The Yokota Officers Club [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Sarah Bird (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 19, 2001

“A GEM, POLISHED AND FACETED IN A WAY THAT PULLED ME INTO THE HEART OF IT WITH THE FIRST PARAGRAPH. . . . Important, touching, meaningful, and uplifting.”
–JEANNE RAY
Chicago Tribune

After a year away at college, military brat Bernadette Root has come “home” to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, to spend the summer with her bizarre yet comforting clan. Ruled by a strict, regimented Air Force Major father, but grounded in their mother’s particular brand of humor, Bernie’s family was destined for military greatness during the glory days of the mid-’50s. But in Base life, where an unkempt lawn is cause for reassignment, one fateful misstep changed the Roots’ world forever. Yet the family’s silence cannot keep the wounds of the past from reemerging . . . nor can the memory fade of beloved Fumiko, the family’s former maid, whose name is now verboten. And the secrets long ago covered up in classic military style–through elimination and denial–are now forcing their way to the surface for a return engagement.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Stories nestle inside stories like a set of Russian dolls in Bird's (Virgin of the Rodeo) wonderful fifth novel. Set in the late 1960s, it is narrated by 18-year-old Bernie, the eldest of six children in the peripatetic Root family. After her freshman year in college, Bernie joins her nomadic kin at their current home, an Okinawan air force base. They have changed: her younger sister, Kit, is out of control and "now being played by Lolita"; her once glamorous mother, Moe, is overweight and depressed; her father, who was a heroic and swaggering fighter pilot, has become a distant, self-loathing "ground pounder." And Bernie can't stop thinking of Fumiko, the family's former maidservant, whom no one is allowed to mention. Before being sucked into the family's torpor, Bernie escapes by winning a dance contest that lands her in Tokyo as the stage partner of Bobby Moses, a third-rate borscht belt comedian. There she delves into the past to solve the mystery surrounding Fumiko's disappearance and her family's deterioration. Bernie sharp and snarky, yet severely introverted is a delightful heroine, and the large cast that swirls around her is equally endearing. Particularly fine are the wisecracking yet nurturing Moe and the oddly touching Bobby Moses, who's vulgar and mediocre, but insistent on professionalism. The dialogue is first-rate, and all the '60s brand-name dropping is amusing; the decade becomes fresh again when seen from the unusual perspective of a military family (especially this one) removed from mainland society. (June) Forecast: Bird has David Sedaris's gift for mining scathing wit from family dysfunction. Only one of her earlier novels is still in print, but hopefully her move to Knopf (and a slew of enthusiastic blurbs from the likes of Rick Bass) will help her to win the large readership she deserves.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Bird has created a deftly choreographed journey of the heart, delicate and nuanced in its disclosure of painful family secrets, yet liberally seasoned with robust humor. Readers travel with 18-year-old Bernie Root as she returns from her freshman year of college in the States to visit her military family, currently stationed on Okinawa. The "fresh eyes" with which she views her parents and five younger siblings will resonate with many teens. Beyond this, the complex range of emotions generated by her reentry into life on a military base, with all its familiar, yet insular and confining, characteristics is poignantly captured. Bernie's distress at her parents' deteriorating marriage and her continuing thorny relationship with her beautiful younger sister provide a sober backdrop that is nevertheless leavened by vignettes and hilarious reminiscences of life on the move and the pitfalls of always being the new kid in town. At the core of the story is the protagonist's attempt to unveil the mystery surrounding the disappearance of a beloved servant who lived with the family 10 years prior when they were stationed in Japan, while the father was assigned to a squadron flying surveillance missions shrouded in secrecy. Bernie intuitively senses that discovering Fumiko's fate is key to understanding the forces that are destabilizing her family. The revelations that ensue lead her along a path of self-discovery to a heartrending confrontation with the harsh consequences of one's actions, and to a new level of maturity. A beautifully paced story, especially recommended for (but not limited to) any locale with a military base nearby.

Lynn Nutwell, Fairfax City Regional Library, VA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1st edition (June 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 037541214X
• ASIN: B0001FZGQM
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,930,798 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Outtakes from an interview that appeared in the April 2011 issue of Southern Living...

Southern Living: Are there any personal connections to this novel that you'd like to share?

Sarah: Oh, gads, there are SO many. I'll try, (and no doubt fail), to keep it brief.

In 2008, our son became a member of the largest college freshman class in history. Everything about the experience surprised me. Let's just start off with the cost. I knew that college costs had skyrocketed so we'd put aside a small fortune. We learned, however, that small wasn't going to cut it. Instead, a great walloping fortune would be required.

The next shock was discovering that in order to even be allowed to spend these breathtaking sums I would have to take on a second job as a ratings coordinator. There are over four thousand colleges and universities in this country and each one had to be parsed because, as it turns out, the college your child goes to is, essentially, a referendum on you as a parent. Are you a five-star Ivy League parent? A small, selective liberal arts college parent? A giant, state university parent? A two-year community college parent? Being a no-college parent was so far beyond the pale that it wasn't even ever mentioned.

So the getting in part surprised me. But what surprised me even more was what happened after when the empty nest loomed as a reality. I was bereft. Completely blindsided by how much it affected me.
While pregnant eighteen years earlier, I had devoured every "What to Expect " book out there. As we slogged through this college experience, I wished for a whole new slew of guides to help me through this unsettling phase. For example, was it normal to both ardently pray for the day when this grumpy stranger you've raised would vacate the premises and burst into tears in the frozen food aisle because you'll never buy pepperoni Hot Pockets again? And Real Estate Regret? Is Real Estate Regret--the constant replaying of the different lives your child would have had if you'd lived in a different neighborhood, went to a different school, had different friends--normal?

Time Travel, I knew that Time Travel wasn't normal, yet, as we approached the date of our son's departure, I was swept uncontrollably off on journeys back through the years where I'd revisit key moments in the past. Then, like Real Estate Regret, I'd create an entirely different childhood for my son in which, for example, we'd never allowed videogames. Or had been active in the Methodist church. Or the Buddhist temple. Or had owned a telescope and pursued astronomy as a family hobby. Or raised chickens. Or all made our beds every morning.

Obviously, I needed, probably still need, intensive therapy. Instead, I wrote "The Gap Year."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yokota Officers Club, June 21, 2001

By 

Glenn Greenwood (Austin, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Yokota Officers Club (Hardcover)

As a military brat who grew up on a number of air force bases all over the United States and abroad I found this book to be a non-stop, cover to cover read.

Although I knew this book was a fictional work, the characters became absolutely real to me. The brothers and sisters in this book were my brothers and sisters and my friends in the military base Capehart housing down the street. One of the book's locales, Kadena AFB on Okinawa, "the rock" was much the same as one of the bases I grew up on, Ramey AFB in Puerto Rico, "the rock" on the other side of the world. The pilot father as a maniac behind the wheel, racing a large family packed into a car almost non-stop to his next duty station was my B-52 crewman father doing the same thing with my family.

The forever concerns I had while growing up of getting into trouble and ruining my father's career, walked up behind me and once again breathed heavily down my neck as I read this book.

More importantly, I was reminded of friends who were removed from military bases and my life the very day after their fathers didn't come back from "training and weather missions." At age 46 this book finally brought home to me the fact that I was not allowed, as a friend, to share their grief and offer support over the loss of their fathers. A tragedy for all concerned, but shared and shouldered by very few.

Sarah Bird's first person fictional narrative of the personal one on one relationship between the the main character, Bernie, and the family maid Fumiko and the family secrets surrounding her; speaks volumes on the impact we, in a smaller sense as military children growing up overseas and we, in a larger sense as a country, had on people in the countries occupied by America's military after World War II.

It has been a long, dry, almost desolate 25 years since the last fictional book about growing up in a military family, Pat Conroy's "Great Santini" was released by a major publisher. With Knopf's publication of "The Yokota Officers Club," we are finally, given, not not only a glass of cool water to drink from, to quench our thirst with; but we are also given the spring the water flows from.

If you pride yourself on being a military brat...don't miss this book. You'll find a bit of all of us within this book, our triumphs, failings, and also our humanity as military brats....

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A smart and funny novel., June 28, 2001

By 

Candace "thepageturner" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Yokota Officers Club (Hardcover)

Just when you think you've had enough of novels about disintegrating families, there comes a book as appealing as "The Yokota Officers' Club." Author Sarah Bird whisks you away to the military world of Okinawa in 1968, where Peter, Paul & Mary's "I Dig Rock and Roll Music" passes for real rock 'n roll; where military families fear breaking an unspoken code of behavior and being RIFed, and where Vietnam is still a flicker in the background.

After her first year of college, Bernie Root comes home to Okinawa, the place her family happens to be that summer. Her dad's in the Air Force, and they move around a lot. But things have changed shockingly in her year away from the family. Her parents' marriage has turned ugly, and her off-beat tribe of brothers and sisters are almost too quirky to fit in anywhere. Being back in Asia reminds Bernie of the four happy years in Tokyo, a time made special by the family's closeness and the presence of their Japanese maid Fumiko, whom Bernie and her mother loved very much. Fumiko's name is never spoken now, and Bernie wonders why.

She gets the chance to find out when she wins a dance contest to tour air bases in Japan with Far East Funnyman Bobby Moses, a comic whose creaking act provides pained yucks for entertainment-starved officers clubs. His sidekick doesn't add much. Not with Bernie squeezed into tiny go-go boots halfheartedly jiving to whatever piece of cornball music a local band can come up with. She soldiers on for the chance to find Fumiko.

Her discovery is surprising and disconcerting, and even more so is the role Bernie finds she played in it. Sarah Bird's portrait of Americans in 1950s and 60s Japan makes for excellent reading. Intelligent and funny, "The Yokota Officers' Club" will not disappoint readers who set high standards for their summer reading.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Memories of an USAF Brat, July 16, 2001

By 

Jan Service (Vestavia Hills, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Yokota Officers Club (Hardcover)

Having lived at Yokota AFB from 1957-59 seeing this book really took me by surprise so I ran out and read it immediately. I couldn't put it down. It is hard to find a book that reminds us brats of our childhood, but reading "Yokota" did it for me! It brought back so many fond memories of Japan, the Teen Club, the Father and Daughter Brownie Banquet and especially of our maid Iseko. This book left me in a very reflective mood. I wish my Dad were still around to talk to him adult to adult about our military life. All those long forgotten memories and feelings... thanks to Sarah Bird for bringing them to the surface again. Thanks too for trying to explain the complex chemistry of the military life, its people, and burdens that the government expects from all of them. I'm proud to be an American, I'm proud to be an USAF brat and I'm glad I read The Yokota Officers Club.