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Summary: no-no boy
Review: Set during WWII, No-No Boy explores the experiences of several Japanese-Americans struggling with the problems of identity and belonging. The novel focuses on Ichiro, an American-born Japanese, who refused to be drafted by the US. Now, after being released from prison, Ichiro tries to find his place in a country that placed Japanese Americans in concentration camps, yet simulataneously enlisted them. Ichiro, like many of the characters, has conflicts about being Japanese and being American. His mother, a native of Japan, tried to make him completely Japanese, but having grown up in America, he realizes parts of him would necessarily be American. He is both Japanese and American, but having rejected aspects of both cultures, he is also neither. Ichiro must come to terms with his decisions and reconcile his separate selves into one identity. Over the course of the novel, he meets many other characters- Asian Americans and Caucasians- all of whom have different ideas of how Asian Americans can fit in the US. Each character offers a unique path: from Ichiro's own brother, who is so desperate to be American that he completely rejects his Japanese heritage; to Emi, who believes that Ichiro must learn to forgive the US; to Kenji, who believes that no matter what, Japanese Americans will never be accepted, and so dreams of a world in which race is no longer an issue. Every character affects Ichiro's perception of the world, but in the end, he must forge his own path.
The novel is well-written with a beautiful, haunting style, and the most powerful scenes are the introspective ones. The novel is relatively dark in tone, but there is hope, even in some of the most desolate of characters. Although the last chapter was perhaps not the best way to end the novel, it was nevertheless thankfully not a "happily ever after" cop-out.
The best part of the novel is its diversity of characters. Their unique voices demonstrate that while it is tempting to lump similar people together, whether based on a common race or common problem, they are still individuals. This is not a novel about "the Japanese experience in World War II." It is a novel about one person's experience, and the experiences of those around him, and how he begins to form his own identity.
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Summary: This Book Is the BOMB! WHY? WEll,You Got To Read it to know
Review: The No No Boy could have been one of the most asianized novel I have ever read. The fact that it's similar to the article in the reader, " READER ACROSS AMERICA CULTURES." He (Ichiro) was a character who felt like a coward because he didn't believe in himself. He did not know weather he was Americanized or Asianized because he did not join the War and felt like he wasn't a part of any culture. His mother was proud of him because he didn't jion the war, but he felt like he could do something about it, for his country and for himself. SO the novle is based on an indivisual guy with his own opinion about the things that happens around him and why he didn;t joint the war. I give this novel four stars and I highly recommend it.
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Summary: No No Boy Book Review
Review: The No No Boy was a well written book that was about a young oriental man growing up in Seattle. The young boy's (Ichiro) were originally japenes, and ichiro has to figure his identity, American or Japenese. The book takes place after the first world war and the japenese were discriminated against greatly in this time period. Throughout the book ichiro experiences many prejudice actions towards him which affects his identity crisis greatly. The reason for the title the no-no boy is that ichiro was drafted and told the court no, he served two years in prison. What happens to ichiro in the end does he side with the U.S. or the japenese, you will have to buy it to find out.
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Summary: Socially Important, But Lacking
Review: There does not seem to be a lot of literature out there concerning the internment of U.S. citizens who happened to be Japanese during WWII. This book helped me to understand exactly what happened better and gave me an excellent idea of what social situation was created by the camps. It is a very noble novel and should be admired and read. However, that said, the quality of the writing in this book is quite low. Okada is a first time novelist, and it shows. We are constantly awash in vague, emotional currents of the protaganist that do not seem to lead anywhere. It can be a challenge to suffer through some of the passages, and at times the main character comes off as whiny. Still, parts of the book are fascinating, such as the madness of Ichiro's mother who believes that ships are coming from Japan to pick her up. All in all, I have to say that it is a disappointing read, but certainly not one that should be allowed to pass into obscurity.
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Summary: The best novel about the Japanese-American in WW2
Review: There has been virtually nothing written about the experience of Japanese-Americans in WW2 and certainly nothing written about the experiences of the "No-No Boys," the men who resisted the draft while imprisoned in American concentration camps. John Okada has written a powerful novel--his only novel--about both these experiences. In doing so he grapples with the whole question of the American identity and the issue of belonging in American. If men who served their country in war, as Kenji, one of the main characters, cannot find a place to belong in American, how can Ichiro, the main character, find a place when he has gone to prison for not fighting? We discover in the novel how both Kenji and Ichiro are equally outsiders in a country that rewards white skin and Eupopean names over brown skin and Japanese names. The novel offers no easy answers, no simple solutions, and the questions it poses still resonate after forty years. A great, unheralded novel
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Summary: Great weaving of difficult and painful themes - & great read
Review: This book is worthwhile simply as a great story and enjoyable read. That makes the subject matter even more impressive, because it tackles several intertwined themes on a dark period in U.S. history for many reasons. First, it humanizes ordinary Japanese-Americans who were swept up in the WWII hysteria and had their lives shattered. You follow a young man as he struggles witht the difficult decision of whether to enlist in the U.S. army, which would spare him internment in the concentration camps out West. It's a lose-lose situation, because either choice is painful and has harsh consequences.An interesting side theme that often doesn't get discussed is the portrayal of the fiercely pro-Japanese mother who never wavers in her belief that Japanese warships will appear on the West Coast and liberate her family and the rest of her Japanese brethren. This is interesting because while it certainly doesn't soften what the U.S. did to those groups during the war, it does help explain somewhat one of the justifications used to whip people up into an anti-Japanese frenzy. The Japanese residents of the West Coast were unlike European immigrant communities on the East Coast in that many Japanese desperately longed to return home and saw living in the U.S. as a temporary solution to economic woes. Coupled with the fact that in the early part of the war the U.S. was in real danger of losing to the Japanese and facing attacks on the West Coast, the mistrust and resentment of Japanese living here was much greater than the feelings toward German and Italian immigrants at the time. Again it doesn't justify U.S. actions during the span of this book, but neither do blanket labels of racism get to the root causes of why these camps were established.
Overall, this is a powerful book that could be enjoyed as a fictionalized story or a non-fiction history.
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Summary: Great weaving of difficult and painful themes - & great read
Review: This book is worthwhile simply as a great story and enjoyable read. That makes the subject matter even more impressive, because it tackles several intertwined themes on a dark period in U.S. history for many reasons. First, it humanizes ordinary Japanese-Americans who were swept up in the WWII hysteria and had their lives shattered. You follow a young man as he struggles witht the difficult decision of whether to enlist in the U.S. army, which would spare him internment in the concentration camps out West. It's a lose-lose situation, because either choice is painful and has harsh consequences. An interesting side theme that often doesn't get discussed is the portrayal of the fiercely pro-Japanese mother who never wavers in her belief that Japanese warships will appear on the West Coast and liberate her family and the rest of her Japanese brethren. This is interesting because while it certainly doesn't soften what the U.S. did to those groups during the war, it does help explain somewhat one of the justifications used to whip people up into an anti-Japanese frenzy. The Japanese residents of the West Coast were unlike European immigrant communities on the East Coast in that many Japanese desperately longed to return home and saw living in the U.S. as a temporary solution to economic woes. Coupled with the fact that in the early part of the war the U.S. was in real danger of losing to the Japanese and facing attacks on the West Coast, the mistrust and resentment of Japanese living here was much greater than the feelings toward German and Italian immigrants at the time. Again it doesn't justify U.S. actions during the span of this book, but neither do blanket labels of racism get to the root causes of why these camps were established.
Overall, this is a powerful book that could be enjoyed as a fictionalized story or a non-fiction history.
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Summary: A great book for a lot of reasons!
Review: This book was suggested in a textbook for teaching war fiction from a multicultural lens. I hadn't read it, in fact I could only get it on loan from a college library 400 miles away. Then I bought from amazon.com While the book has flaws, for instance I only understood the title after reading George Takei's autobigraphy. (His parents also answered no and no to the loyalty oath.)I disagree with another reviewer that it is repetitive; it's poetic. I used it on my lesson plans on teaching war and literature to great effect. But more than that, it's one of the most effecting novels about racism this country has produced. According to the preface, Okada wrote another book. He couldn't get a publisher for it. UCLA wouldn't accept his papers. His widow burned it. We are all the losers in that.
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Summary: Excellent, repetitive, and simple.
Review: This novel is an excellent portrayal of Japanese-American life after the war which sent them to relocation camps. The novel is about a topic which is vaguely discussed and often over-looked. The novel isoften too repetive and one way. Theauthor does a fine job in bringing us t a greater understanding of thr events that occurred, but he also gets his point across in the first 50 pages.
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Summary: A serious novel relating to "No-No Boys" after WWII
Review: This novel was a well detailed novel about the experience of a No-No boy after World War II. The main character( I forgot his name) comes back home after four years imprisionment, 2 in the "relocation camps" and 2 in prison. When he comes home he is rejected by the Japanese-American society
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