First of all, I am so proud of myself for finishing a book club book before book club meets! Secondly, I loved this book! I loved the slow, unfolding of Henry's life, while at the same time being dumbstruck by what happened here in America during the Japanese internment camps. We grew up hearing about the Nazi atrocities, but little is taught about the camps we had here. In fact, when a student was researching concentration camps prior to the reading of Anne Frank, and found Crystal City, Texas as a concentration camp, I thought the student had goofed. Nope. I found myself irritated and empathetic with Henry's dad when he pinned the "I am Chinese" button on him and sent him off to school. As a parent, he was just trying to make sure that Henry's classmates didn't mistake him for the enemy, but ironically, none of the "enemies" in this book were Japanese. What a terrible thing to have survived watching all of those neighbors rounded up and deported.

This book kind of reminded me of Calligrapher's Daughter, The Joy Luck Club, and Memoirs of a Geisha. A slow chugging along of a life. Loved it. And I loved that my life slowly chugged these past two days so that I could finish it!