WHEN THE emperOR WAS DIVINE

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It’s interesting to read a novel about the unfolding of a defining moment in America’s history and character during a defining moment in America’s history and character. The understated, clipped delivery of the Japanese-American experience in the Western US during World War II further underscores how our atrocities happen quietly--an announcement here, a policy-shift there, and how the consequences reverberate in the lives of children, the bedrock of marriages, the weave of neighborhoods.

It’s difficult not to think of families detained along the U.S. Border as the world hunkers down in quarantine when reading about how a nation let its fear guide its policy and trample on the values we ought to protect.

When the Emperor was Divine was published almost 20 years ago, but it feels urgent today. It’s poetic and impressive example of writing that understands compression.

Well-written and an interesting story, it's a 3.5 star read for me. It's muted approach includes its impact. It's like reading a good, long article in the New Yorker or The Atlantic- it's interesting, it gives the head something to chew on for a while, but it isn't something I'm likely to recall with much fondness or recommend emphatically in the future. It's an interesting little book with an important and worthwhile story to tell, it's not a riveting piece of fiction.


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