The Buddha in the Attic

By: Julie Otsuka

Narrated by: Samantha Quan, Carrington MacDuffie

Length: 3 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Julie Otsuka’s long awaited follow-up to When the Emperor Was Divine (“To watch Emperor catching on with teachers and students in vast numbers is to grasp what must have happened at the outset for novels like Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mockingbird” - The New York Times) is a tour de force of economy and precision, a novel that tells the story of a group of young women brought over from Japan to San Francisco as ‘picture brides’ nearly a century ago.

In eight incantatory sections, The Buddha in the Attic traces their extraordinary lives, from their arduous journey by boat, where they exchange photographs of their husbands, imagining uncertain futures in an unknown land; to their arrival in San Francisco and their tremulous first nights as new wives; to their backbreaking work picking fruit in the fields and scrubbing the floors of white women; to their struggles to master a new language and a new culture; to their experiences in childbirth, and then as mothers, raising children who will ultimately reject their heritage and their history; to the deracinating arrival of war.

In language that has the force and the fury of poetry, Julie Otsuka has written a singularly spellbinding novel about the American dream.

From the Hardcover edition

©2011 Julie Otsuka (P)2011 Random House Audio

Like the idea behind the format but it gets old

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend Otsuka's When the Emperor Was Divine instead. While I like the idea behind constructing Buddha in the Attic in the plural "we" perspective, it gets kind of old after a while. I found myself fasting forward after a few of the variations on how the women meet their husbands for the first time, or what kind of interactions they had with "them" (white people in CA), or how their children grew up. It was a bit of "I get it already." Perhaps I would have found this feature less annoying had I read the book instead of listening to it. I did keep listening because I was curious to hear how Otsuka would address the incarceration history and those stretches were quite interesting. But, again, I would recommend Emperor instead for that history.

Fascinating topic, irritating writing style

We enjoyed the fresh perspective on history.
We enjoyed hearing the fascinating stories of these women’s lives.
We enjoyed seeing how varied, how individual, how unique these women were.
We got sick of the constant use of the plural form.
We got sick of the repetition.
We got sick of the constant jumping from person to person, never settling on any one individual for more than a few sentences.
We thought at first that four hours was awfully short for an unabridged audiobook, but by the end of it we didn’t mind that it wasn’t longer.

I enjoyed this true story immensely

Where does The Buddha in the Attic rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

A young woman tells her own story, through the lives of her Japanese mothers and grandmothers, who moved to America in order to marry Japanese men that had gone before. Like Walt Whitman, sometimes she tells her story by vignettes, in a few words, or a sentence, listed one after another, that glimpse life in this strange new land.

Somehow, it was constantly surprising to hear the California middle class towns identified as home to a people still rooted in the old country. America was the land of opportunity. The women were often, maybe more often than not, rudely surprised by what they found when they came to America. But their families made it clear they could never return, that there was no more home for them in Japan. So, having made a choice, or their family having made a choice for them, they simply do whatever is necessary in order to survive. They usually marry the men they contracted for, and put up with them, warts and all. The author makes no effort to present the women as angels; just as hardworking, unquestioning, obedient, partners to their husbands. The story shifts gradually to the Japanese people as a whole in America, who made the best of a new world, became functioning and integral parts of their communities, and were rewarded with distrust and alienation during WW II. Yet, her story gleams with gentleness, caring for her people and regretting not an instant that she is American.

What does Samantha Quan and Carrington MacDuffie bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Most of the Audible readers do a wonderful job, and these readers were no different. They keep the story moving, injecting feeling, characterization, and rhythm to the story. I read about a book a week on Kindle, but I absorb books nearly as quickly on audible, listening at every opportunity. In this story, it is a woman's story, told through the voices of women, gentle, but unsparing, not in the least pointlessly sweet or adorned.

Any additional comments?

I have listened to two other books since this one, but the sweet thoughtfulness of the story, the relentless telling of the lives of others in diamond flashes rather than long biographies, the sense of an entire people trying so hard to be accepted, will live on for me for a long time.

I loved this book!

Stylistically remarkable. Moving and fascinating story, well told and well read. I think this would be a wonderful read for anyone interested in women’s studies, psychology, social justice, history, sociology, and language.

wow

the novel is small and seemingly unadorned with unnecessary detail and yet one is left feeling heavy and burdened with emotions. the narration was precise however a bit monotone but on the whole pleasant. it's a must read!

New Americans

What made the experience of listening to The Buddha in the Attic the most enjoyable?

A classic love story. The perspective of what it felt like to be new in America in a different era. Describing different levels of acceptance or love by each individual, only to be rebuffed.

What does Samantha Quan and Carrington MacDuffie bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narrators give character to each individual by using emotion instead of voices.

I liked it!

Would you try another book from Julie Otsuka and/or Samantha Quan and Carrington MacDuffie ?

Yes

If you’ve listened to books by Julie Otsuka before, how does this one compare?

First book by Ms. Otsuka

Could you see The Buddha in the Attic being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No

Any additional comments?

I liked one voice for a variety of women and their struggles and triumphs.

A New View of WWII

What did you love best about The Buddha in the Attic?

As a reader of historical fiction, I've read a lot of WWII fiction, but "The Buddha in the Attic" gave a viewpoint I've never read: The story of Japanese women in America just before and during WWII. A great read for anyone interested in the time period.

Who was your favorite character and why?

One of the best things about "The Buddha in the Attic" was that there were really no specific characters. The entire book was told in first/third person plural, everything was "We..." or "One of us..." or "The children..." or "The husbands..." It took a while to get used to, but it was an interesting viewpoint.

Mixed bag

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would have to say take it or leave it. You might get into it and be able to finish.

Any additional comments?

I didn't have any trouble with the beginning of the book. I actually started it twice, thinking that the second time I'd be prepared and would be able to stay tuned. It is good. However, the unending LISTS made the voice very predictable, and to me, a little maddening. The plot and messages are good, and I will probably fast forward to the end to see what happens, but I'm skipping the meat

Not My Kind of Narrative

I imagined this would follow a few of the women's stories of coming to the U.S. Instead it was often long list of abuses & experiences, "Some of us," experienced. That style makes it hard to settle in to the experience.

Other than that, there's terribly important information in it.