Julie Otsuka’s “Buddha in the Attic” follows the lives of multiple women who immigrate from Japan to the US at the beginning of the 20 century. Though the nonspecific third person plural, she weaves the voices of many women into one narrator.
The narration style isn’t interesting just because it’s unusual. By speaking equally through many women, Otsuka is able to describe many different immigrant experiences without privileging any. She is able to speak about restaurant owners, farmers, and prostitutes as parts of American history without making one into a representative experience. By conflating these women’s voices, she is able to bring out a personal history that is totally different than both history books and historical novels.
Each section of the book moves forward to another chunk of time– coming to America as picture brides, working, getting along with their second generation children, the evacuation.
Oddly, the last chapter of the book switches perspectives, to the nonJapanese neighbours left behind after the evacuation, as they are left wondering where the Japanese went. I’m confused as to what Otsuka was trying to accomplish there. The neighbor’s responses seem flat in comparison to the women’s voices, and unnecessary.
It’s a very quick 144 pages. It hardly felt like 100 pages. Even busy grad students like me should be able to finish it in a reasonable amount of time. And a great example how spare, straightforward prose can be far more emotional than rich, embellished descriptions. I’m a fan.
