration of WWII. This book is the author's story of her family's experience during those years. Because Gruenewald was seventeen at the time, this is also a coming of age story.
I have read several books on this topic. Gruenewald's is one of the better ones. She offers a vivid picture of life in the camps. Her telling of the yes-yes/no-no controversy is especially effective.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written for a young adult audience was very well-done. She describes vividly her confusion and disorientation at being perceived as an enemy. She is a legal US citizen and never felt different from her neighbors on Vashon Island, but when Pearl Harbor is attacked, her family realizes they are different. The four members of her family react differently to the internment experience and it's interesting to see their choices. They are assigned to several camps and thus get an interesting perspective on the people from different areas of the West Coast.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excerpt -- On Taking the Long View
"Let's imagine," she [mother] said after a thoughtful silence, "that we are now twenty years into the future, looking back on our situation as it is right now." She looked at Yoneichi [my brother], then glanced briefly at Papa-san. "Some of us may survive this time. Twenty years from now, we may have nothing more than the memories of how we conducted ourselves with dignity and courage during this difficult time." She paused. "What kind of memories do we want to have then of how we faced these difficulties now?"

[Lisa James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the few autobiographies that I have read. I went through a little phase of wondering how the Japanese coped with being locked away in internment camps in WWII. All I could find was the Americans side of the story then I came across this and it blows my mind that a country (I understand that it was during a time of war and through fear) could be racist towards its own citizens and how they could force these other human beings to live in such confines. It was good (for me) to hear the other side of the story.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author was 17 when she and her family were
interned as potentially traitorous people because
of their Japanese ancestry. Once you accept the
given situation, which they had to, their intra-family
adjustments offer a moving sub-plot. Their humanity,
civility, and patience are astonishing, as they lived
out a prolonged situation tragedy that we once thought
couldn't happen here. Land of the free, no; home of
the brave, yes.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Initially I read this book (and went to a reading) because it was written by a friend's mother. However, once I got into the memoir, I found it to be an engrossing account of the Pacific Northwest chapter of Japanese American internment during WWII. Being from the area, and having read and heard family oral history of the Southern California internment experience, it was incredibly enlightening to read an account of local history. Highly recommended.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this historical memoir about the Japanese American internment camps of WWII. The author speaks honestly about her feelings and experience of a time in history that many Americans still don't know about. She puts a human face onexperiences similar to those that my father's family (and extended relatives) went through. I definitely recommend this book. I thank the author for bravely writing it. I suggest a box of kleenex while reading it.

[Devon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the writing in this book wasn't that impressive (it sort of felt like it was geared towards children), it was a huge learning experience for me. I feel as though my history classes growing up didn't even touch on this important and embarrassing part of America's history. Therefore I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about this period in history.

[Audra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I starting reading this book very uninformed about this part of history. The author's first person account is very moving and heartbreaking. She talks alot about how this imprisonment hurt the social norms and family structure amoung the Japanese Americans. It was very sad yet enlightening for me to read.

[Hannah]

I'm marking this to-read as a method of asking: does anyone I live near have this book? It's the book for this year's Smith faculty book club and there are no copies in the Oakland, Berkeley or San Francisco public library systems, but I would really love to read it because Floyd Cheung is the speaker and I want to ask him good questions. Anyone?