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Fiction General

Obasan

by (author) Joy Kogawa

Publisher
Penguin Group Canada
Initial publish date
Aug 2003
Category
General
  • Audio cassette

    ISBN
    9780864923042
    Publish Date
    May 2000
    List Price
    $24.95
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780735233706
    Publish Date
    May 2017
    List Price
    $19.95
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780143014997
    Publish Date
    Aug 2003
    List Price
    $22
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780140067774
    Publish Date
    Mar 1983
    List Price
    $10.99

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Where to buy it

Out of print

This edition is not currently available in bookstores. Check your local library or search for used copies at Abebooks.

Description

A powerful and passionate novel, Obasan tells, through the eyes of a child, the moving story of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. Naomi is a sheltered and beloved five-year-old when Pearl Harbor changes her life. Separated from her mother, she watches bewildered as she and her family become enemy aliens, persecuted and despised in their own land. Surrounded by hardship and pain, Naomi is protected by the resolute endurance of her aunt Obasan and the silence of those around her. Only after Naomi grows up does she return to question the haunting silence.


 

About the author

Joy Kogawa, one of North America’s most celebrated writers, is the award-winning author of three novels, seven collections of poetry and two books for children. Obasan, which the New York Times called “a tour de force…brilliantly poetic in its sensibility,” continues to be taught across North America, and the opera based on her children’s book Naomi’s Road has toured in Canada and the United States. Kogawa has worked to educate Canadians about the history of Japanese Canadians and is a long-time activist in the areas of peace and reconciliation. In 2010, the Japanese government honoured her with the Order of the Rising Sun. Her latest book is Gently to Nagasaki.

Joy Kogawa's profile page

Editorial Reviews

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

Other titles by Joy Kogawa

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