White is an American educator and critic. In the following positive review, he praises Kogawa's depictions of suffering, injustice, and survival within the context of specific historical events in Obasan.
"Nisei," we learn from this extraordinary first novel, [Obasan], means "second generation," embracing the children of the Canadian and American first-generation immigrants from Japan. Everyone by now knows that the internment and theft of property suffered by Americans of Japanese descent during World War II represents a national disgrace second only to the massacres of Native Americans. It is a small comfort to realize that Canadian Nisei were treated at least as badly as the Americans, but the distance created by the Canadian setting perhaps will help make the pain this novel evokes more bearable for U.S. readers.
Joy Kogawa, a Canadian teacher and poet, has.....
This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 878 words. This
study guide contains 23,620 words (approx. 79 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our Obasan Access Pass.