When World War III turns into the Economic War with Japan, all Japanese products, investments and businesses are banned. When that fails to revive the sinking U.S. economy, old prejudices resurface and turn on anyone of Japanese ancestry. Executive Order 9066 is reinstated and Japanese Americans are ordered to abandon their jobs, homes and property to real Americans and report to internment camps.
Late as usual, David Takeda puts his sister Kate and her family on a train and waits for his brother John so they can report before the deadline to the same internment camp where his parents and grandparents spent WWII, Manzanar. When John is beaten to death by overzealous patriots on the 405 while stuck in traffic, David sees the aftermath on a TV news special report. He makes his way through the gridlocked, gang-controlled Beirut that L.A. has become and eventually reaches Manzanar, where a camp commandant awaits with her ambitious vision of a final solution.
A dark portrait of an America gone wrong, Perry Miyake's debut novel artfully balances a haunting account of psychological and physical survival with serio-comic social observations that are dramatic, humorous and hopeful. With war-mentality fear on the rise, 21st Century Manzanar is not just an absorbing and provocative novel, but a timely and important one.
Late as usual, David Takeda puts his sister Kate and her family on a train and waits for his brother John so they can report before the deadline to the same internment camp where his parents and grandparents spent WWII, Manzanar. When John is beaten to death by overzealous patriots on the 405 while stuck in traffic, David sees the aftermath on a TV news special report. He makes his way through the gridlocked, gang-controlled Beirut that L.A. has become and eventually reaches Manzanar, where a camp commandant awaits with her ambitious vision of a final solution.
A dark portrait of an America gone wrong, Perry Miyake's debut novel artfully balances a haunting account of psychological and physical survival with serio-comic social observations that are dramatic, humorous and hopeful. With war-mentality fear on the rise, 21st Century Manzanar is not just an absorbing and provocative novel, but a timely and important one.