Customer Reviews

Why She Left Us

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ms. Rizzuto uses four narrators and their very different perspectives to tell the story of three generations of a family. This device offers the reader varying, even conflicting, impressions of events and their impact on the characters. It also provides the reader with insight into just how enormous a "generation" gap can be. A women who appears cold in the eyes of her grandson (and at least this reader), gains the readers sympathy when she tells her own story.

By not giving us a simple answer to the question in the title, Rizzuto forces the reader to consider the many reasons a mother would accept one child yet reject another. What little we learn of the circumstances surrounding her two pregnancies provides the reader a long list of Emi's possible, yet ultimately unknown motivations. By leaving us wondering, this beautifully written book, its complex characters, its question and the internment, stays with you long after the last page has been re-read.

Rahna Reiko Rizzuto, an exciting, young Hawaiian author, here uses the sordid story of the U.S. internment of Japanese-Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor as the framework of a family saga. The internment of the Okada family, locked up in horse stalls at the Santa Anita race track, an internment camp, permanently scarred every member of the family. Being torn from the fabric of society and isolated in pens was an experience so thoroughly degrading that the real people who lived through it have rarely opened themselves to discuss it (and who can blame them?), and the author's telling of the story is especially dramatic because the subject is so rare in fiction.

Both masterful and uncompromising, Rizzuto paints scenes of horror and cruelty within this family, all the result of frustration, a distorted sense of honor, a lack of communication, or a feeling of utter helplessness. And while few of these scenes actually take place in the internment camp itself, nearly all are the result of the internment experience and illustrate its long-term effects. There are powerful and affecting scenes of a grandmother's flaying, a young girl's abortion, a mother's heartbreaking abandonment of her three-year-old child, a brother's brutal kicking of his sister, a young soldier's death, and, most affectingly to me, a family's wresting of a child from a woman who has adopted and raised him, and would probably have given him a better chance for a successful life.

While these individual scenes will stay with me for a very long time, the book itself really did not come together as a whole for me, however. The alternating points of view among various members of the family are effective in allowing the reader to see why some characters behave as they do, but the impetus to all of the action and the key to the book as a whole lies in the character of Emi, the daughter of Kaori and mother of Eric and Mari, and she is the one person whose point of view we never see. She is an enigma, and we never really get to know her. As a result, I'm still not sure "Why She Left Us." Most frustratingly, I'm also not sure whether the "She" of the title is Emi or the U.S. government. But then again, perhaps that's what the author intended. Mary Whipple

Rahna Reiko Rizzuto's well-written story of an Asian-American family tragedy is both compelling and fulfilling. The title is a puzzle within a puzzle for readers not familiar with Japanese-American culture following the events of the internment and its profound effect on Japanese-Americans to this day. Who knows why Miss Liberty abandoned her vow "with liberty and justice for all" and left 120,000 of her children without status, identity, or fundamental rights? As Rizzuto's story shows, it is a question first buried by Asian-Americans as they dealt with the immediate problems of the internment, then kept hidden for generations and only now voiced loudly by descendents still profoundly affected by the events and their aftermath. It is a question that cries out for an answer, even though it has none. Ironically, there are parallels in the tale of a young unmarried Japanese mother who, faced with the shame of illegitimacy and the uncertainty of life in an internment camp, leaves her son with the hope he will be adopted by a family not forced into internment. That act, which serves as a counterpoint and propels the story, however, provides the readers with its own rationale. If the book had been titled "An Asian-American Tragedy," Rizzuto would have left readers without the need to continually face the puzzle of the past as Japanese Americans do until this day. A reader in Hawaii.

Among the rarest of novels -- both a page-turner and elegantly crafted, all at once. I found myself torn between the need to get to the next page, chapter, and voice ... and the desire to read individual passages over and over again in order to appreciate Ms. Rizzuto's mastery of words more fully. "Why She Left Us" is a compelling tale of a family torn asunder by war and cultural change, as well as by more universal dysfunctions. It also provides the reader with an insightful, inter-generational understanding of Japanese-American culture as it evolves over the course of the century and a very humanized look at a woeful and inadequately addressed period in American history -- the internment of Japanese-Americans in camps during World War II. A must read.

I love discovering new and talented writers and Rahna Reiko Rizzuto certainly fits this description. A first novel by this Hawaii-born author, it is the story of a flawed by very real Japanese American family, including their experience in an interment camp during WWII. Using the technique of different voices in alternating chapters, the narrative goes back and forth through time, weaving a story that is at once riveting as well as filled with the impact of history.

The plot revolves around a young woman's abandonment of her illegitimate son and yet it is so much more. It is the story of her own mother. It is the story of daughter. It is the story of her brothers and their father. It is the story of what it is to be Japanese-American. And giving birth. And being a soldier. And a child that is wounded by his mother's abandonment.

Most of all it is the story of human beings. And the fact that they are Japanese American is only one part of it. It is a strong story that reeks with tragedy and reality. There is sadness here, and some redemption, and many things that never are resolved. It's not pretty, and yet the book just pulled me in, kept me reading until I finished it in one late-night reading orgy.

Ms. Rizzuto uses simple words. No poetic images here. He details are sharp and piercing and sometimes feel like fingernails being scraped across a blackboard. Each chapter is searing episode. Characterization is excellent.

Recommended although this book might be a little too strong for everyone. And I look forward to reading more from this author.

This is simply the best book I have read in a long time. The story of a Japanese-American family slowly unfolds through four voices. It is Rizutto's strong and simple prose and her attention to historical accuracy that kept me rivetted. It is the kind of book that keeps you thinking for a long time. I look forward to reading her next novel.

I was given this novel to read by a friend. I can't stop thanking her enough. The story was very informative and interesting. The subject matter, three generations of a Japanese American family during and after World war Two, made me think of an era in American history that I never truly understood.

The author's style made for very intriguing reading. She uses four different narrators and weaves between past and present. The style worked and held my interest.

The many scenes she describes are very realistic. I could not put the book down, I just wanted to know what was coming next.

Now I just want to know when her next novel will be out.

Reading this book is like finding an intriguing family photograph, and slowly being told about each person in it. And it's that telling that makes this book very special: the lyricism and poetry so well executed against oppressive landscapes. The author is very ambitious; and a reader can tell how much work and love has been put into this novel. I am sure Rizzuto would be highly rewarded for this impressive portrait of American life. She is an excellent addition to the wonderful literary writers who would impact our imagination in the 21st century.

Her next book can't get here fast enough...

BRAVO!

The critics are right, this is one great book about a family pulled apart by the events of history. This is a story about survival. Flawlessly told with a tight and exact prose, I found it hard to put this book down. Gorgeous writing.

I'm still trying to find the answer to the title of this book - Why She Left Us. I admit, I may have missed it while trying to read too quickly. I found the writing style confusing and difficult to follow. The chapters jumped back and forth from present to past, while I kept trying to retain information that would weave the pieces together. I feel I need to read this book again to see if it was just me that "didn't get it", but I'm certain I won't take the time to do that, so I have to close the final page with the feeling of being let down and not knowing "Why She Left Us".