Customer Reviews

Beacon Hill Boys

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This is not the typical coming of age story; it is the story of what is was like to be a Japanese American teenager in the early 1970s. Racial issues, pressures to conform, family dynamitcs, peer pressure, and more are important to the plot. The issues of the 1970s are packaged together with the story of a junior in high school in racially diverse Beacon Hill in Seattle. While this is fiction, one cannot help but think that this is semi-autobiographical. The story seems perfect as a companion to understanding the 1970s.

I liked the book and understand the stuggles and culture of Japanese Amercians better after reading it. I do think that too many characters might have been introduced, and if I read it again feel like I should list the characters and briefly identify them so I can remember them better when they appear again in the book. That's OK, though, since this book begs to be read more than once.

Ken Mochizukis Beacon Hill Boys tells the story of Dan Inagaki, a typical teenage boy searching for love, acceptance, and his heritage during the 1970s. Dans parents were forced into internment camps during World War II because of their Japanese heritage and his father fought for the United States during that same war; yet, Dan knows nothing of this history. He feels forced to petition for a comparative history class at his high school in order to discover what his parents will not reveal. While Dan and his friends worry about the Vietnam War draft, struggle to figure out girls, and make decisions about drugs, he is also fighting against the Japanese-American stereotype, his overachiever older brothers shadow, and the school administration.
While this book encourages young adults to question, it also paints a picture of victories that are easily won. Mochizuki understandably leaves out a bulky history lesson but leaves anyone without prior knowledge of that time period wondering. Hopefully, Beacon Hill Boys will motivate further reading about the internment of Japanese Americans. I recommend this book for any young adult (or adult) who has felt the pressures of identity, prejudice, or family expectations. This book could also be a starting point for anyone with no knowledge of the Japanese Internment history.