Journey Home by Yoshiko Uchida

This novel  by Yoshiko Uchida describes the journey one Japanese family endured as Americans living in the United States during World War 2.  What fascinated me the most about this book was that it described a time of American history where I believe the United States did not upload the very fundamental principles it was based upon - the freedom of its people.  The era of Japanese  concentration camps, where our own people, although from a different ethnicity than that of others, were locked up and treated as prisoners in their own country.  Honestly, it's not something I know very much about, so reading this book illustrated to me just how hard it was for many people during that time.  Yoshiko Uchida takes a broad approach to the subject, not simply labeling Americans or the American government as "bad people". Instead, he takes an honest and somewhat unbiased approach at the subject, looking at how the war, the times, the events that  occurred affect one Japanese-American family in particular.  The story is centered around a girl, Yuki, whose family had been imprisoned in a concentration camp in American, regained their freedom, rebuilt their lives and embraced their lives as Americans.  Through other characters, themes of prejudice, hatred and bigotry are touched upon, as well as the effect of the war in general had on families and soldiers. The moral of the story?   I believe the author strives to convey a sense of what America was like for minorities in American during  the World War 2 era....the struggles for those who fought and died, those who fought and  survived, only to return home with scars on their hearts, as well as the fundamental spirit of hope that resides in all people.

This book reminded me somewhat of other books focusing on this era in time.  While their journey's were completely different, the iemain character Yuki reminded me of  Anne Frank in her thinking and her unyielding spirit in the face of various hardships.  I would love to read other books written by this author including Jar of Dreams one of his more recent books, as well as The Invisible Thread:  An Autobiography.