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