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Joy Kogawa
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Obasan Paperback – January 1, 1994

by Joy Kogawa (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 360 ratings
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Winner of the American Book Award

Based on the author's own experiences, this award-winning novel was the first to tell the story of the evacuation, relocation, and dispersal of Canadian citizens of Japanese ancestry during the Second World War.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    300 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Anchor
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1994
  5. Dimensions
    5.23 x 0.67 x 7.98 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0385468865
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0385468862
  8. Lexile measure
    990L
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This quiet novel burns in your hand." —Washington Post

From the Publisher

Based on the author's own experiences, this award-winning novel was the first to tell the story of the evacuation, relocation, and dispersal of Canadian citizens of Japanese ancestry during the Second World War. "This quiet novel burns in your hand." --Washington Post.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Anchor; Reprint edition (January 1, 1994)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 300 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385468865
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385468862
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 990L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.23 x 0.67 x 7.98 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 360 ratings

About the author

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Joy Kogawa

Joy Kogawa

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About Joy

Joy Kogawa was born in Vancouver in 1935 to Japanese-Canadian parents. During WWII, Joy and her family were forced to move to Slocan, British Columbia, an injustice Kogawa addresses in her 1981 novel, Obasan. Kogawa has worked to educate Canadians about the history of Japanese Canadians and she was active in the fight for official governmental redress.

Kogawa studied at the University of Alberta and the University of Saskatchewan. Her most recent poetic publication is A Garden of Anchors. The long poem, A Song of Lilith, published in 2000 with art by Lilian Broca, retells the story of Lilith, the mythical first partner to Adam.

In 1986, Kogawa was made a Member of the Order of Canada; in 2006, she was made a Member of the Order of British Columbia. In 2010, the Japanese government honored Kogawa with the Order of the Rising Sun "for her contribution to the understanding and preservation of Japanese Canadian history.

For Wikipedia article click here.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
360 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

ShadowVA
5.0 out of 5 stars Obasan by Joy Kogawa - Review by Mackenna Basore
Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2016
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Obasan, by Joy Kogawa is a breathtaking, heart-wrenching novel about the Japanese internment in Canada during World War II. This novel, told through the eyes of Naomi Nakane, begins with the death of her uncle. As she thinks back on all of the time she spent with her uncle and Obasan, which means aunt in Japanese, she remembers the events of her childhood during the war. She remembers her mother who went to Japan right before the war and never returned, her father who died of tuberculosis in the camp, her paternal grandparents who also died in the camps, her maternal grandparents who died in Japan during the bombings, and her many friends that she never saw again. Throughout this haunting story she tells of the horrible conditions that she and her family were forced to live in and the way that they were treated by the white Canadian population. Despite being Canadian citizens themselves, they were shunned by the rest of society simply because of their background and skin tone. The author, a Japanese Canadian who was interned during the war herself, shows how unjust and inhumane the treatment of these people was. This novel is extremely enlightening, showing its readers just what life was like in these camps. Many people try to gloss over this period in history and forget the horrible things that happened, but this novel and its depictions of this side of the war will stay with me and remind me how humans can turn on one another in times of fear and war. It serves as a reminder that though people are of the same nationality as those who do harm, they are not to be blamed for their country’s actions. I would give this novel a five star rating because of how engaging and heart-wrenching it was. It is not a book that you can put down once you have picked it up.
8 people found this helpful
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C. E. Stevens
5.0 out of 5 stars The silence that DOES speak
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2003
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When I finished Obasan, I felt blown away. This is not just a great piece of Japanese Canadian literature, this is a great book, period. The Internment of Japanese American/Canadian citizens during World War II is a subject that is widely unknown, and a topic that few novelists have been able to capture with as much skill as Kogawa.
"Obasan" weaves a seamless tale that stretches between generations and spans continents and decades with an almost dreamlike quality. As other reviewers have commented (lamented?) about, there are many dream sequences, all of which have significance as the story is unveiled. The dreams, the "silence that cannot speak," the love that is voiceless and yet vivid, the grief that cries out loudly and yet unheard ... the power of Kogawa's writing lies in being able to interpret and experience this imagery, and feel the pain of the internment as if doing so first hand.
I was surprised to see the number of negative reviews this book has received here ... I feel compelled to include my voice with those who thoroughly recommend this book. "Obasan" is the best novel on the internment I have yet to come across, and certainly among the most powerful books I have read. Although Kogawa writes of a silence that does not speak, she breaks the silence beautifully with "Obasan," revealing a history that many do not know, and many do not talk about. This is a story that must be remembered and retold ... so history does not repeat itself.
37 people found this helpful
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4.0 out of 5 stars Joy Kogawa does an amazing job as an author in ...
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2018
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Joy Kogawa does an amazing job as an author in titling the book as Obasan, a respectful term for “aunt” in Japanese. While in the novel our protagonist seems to only call Uncle Sam’s wife “obasan,” there is another aunt that displays as much influence on Naomi as Obasan does, but in a quite opposite manner. Obasan is all about silence and little words. Obasan responds to most events with silence or a small set of “barely audible” words: “Everyone someday dies” (14). As a reader, I was initially frustrated with the small number of words that came out of both Uncle Sam and Obasan’s mouths and wondered how Naomi endured it. The two relatives did not seem to answer simple questions from the protagonist and for several chapters, I continuously wondered, “Why?” Kogawa reveals that silence is Obasan’s go to in response to pain and suffering. Uncle’s death was not responded with loud sobbing of anguish, but rather expressed with silence and acceptance of the fact that “Everyone someday dies.” Obasan, who has also experienced the racial prejudice, got property taken and liquidated by the Canadian government, and saw relatives torn from family, does not speak out. She believes that the past’s sufferings are meant to be forgotten, unlike Aunt Emily. Aunt Emily is another obasan, but is addressed as Aunt Emily. Aunt Emily would probably resort to silence as the very last response to the pain and injustice done to Japanese-Canadians. She believes that anger must be “passed down in [their] genes,” and that “the past is in the future.” If one resorts to silence, the pain will come again, because it was never fought back against in the past. Naomi’s interactions with the words of both her obasans not only revealed that the two aunts are an obvious foil for each other, but also created a lasting impact on the protagonist, Naomi Nakane. What made Obasan just short of 5 stars may have been my fault as a weak reader. While I admired the precise detail and culture that Kogawa had woven so intricately into the novel, Obasan’s general structure is quite unique, because instead of narrating as one tells a simple story to another, this novel is a continuous train of thought stationed in Naomi Nakane’s mind. I personally found this “train of thought” as a hurdle that made it difficult for me go back and forth between character to character and between flashbacks to the present time. However, due amidst the mazes of thoughts running through Naomi’s mind, I felt personally more connected, sympathetic, and even empathetic to Naomi and her family’s experiences. Even if I was not present during the times of prejudice that spanned America and Canada during and after WWII, Joy Kogawa successfully communicates the pain and suffering of Japanese-Canadians during the war through the silence of Obasan and the outspoken nature of Aunt Emily, who are both obasans to Naomi Nakane.
3 people found this helpful
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Kent Harber
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful story, amazingly read
Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2019
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The story is exquisite, and is a must read for those who want to understand the Japanese Canadian/Japanese American experience during WW II. The narrator, Mary Ito, does an amazing job--of tone, of inflection, of pacing. It felt as if I was watching a movie more than hearing a reading. Remarkable.
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jb
3.0 out of 5 stars Obasan
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2014
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I am still reading this book, but so far it's an interesting read. It doesn't maintain my interest sometimes. I'm not sure if it's just a little dry or just not my style of reading, but I am only able to read through a few chapters at a time.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Seeking answers
5.0 out of 5 stars A very important and very interesting book.
Reviewed in Canada on October 22, 2022
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I first read this years ago during my first year at university. Now, some decades later, I was still able to recall the title. I just purchased this for my wife after I found out she was not informed of the events described in the book. Do yourself and your family a favor and purchase this amazing read.
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Viviane
5.0 out of 5 stars Un roman poignant mais nécessaire.
Reviewed in France on February 27, 2020
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Les américains ont fait subir des traitements indignes aux Sino-américains. Les canadiens, eux, ont malheureusement fait pire.
Obasan est un roman écrit à partir de témoignages. L'auteur le mentionne dès le début du livre et on peut trouver une bibliographie à la fin en langue anglaise . Cela donne au roman un petit côté artificiel inévitable entre parenthèse.
Les canadiens ont non seulement mis les chinois dans des camps durant la deuxième guerre mondiale mais également dans des villages fantômes dans des régions perdues de cet immense territoire. Ils leurs ont volé toutes leurs possessions que ce soit aux chinois n'ayant pas la nationalité canadienne mais aux sino-canadiens également ayant la nationalité canadienne. Ils ont incité la population canadienne via les médias à détester et mépriser les chinois. Les chinois ont été insultés, ont eu honte d'être chinois eux qui sont un peuple digne et humble.
À la fin de la guerre, le gouvernement conservateur a accordé le remboursement du voyage ( ha ha, quelle ironie !) à tous ceux qui voulaient rentrer dans leur pays. On parle ici de citoyens sino-canadiens . En 1945 les deux bombes atomiques ont donc également décimé les personnes qui étaient rentrées dans un pays qui leur était inconnu !
Ceux qui voulaient rester sur le territoire canadien ont été traités comme des pestiférés. Ils ont été envoyés dans d'autres régions ayant perdu tous leurs biens. Ils ont été forcés d'habiter dans des conditions déplorables et ont dû travailler comme des esclaves pour un salaire de misère. Ils n'ont jamais pu rentrer dans leur ville d'origine. Ici Vancouver.
Le reste du monde est resté sourd aux appels à l'aide des intellectuels chinois dont fait partie la famille de Naomi.
J'ai été très choquée et émue. Les chapitres où la petite Naomi raconte ses souvenirs d'enfance sont bouleversants à ce titre mais pas seulement. Elle a été victime d'abus sexuels de la part d'un voisin. Elle ne pouvait pas en parler comme le sont toutes ces petites victimes. Après elle a cessé de s'exprimer, elle s'est tue. Ses proches dont sa tante, ayant pris le relais de sa maman, ont pensé que c'était un trait de son caractère. Elle n'a jamais non plus revu sa maman et sa grand-mère ce qui l'a fait se renfermer sur elle-même.
On ne connaîtra la vérité sur le destin terrible de sa mère et de sa grand-mère que vers la fin du livre à travers deux lettres de sa grand-mère.
Obasan est un livre qui restera dans ma mémoire au même titre que le roman " Certaines n'avaient jamais vu la mer" par Julie Otsuka que je recommande également.
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versunea
4.0 out of 5 stars 過去を学ぶ
Reviewed in Japan on March 7, 2018
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第二次世界大戦中、カナダでの日系人差別への勉強のために読み進め中です。小説ですが、リアルな内容だとカナダ人の友人から聞きました。
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Alyth
5.0 out of 5 stars A very sad history lesson
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 17, 2016
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I felt real sadness when I finished this book. Sad because I would miss the exquisite writing and the telling of the tale. But also sad because I know this story is based on fact. Obasan tells the story of a family of Japanese/Canadians and their hardship in Canada during the second world war. It tells of the inhuman way they are ripped from their Vancouver home of two generations and holed up in ghost town. After the war ends they are still denied their home and spend years working hard labour in Alberta. But there is another story; the story of two children with missing parents who are brought up by their aunt (Obasan), and a conclusion that is a horrific surprise and yet fitting. The tone throughout is melancholic in a beautiful sense, like a piece of music that breaks your heart and still you want it to go on.
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toby
5.0 out of 5 stars An Absolute MUST READ
Reviewed in Canada on November 21, 2023
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A soft & gentle telling of the hash internment experienced by Japanese Canadians post- Pearl Harbor. This truth, a MAJOR blemish in our government's history, was consciously hidden from the eyes & minds of Canadians for several decades. The author 's prose flows poetically, rendering the storyline to slowly unfurl. Such an ingenious command of the English language is rare !
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