Here are some customer reviews of
Obasan
: this book operates at a number of different levels - the unfolding of the life of a young girl into womanhood admidst the experieces of persecution in Canada. Joy Kogawa exposes a slice of unpalatable history and uses works to create an unforgetaable picture. A definite must read
 In our 10th Grade Enriched English class, we were forced to read Obasan, by Joy Kogawa. No one in the class understood or even liked the book at any point in the entire story. The only part that was remotely interesting was when the boys at Naomi and Steven's school killed the chicken. In a class of 35 kids, having not one person liking the book, I'd say it kinda stinks. The story is so confusing, and the characters are very strange. It may be a good book for adults, but to classify it as young adult is a mistake. No 7-9th graders would even be able to comprehend this story past the first page. It goes in and out of the present time and the past in nearly every paragraph. It has a good story, but it is not told in a manner that is understandable for young adults. For people under 18, it gets one star. For those over 18, it gets 3.
This book continues to thrill me after four readings so far, and the beauty of the evocation and expression of the plight of the Japanese-Canadians during WWII is, I believe, unsurpassed in any novel or critical piece. If only every book was this good!!!
When I first purchased Obasan, I was unsure of how much I would enjoy the book. Fortunately, it turned out to be one of the best books I have ever read. In the novel, Joy Kogawa deals with the Canadian Japanese internment camps during World War II. She does a masterful job of using flashbacks to tell the story through the eyes of a young girl who is forced to move with her family to different camps and farms to survive during the war. Kogawa uses many autobiographical elements in the novel to help tell this magnificent story. Her descriptive language is beautiful and allows the story to flow along at an easy pace. She also utilizes many similes and metaphors to help the reader see what she sees a little better. Although there are not many symbols in the novel, the ones that Kogawa uses are utterly important to the story. Kogawa mainly focuses on themes of prejudice and silence, in which all the characters embody one or the other. The change in setting, both place and time, can be confusing at first, but once the reader catches on, they will become engrossed in the deep plotline. And although the story is written about Japanese Canadians and their struggle to make it during World War II, Obasan is definitely aimed at the general American audience, so that hopefully they will be able to see the light that Joy Kogawa shines on the entire situation. After reading the novel, I can definitely say that I recommend it to any and everyone out there that is interested in the history of the Japanese internment camps and World War II. And even if you aren't it is still a very well put together book that will pull you into its plot and not let you go. This novel is a definite must read for everyone.
I too received the book for my first year writing seminar and I will describe it through the analogy of bread and butter. Consider the bread as the story and the butter as the symbolism and style that enhances the enjoyment and understanding of that story. Bread with some butter is good, the butter makes the bread taste even better. However butter with some bread is repulsive. It's hard to force the combination into your mouth and even harder to digest. The butter overwhelms the taste of the bread and you might as well not have a story at all. All that butter can clog your arteries and kill you as too much symbolism can kill a story and make it hard to read and undesirable to finish.
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