This Light Between Us: A Novel of World War II by Andrew Fukuda

Dec 15, 2019 Jessica | Booked J rated it it was amazing

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As always, a copy of this book was provided by the publisher or author in exchange for my honest review and/or participation in the blog tour. This does not effect my opinion in any way. This does not effect my opinion in any way. Review also found here at Booked J.

How do you describe This Light Between Us? It's nearly impossible. I paused at my screen many times as I tried to bring forth the words to describe how reading this made me feel. Here's what I know: it is ...more

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Jan 05, 2020 Carole (Carole's Random Life in Books) rated it really liked it

Shelves: direct-from-publisher, historical-fiction, own-print-arc, arcs-to-review, reviewed, ya, 2020

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.

This was a wonderful book. I happened on this book quite by chance but decided to give it a try and I am so glad that I did. I have read quite a few books set during World War II over the years and usually find them heartbreaking and powerful. This was a really unique story that really did grab me. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to read this powerful novel.

Alex and Charlie become pen pals when they are only 10 years old. This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.

This was a wonderful book. I happened on this book quite by chance but decided to give it a try and I am so glad that I did. I have read quite a few books set during World War II over the years and usually find them heartbreaking and powerful. This was a really unique story that really did grab me. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to read this powerful novel.

Alex and Charlie become pen pals when they are only 10 years old. Charlie is a Jewish girl living in Paris with her family. Alex is a Japanese American boy at a time when being of Japanese descent is more than just a little difficult. We get to know Charlie and Alex through the letters that they write to each other and we get to see how things are changing in both of their worlds.

Charlie does play a part in this book but I really feel like this was Alex's story. We see Charlie through her letters but we get to see Alex during the challenges he faced. I hate to admit that I don't know as much as I should about internment camps that the United States put into place after the attack on Pearl Harbor but what I learned in this book made me sad and angry at the same time. The descriptions of what Alex and his family went through were heartbreaking.

Alex's decision to join the military in the hopes of helping his father really demonstrated the strength of his character. The descriptions of the battles that Alex's unit faced were incredibly vivid. I felt like I was right there with Alex, Mutt, Teddy, and the rest of their unit as they faced nearly impossible odds. Alex played a very important part in his unit and was under a lot of pressure but he handled it like a pro. He never stopped thinking about his family or Charlie even when things were at their worst.

I would highly recommend this book to others. I had a hard time putting this book down once I got started with it. It was an emotional read and beautiful at the same time. I feel like I have been on quite the journey with Alex and Charlie in this powerful book. I wouldn't hesitate to read more of Andrew Fukuda's work.

I received an advanced review copy of this book from Tor Teen. ...more

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Dec 30, 2019 Vicki (MyArmchairAdventures) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Look for this gem to come out in January 2020 if you are a historical fiction fan. Though published by Tor Teen, THIS LIGHT BETWEEN US doesn’t read like a teen or YA book.

Though the WWII historical fiction genre seems over saturated, the unique slant in THIS LIGHT BETWEEN US kept me engaged. The start of the book dragged a bit but I think it was necessary to flush out the growing friendship between Japanese American Alex Maki, living on Brainbridge Island in Washington and his French pen pal ...more

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Sep 15, 2019 Hazel rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arcs, 5-stars

WOW.

This is one of the books that everybody, especially Americans, should read at least once in their lifetime. I honestly wish that I could've read "This Light Between Us" during the time that I was reading "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. In my opinion, that would have been the perfect reading combination.

I don't usually read historical fiction, but as soon as I saw the cover and read the description, I knew that I had to read this book. The internment of Japanese Americans in the United ...more

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Dec 16, 2019 Tiffany rated it it was amazing

Shelves: wwii, ya, historical-fiction, paris

I really enjoyed this book. The author gives us two characters that are pen pals from Paris and Washington State. Charlie is a young Jewish girl, Alex a Japanese-American. As the story unfolds during WWII, we see how their lives change drastically and sometimes in shockingly similar ways. I have read books about the Japanese internment camps before. This one really painted a painful picture about what the US did to those who should not have been persecuted. While we mostly follow Alex, I feel ...more

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Dec 09, 2019 Carli rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Thanks to Macmillan and Netgalley for the advance Kindle copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
•
/5 for this 1.7.20 release. Alex Maki, a Japanese American in Washington, and Charlie Levy, a Jewish girl from Paris, become pen pals when they are ten years old. They keep up communication into their teen years. When Alex’s family is taken into an internment camp, Charlie is fleeing for her life from the Nazis. Alex gets the chance to enlist in the war, and sets out with the hope of finding ...more

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Aug 31, 2019 Toni rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019-read, ya-children, fiction, history, net-galley, war-conflict

A beautiful story that manages to be both earnest and tough without getting overly sentimental. The story opens with Alex, a young Japanese-American boy living in Bainbridge Island in the 1930/40's, getting slightly miffed when he finds out that his assigned penpal, Charlie, is not in-fact a boy, but a young Jewish girl living in Paris. Although reluctant at first, Alex and Charlie begin a correspondence that lasts years. This part of the book was so affecting as Fukuda really captured the ...more

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Dec 03, 2019 Sarah rated it really liked it

Shelves: giveaways-arc

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

So, what did I think?

This book starts off a little slow for me, but the author does it in order to establish the relationship between Alex and Charlie, Alex and his brother Frank, Alex and his father, Alex...well, you get the picture. The majority of the relationships are established at the beginning as well as the feeling of life before Pearl Harbor.

In order to establish the relationship between Alex and Charlie, the author ...more

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Aug 17, 2019 Sarah rated it it was amazing

This was a spellbinding, heart wrenching book. Alex and Charlie are wonderful and unique characters that I loved. I felt like I was right there beside them the whole time, laughing at their letters and then crying as theirs lives plummeted into hell. The setting of this book, during WWII, was unique due to the fact it was not just about the act of fighting. While much of Charlie’s story was left to the imagination you still feel the anguish and pain you know she faced every day. The author wove ...more

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Jan 08, 2020 Simone rated it really liked it

Shelves: diverse-reads, 2020, ya-novels

It's been quite some time since I've read a historical fiction novel, but it's also been a long time since I've read one based in World War 2. Because there are so many WW2 novels I stopped reading them all together. When I was offered to read a book that covers the war, but also the Japanese internment camps and the all Japanese-American military unit called the 442nd (also known as the most decorated military unit of the United States with the most losses). This particular point in American It's been quite some time since I've read a historical fiction novel, but it's also been a long time since I've read one based in World War 2. Because there are so many WW2 novels I stopped reading them all together. When I was offered to read a book that covers the war, but also the Japanese internment camps and the all Japanese-American military unit called the 442nd (also known as the most decorated military unit of the United States with the most losses). This particular point in American history isn't really talked about, but it should. It's a point of shame for an entire race of humans who peacefully lived in the United States only to be discriminated and hated against because of their ethnic background. Like, it's sad when Drunk History covers this part of United States history, but you don't hear about it in the classroom.

This Light Between Us follows Alex Maki, a young Japanese American boy living off the coast of Washington state on Bainbridge Island. For all intents and purposes, he's your average teenage boy with a love for comic books and reading. He also has a pen pal since he was 13 years old named Charlie Levy. Charlie is a young French Jewish girl living in Paris and as their friendship grows over the years, the turmoil during World War 2 deepens. On the day the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Alex, his family, and the small Japanese community on Bainbridge Island are immediately met with discrimination. And as the Japanese community is forced off the island and sent to the Manzanar internment camps, Alex shares this all with his pen pal. However, as turmoil in Europe progresses, letters from Charlie come less frequently causing Alex not only to worry about his family but also about his friend.

When American military arrive at the camp, Alex makes the decision to join the army in hopes of freeing his father in prison and finding his best friend in the chaos of war. He joins the 442nd military unit, a regime of all Japanese-American soldiers segregated from other troops because of their race. But as Alex spends years training and fighting, his search for Charlie continues only to find out the truth when the war finally ends.

I have to hand it to Andrew Fukuda. He expertly incorporated two of the major moments in Japanese American history into one book. First is the Japanese internment camps set up after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. I loved how Andrew Fukuda captured this moment in history. When the radio announces what happened at Pearl Harbor, the first thing Alex's family experiences is just utter hatred. They were no longer the friendly neighbors who cared about their community, but a threat and an enemy. It was so stark that people would hate them so easily and that really broke my heart. And when they were shipped off to the internment camps, I was so surprised that the conditions there were similar to the ones many immigrants experienced in cages on the border of Mexico and the United States. Talk about watching history repeat itself.

But what I found interesting is how the Japanese spent their time in the camps. For many, it was just trying to get back to a normal routine, but for others it was a slap in the face by the country they were so loyal to. I loved the depictions of how most Japanese tried to make the best of the situation but how others grouped together to revolt. But then it couldn't get worse when the US military came calling to the camps looking for recruits into the US army.

The second was the 442nd military unit which was completely comprised of Japanese-Americans and completely segregated from the rest of the military. They were sent to the front lines of Europe to essentially die, but the 442nd isn't just a group of men willing to lie down for the cause. Instead, they were the hardest fighting unit losing the most men, liberating a concentration camp in Germany, and being awarded the most medals than any other American military unit at the time. Sadly, history doesn't remember it this way.

The flow of this story and the usage of American history is really what I applaud Andrew Fukuda for. He expertly connects a Japanese American to the two distinct moments in their history in America and it really made sense. Although I was skeptic that Alex, the introverted book worm, would join the military, I can understand his reasoning and he didn't run into the situation like some hard-headed teenager. The scenes of war were well described with several losses for Alex making it feel more real. I honestly felt like I was reading the story of someone's grandfather.

However, the book wasn't perfect and I felt the story between Charlie and Alex was secondary to the historical aspects of the story. I loved the letters passed between these two friends and I loved how they conveyed not only their friendship but also what's happening around them. It was definitely difficult for me to read Charlie's letters without the inevitable happening. But during the years Alex was working in the military and deployed to Europe, there wasn't much from Charlie. Instead, Andrew Fukuda uses a small amount of magical realism to portray Charlie as immaterial being that visits Alex while he's in the military. I honestly could have done without that, but it did provide a little bit of a romantic feeling to the story.

But the ending was phenomenal. I'm not happy about what happens because it is tragic and sad, but I like the fact Andrew Fukuda stayed realistic with his storytelling and the ending reflected that.

Overall, great story and if you're already a die-hard fan of historical fiction, then definitely add this one to your list. Read this one if you don't know about Japanese internment camps or the 442nd as well. It's a part of American history that we don't discuss and honestly reflects the world that we live in today.

I received a copy of this book from Tor Teen for free in exchange for an honest review. My opinions have not been influenced by the publisher or the author. ...more

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Dec 10, 2019 Katharine (Ventureadlaxre) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: review, read-2019

In school many of us were probably matched up with a pen pal, usually from a different country, in an effort to get to know another culture better. I think the class I was in were matched up with kids from Indonesia (being one of our closest neighbours here in Australia), and I don’t think I got more than one letter back – no surprises there, as my Indonesian was woeful (they had to write to us in English, we had to write to them in Indonesian).

In this book we have a young girl, Charlie Lévy of In school many of us were probably matched up with a pen pal, usually from a different country, in an effort to get to know another culture better. I think the class I was in were matched up with kids from Indonesia (being one of our closest neighbours here in Australia), and I don’t think I got more than one letter back – no surprises there, as my Indonesian was woeful (they had to write to us in English, we had to write to them in Indonesian).

In this book we have a young girl, Charlie Lévy of Paris who, because of her name is accidentally matched up with a boy, Alex Maki from Washington. By the time the error is realised there are no free students left, so they just have to live with it. We start the book with an excited Charlie and a rather rude Alex, annoyed he has to write letters to a girl. Thankfully, we quickly jump ahead a few years to find they’ve become fast friends and have been writing back and forth constantly.

As the book proceeds we see the children start to tell each other of the changes that are happening in their cities as war begins to brew. Charlie is French-Jewish, and Alex is Japanese-American… and when the bombing of Pearl Harbour occurs all Japanese people (even if they were born in America and it’s the only home they know) are round up and shifted to rural camps where they’re fed slop, beaten, and basically blamed for the wrongs another country has inflicted upon America. Their fathers were taken before they’re shipped out, and are taken to another camp entirely, so soon it’s just Alex, his older brother Frank, and their mother who doesn’t know how to cope without her husband. And all Alex has is his friend on the other side of the world who has her own troubles, as her family are told by friends that they need to leave France… ordered to wear yellow stars, and then eventually Charlie’s letters stop altogether.

This book read so real I honestly thought that perhaps Alex Maki was the author’s father or some other relation, who’d passed on the story to Andrew Fukuda. It captured not only the overtly racist things that occur but also the small things that mount up; things you’d only notice as someone who’s experienced this for themselves. The brutality that we see Alex and his peers endure is barbaric – as was everything in that time of war, surely, however I’d never heard that Japanese-American citizens were rounded up and treated this way. It’s horrific.

One of the stronger plots in this book is the bond between Alex and his older brother Frank. They experience life as polar opposites; in school Frank was a sports champion while Alex could barely say a few words to another student. Then, in the camp, Frank is angry and making his anger known whereas Alex tries to do what the American want of him, in hopes it will help their father’s case to get moved into their camp.

And then… Alex enlists in the army. There’s a segregated unit just for Japanese-American men ‘to prove their allegiance’ but Alex also hears that as a personal thank you, those who sign up will have their fathers reunited with the rest of their family. Seeing how much this is hurting his mother Alex feels he has to do it, if it means his father will be reunited with his mother. And hearing this, Frank is pissed, because America just wants to use the Japanese-Americans as cannon fodder and how can Alex do such a thing after how they’ve been treated so unfairly?

Witnessing Alex in the army and fighting in the war is heartbreaking. As Fukuda reveals to the reader how the camps in America were a part of history that really happened, he also shows how the magnificent displays of courage and sheer determination by the segregated Japanese-American troops were erased from the history books and every success was made to sound like it was achieved by ‘true Americans’. If we think the book has been tough and heartbreaking to read so far, the horrors they witness as they fight closer and closer to Hitler are even more anguished.

This is a worthy novel – there is one section towards the end where Alex meets someone pivotal that I didn’t quite find believable (in that at the start of the conversation he tries to get away from it all but then ends by saying how he always expected Alex and is glad to see him? Like, why not quiz Alex first to be sure he’s the person he says he is, and then be glad to see him? It left me feeling disbelief) but other than that, this was a decent read that was hard to put down, I’m glad I requested it to review, glad I’ve read it, and will suggest it on to friends when they’re looking for heartbreaking decent historical fiction. ...more

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Jan 16, 2020 Sandra rated it it was amazing

Description from the Publisher:
"For readers of The Librarian Of Auschwitz, This Light Between Us is a powerfully affecting story of World War II about the unlikeliest of pen pals—a Japanese American boy and a French Jewish girl—as they fight to maintain hope in a time of war.

“I remember visiting Manzanar and standing in the windswept plains where over ten thousand internees were once imprisoned, their voices cut off. I remember how much I wanted to write a story that did right by them. Hopefully Description from the Publisher:
"For readers of The Librarian Of Auschwitz, This Light Between Us is a powerfully affecting story of World War II about the unlikeliest of pen pals—a Japanese American boy and a French Jewish girl—as they fight to maintain hope in a time of war.

“I remember visiting Manzanar and standing in the windswept plains where over ten thousand internees were once imprisoned, their voices cut off. I remember how much I wanted to write a story that did right by them. Hopefully this book delivers.”—Andrew Fukuda"

My review:
This Light Between Us by Andrew Fukuda absolutely broke my heart. I had previous knowledge of the numerous Japanese Internment Camps and what the people went through because I have an older friend who was three years old at Manzanar Relocation Center with his six family members. He refused to take the Reparation from the government because he was serving in the military when President Reagan signed the bill to give Compensation to all the survivors of the camp. He told me his story back in 2001. He is a patriotic man who wrestled with the two sides of his history just as Alex did.

The physical descriptions of the center, the treatment of the Japanese people was hard enough to read than Mr. Fukuda throws in a penpal friendship between Alex and Charlie, who is a Jewish girl residing in Paris. Between the Relocation Centers in the States and the Concentration Camps in Europe as parallel settings, the story gets even more impressive and traumatic. I have to be honest, I took a few weeks off reading this book because my empathetic heart broke so many times and I just needed a break from the pain. I am lucky that I can do such a thing since Alex and Charlie didn't have that option.

The anger, the pride, the hatred were papable characters of their own and this story although aimed at YAs is a must-read for all age groups. I can't give Mr. Fukuda enough praise for his style of writing. The Epistolary style is my favorite writing methods and sometimes in other books I've read, it doesn't cover enough of the sense of smell, feelings, relationships, and setting. This book did not let me down. It is up there with The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis; Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn; Alice Walker's The Color Purple, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society written by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer. I know it is going to be a best-seller! I also think it would make a great movie.

I want to give an example of a paragraph that was a description in top-notch form. Let me set the setting: Alex and his family (his mother and brother, Frank,) are entering the Internment Camp along with the other first wave of prisoners and they see bleak tarpaper shelters in the middle of a near-empty desert: “Never judge a book by its cover. This is what they tell themselves. But once inside, their worst fears are confirmed. The book is worse than the cover. The walls are just wood sheeting, splintery and thin. No paint or insulation or plaster covers them. The floor is composed of wood planks with large knotholes slapped together. No linoleum covering. Placed around the room are seven army cots, metal skeletons. None with a mattress or a pillow. An oil furnace in the corner, standing cold as a tombstone. No desk, no chair, no running water, no toilet. Only a single bulb, unlit, hangs from a cord dangling from an overhead beam. Beneath it, coarse army blankets are thrown in a pile. Frank walks to far side. The wall—no more than a thin partition—doesn’t reach the peaked roof, leaving a three-foot triangular space.”

Can you see it? Do you feel the promise of a cozy shelter? Nope, neither did I. This one paragraph (which I hope the author didn't change) is just one of so many paragraphs that are even more detailed than this but I didn't want to use any of them as they would ruin the story. Trust me. This book is filled with brilliance for such a sad, sad, part of our history.

This Light Between Us has some romance, and fun in it too because like in all situations of life there ebbs and flows, highs and lows and somehow you have to lighten the load just to continue living. This is definitely a must-buy-to-re-read novel so that you can find other tidbits of truth in it. I am giving this a 5 star even though I feel it has earned more than that.

Thank you to Netgalley, Andrew Fuduka, and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the opportunity to read this beautifully written book in lieu of my honest review. ...more

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Dec 08, 2019 Tasha Leigh rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ebook, arc

This novel was amazing. So much so that its midnight and I am frantically tapping out this review in the dark in a corner of my bedroom so as to not wake up the other inhabitants of my house - thank you to whoever invented backlit and quiet keyboards. It took me on an emotional rollercoaster that despite being extremely bumpy, I didn't want to leave until the ride was done. Even then I sat here like that cat Mittens in the meme where he has lost his toy under the fridge, staring at my ereader This novel was amazing. So much so that its midnight and I am frantically tapping out this review in the dark in a corner of my bedroom so as to not wake up the other inhabitants of my house - thank you to whoever invented backlit and quiet keyboards. It took me on an emotional rollercoaster that despite being extremely bumpy, I didn't want to leave until the ride was done. Even then I sat here like that cat Mittens in the meme where he has lost his toy under the fridge, staring at my ereader wondering whether I should eternally hate it or caress it gently for bringing me one of my favourite reads of the year.

The story starts out with Alex and his older brother Frank living their relatively easy life on Bainbridge Island, a settlement mostly populated by Japanese immigrants and the Nisei children. Alex has a pen pal in Paris named Charlie with whom he as been corresponding on a regular basis despite his initial disgust at finding out Charlie is in fact a she. Life is good until the bombing of Pearl Harbour, the catastrophic event that set into motion the segregation and evacuation of all Japanese/Japanese-American occupants to internment camps across the country. Meanwhile Charlie, being Jewish and living in Paris during the German occupation is attempting to avoid detection and removal to an internment camp in Europe simply for existing.

Being an Australian and despite this tale being mostly fiction (as confirmed in the final pages of the novel by Fukuda himself) some character were utilised that were historically accurate; I found myself undergoing an education as to the plight of the Japanese in the US during WWII. While not completely oblivious to America’s treatment of their citizens, I was not aware of the scale of these atrocities. Fukuda describes in great detail the discrimination borne by the residents of the Manzanar camp and invokes a renewed feeling of disgust with every event that unfolds. I found myself on multiple occasions needing to take mental health breaks from this gripping narrative as my heart slowly but surely shattered into a thousand pieces with each death and despicable act.

Alex and Charlie’s story is told through correspondence between the two as well as being narrated in the third person for the most part. In the beginning these letters are frequent and flippant, the children discuss the view from their window and their disdain for certain persons in their life. As the two mature so does their letters content, discussing crushes and their own friendship that crosses oceans, before finally turning to their plight in the war. Eventually the letters stop completely once the war hits its peak devastation and the third person narration takes the forefront. Honestly, at first, I thought this would become tedious but the skill with which Fukuda has intertwined this pairs fates feels effortless and extremely well thought out.

Also, I will give you a heads up. The ending was not what I predicted, and it absolutely, positively killed me. By the final chapters, I was reading this novel through tears (thanks Science for my waterproof e-reader) and was left with a distinct feeling of emptiness which I will now have to fill with something upbeat otherwise I will definitely end up in a slump. This book is so emotionally charged that I will warn anyone who takes the plunge – and you should DEFINITELY take the plunge – expect to feel deflated and emotionally raw, but in a way that provides reflection rather than internalised destruction of your soul.

So as to keep this short, what you really need to know is this. This Light Between Us will take your emotions, tear them out, stomp on them, spit on the remains, rinse and repeat. Rarely have I found a work of literature that has affected me so profoundly as Andrew Fukuda’s latest masterpiece. While starting out sweet and cute, it quickly becomes fraught with danger and rebellion, only to progress to a point where the protagonist Alex will do anything to save bring his family together and attempt to find his lost pen pal. It’s a heart wrenching masterpiece that is not only educational but also ingenious in its mixing of media. ...more

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Jan 11, 2020 Kathleen Johnson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: net-galley

Where do I begin... First let me dry my tears.
1935- Alex Maki and Charlie Levy are paired up by their teachers for a class project. They are to be international pen-pals. No one is more surprised than Alex when he finds out his pen-pal is a GIRL!! Charlie, on the other hand, remains enthusiastic and convinces Alex to keep writing.
As years pass, their friendship grows. The world is changing around them. By nature of their birth, both Alex Maki and Charlie Levy will be forced to experience the Where do I begin... First let me dry my tears.
1935- Alex Maki and Charlie Levy are paired up by their teachers for a class project. They are to be international pen-pals. No one is more surprised than Alex when he finds out his pen-pal is a GIRL!! Charlie, on the other hand, remains enthusiastic and convinces Alex to keep writing.
As years pass, their friendship grows. The world is changing around them. By nature of their birth, both Alex Maki and Charlie Levy will be forced to experience the hate and intolerance of war.
Alex is Japanese-American. His parents were born in Japan. Alex and his brother, Frank, were both born in America. Charlie Levy is a French Jewish girl who lives in Paris with her parents.
Through their letters, both Charlie and Alex share their feelings about the war in Europe and the frightening power of Hitler. War has come to America as well when the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor.
With Japan now being an enemy, the U.S. government forces thousands and thousands of Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans to give up their jobs, homes, property, and dignity by relocating them to internment camps.
When I first learned about Japanese internment camps I could not believe it to be true. I was an adult and I had no idea of this terrible part of American history! I applaud the author for the detailed information regarding the poor treatment of Japanese Americans during the war.
Alex and his family suffered deeply during this time. Alex, through his letters to Charlie, clung tightly to his hope of a better future. His hope also included that he would meet Charlie someday.
In France, war and hatred had targeted the Jews. Hitler was on a mission to exterminate all Jews. Every day was dangerous for Charlie and her family. Charlie had many plans for a happy future, which included meeting Alex. The letters they shared were a lifeline between them and their future.
Then, letters stopped coming from Charlie Alex continued to write but eventually they all came back to him unread. Deep in his heart, he knew he needed to find Charlie, even if it meant fighting a war to do so.
I feel so lucky that I had the opportunity to read this book and experience the friendship and hope that Alex and Charlie shared. I learned so much!
My heart broke and I cried a million tears.
This book will remain in my mind forever.
This is an important book. Very much worth the read. ...more

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Jan 07, 2020 Michelle Kenneth - PerfectionistWannabe.com rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Excellent.

For those who love reading historical fiction especially from the WWII era, I highly recommend this book. Fukuda approaches this genre very differently. This story begins with two young children. One in Bainbridge Island, Washington and the other in Paris, France. As a school assignment, these two become pen pals. Alex Maki is disheartened to learn that his pen pal, Charlie Levy, is actually a girl. But for some reason, he decides to stick to his correspondence years later, even after Excellent.

For those who love reading historical fiction especially from the WWII era, I highly recommend this book. Fukuda approaches this genre very differently. This story begins with two young children. One in Bainbridge Island, Washington and the other in Paris, France. As a school assignment, these two become pen pals. Alex Maki is disheartened to learn that his pen pal, Charlie Levy, is actually a girl. But for some reason, he decides to stick to his correspondence years later, even after his school assignment no longer requires that they write.

Alex is a bit of a loner and doesn't have any friends. Charlie, in essence, becomes his only friend.

What makes this story unique is that Alex is a Japanese American. Charlie is a French Jew. They become friends right before the war. So this correspondence makes this story even more special since we know what happens when the war begins.

Alex and Charlie continue to write after the Japanese are sent to internment camps. A friend of the family delivers the letters to Charlie in Paris. Charlie's family remains in Paris longer than they should have.

When Alex's letters are returned, he still continues to write, even though there are no more letters from Charlie.

This story is about a friendship between two people that have never met but are bound to each other through these letters. It is like the quote from Jane Eyre: "I have a strange feeling with regard to you. As if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly knotted to a similar string in you. And if you were to leave I'm afraid the cord of communion would snap."

There is a light between them that binds them, and Alex will do what he can to find Charlie.

I can't tell you how much my heart hurt for these two. The story is told through Alex's eyes. We see the despair around him while they are in the Japanese internment camps. We watch as members of the 442nd are killed around him as they storm Suicide Hill to save the Lost Battalion. And then we see glimpses of Auschwitz and Dachau when the American troops arrive.

Alex never gave up looking for her.

I cried at the end. I really cried. This was just wonderfully done. I really liked that he chose to link this string under the ribs of a Japanese American boy and a French Jewish girl, a symbol of two groups that were victimized by the war. That is what made this story even more special. ...more

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Jan 11, 2020 Brooke Lorren rated it really liked it · review of another edition

War is hell.

This is what Alex and Charley find out during World War II. They become pen pals as children, and continue to write as war breaks out. The worst part of their situations: Alex is a second-generation Japanese American, and Charley is a Jew in France. The Japanese, if you were remember your history, were rounded up and put into camps... and the Jews of Europe were rounded up and put into a more lethal kind of camp.

This book is an important book historically. It's important to never ...more

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Jan 12, 2020 Diana rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020, diverse-lit

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I absolutely loved THIS LIGHT BETWEEN US by Andrew Fukura. While a novel of WW2, through this novel, you’ll read and learn of a story not much mentioned in other WW2 books. How Japanese-Americans were treated, forced into internment camps after WW2. When America desperately needed more soldiers, these Japanese-American enlisted to prove their love for their country, America.

The writing and the pacing of this novel was perfect. The novel showed just how much discrimination and injustice ...more

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Sep 28, 2019 Sari rated it really liked it

I received a digital advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited when I got the notification that I would be reviewing this book. I was completely hooked from the synopsis and I couldn’t wait to dive in. This book is so full of emotions. I felt absolutely everything. I felt sadness, anger, happiness, bewilderment, and embarrassment. Even though it was an emotional read, it wasn't overly sentimental.

I read a ton of historical fiction and I ...more

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Dec 18, 2019 Danielle Zimmerman rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: for-hypable, wwi-wwii, historical-fiction

THIS LIGHT BETWEEN US is a devastatingly beautiful and incredibly rich novel that captivated me from the moment I cracked it open. Centered upon two young people, one a French Jew and the other a Japanese American, as they come of age during a time of great turmoil. And where they’re seen as the enemy by those they considered their fellow countrymen and women. As World War II descends on their communities, they rely on each other for comfort and friendship through flurries of letters back and ...more

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Nov 05, 2019 Lila Richardson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 11, 2019 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, young-adult, arc, read-2019

I read a book a year or two ago about a girl in a Japanese internment camp during WWII and it painted a very different picture about what life was like in these camps. I don't remember if she was in Manzanar, like Alex was in this book, but I feel more inclined to believe this book. This book dove farther into the unfair treatment and the racism that Japanese Americans faced in these camps.

This story is essentially divided into three parts--Alex's life immediately before and after the Pearl ...more

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Oct 02, 2019 Kerri Adams rated it really liked it

I received this book as an ARC from Netgallery and MacMillan Tor/Forge for my honest review. If I could I would have rated it 4.5 stars.

This was an unexpected pleasure to read. Knowing this was written by a YA author, it was not clear to me if this was a YA book or not at the beginning. I still don't honestly know as this is a book EVERYONE can learn from and enjoy. Its hard to use the word "enjoy" when it comes to hard subjects like WW2, but I mean a book that makes you care, pulls you in.

The ...more

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Jan 07, 2020 S. Smith rated it really liked it

This young adult tale of World War II follows Japanese-American Alex Maki from boyhood to wartime combat and heartbreak, beginning at age 10 in 1935 when Alex discovers to his disgust that his assigned overseas pen pal, an exuberant Parisian named Charlie Levy, is a girl. Unexpectedly the Alex-Charlie correspondence endures for years, eventually becoming a deep long-distance friendship and perhaps true love. The emotional link between the pair remains strong, even when letters become rare to ...more

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Dec 29, 2019 Erikka rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019, holocaust-wwii, historical-fiction, mc-is-poc

This was quite good. I loved that there were many ways the story could have gone, which rendered it somewhat unpredictable. I love that it was not fluffy or “happily ever after” at any point in the story. War is hell and this book embraced that completely. I also really liked our two MCs, even though one is only met through letters. The alignment of two internees in two separate WWII camps, which of course draws the “were the two sides really so different?” comparisons, as well as the inclusion ...more

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Dec 25, 2019 Mindy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley-2019, favorite-reads-of-2019, netgalley-reads, teen-books-worth-the-hype

I absolutely loved this book. I've read others from this author so I went in to this thinking that I knew what level of enjoyment and engagement to expect. Instead, I was blown away. You can tell that this was a passion project from the author. At the end of the book he explains how it came into being and it made my enjoyment of the book increase. The research that went into it was extensive, as historical fiction should be, but it wasn't thrown in there just to tell stories. Each part built ...more

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Dec 25, 2019 Mindy rated it it was amazing

I absolutely loved this book. I've read others from this author so I went in to this thinking that I knew what level of enjoyment and engagement to expect. Instead, I was blown away. You can tell that this was a passion project from the author. At the end of the book he explains how it came into being and it made my enjoyment of the book increase. The research that went into it was extensive, as historical fiction should be, but it wasn't thrown in there just to tell stories. Each part built ...more

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Nov 08, 2019 Bethany rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: dnf, prepub, tweens, read-in-2019, diverse-reads, historical-fiction

I got about 30% of the way in before DNF'ing.

I have a small contingent of teen boys at my library who love male, soldier, action, war stories. I thought this would fit that bill. But nope. Perhaps it does, later on, but when teen boys, you have to grab them in the first chapter, and The Light Between Us does not do that. It open with two ten year pen pals conversing, then jumps about four years in the future. Charlie and Alex are still pen pals, but everything is still very calm in tone and ...more

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Jan 10, 2020 Kay (mamabear_reads) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is not normally the type of book I would pick up.
As soon as I started reading this I couldn't put it down and stayed up way later than I should have trying to finish it.
This was such a compelling emotional story about Alex and Charlie becoming pen pals when they are only 10 years old. Charlie is a Jewish girl living in Paris with her family. Alex is a Japanese American boy at a time when being of Japanese descent is more than just a little difficult. We get to know Charlie and Alex through ...more

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Oct 20, 2019 Alma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I absolutely LOVED this amazingly well researched book, and couldn’t put it down. The author did an excellent job in his descriptions of what it was like for Japanese American citizens to be interned for no crime other than for their ancestry, and in describing the battles endured by the 442nd. He brilliantly fused together the prejudice experienced by both Parisian Jews and Japanese Americans and, I will have to say, I cried at the end. To read more of why this book deserved a 5 star rating, ...more

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Dec 30, 2019 LianaReads blog rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I don’t usually read WW2 books but this one caught my attention and had to read it.
I can only tell you that it’s a great book with a beautiful story and heartbreaking at the same time.
Forced to become pen pals, a lifetime friendship develops between Alex and Charlie who is girl mischief to Alex’s dismay.
I loved how the author tells the story about what went before and after the Pearl Harbour incident and how we get a bit of insight into people’s lives having to go through those horrible ...more

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