Famous Suicides of the Japanese Empire
By David Mura
(Coffee House Press, Paperback, 9781566892155, 269pp.)
Publication Date: September 2008
Categories: Literary
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Selected by Indie Booksellers for the Spring/Summer '09 Reading Group List“At midlife, historian Ben Ohara renews his effort to write the paper that will secure his academic reputation, 'Famous Suicides of the Japanese Empire.' However, he discovers himself exploring the events behind the many secrets in his family -- including his parents' internment during World War II and his brother's disappearance. Book groups will find this a rich book for discussion.”
-- Sally Wizik Wills, Sister Wolf Books, Park Rapids, MN
Description
Fiction. "There is no writer that dives deeper (or more bravely) into the chasm that is the human heart. David Mura's] first novel is a tour de force: luminously written and by turns crafty, tough, wise, and joyful"--Junot Diaz. Ben Ohara is the sole surviving member his family. A troubled and brilliant astrophysicist, Ben's younger brother has mysteriously vanished in the Mojave Desert. His father, one of a small group of WWII draft resisters (known as the No-No Boys) during the internment of Japanese Americans, committed suicide when Ben was young. And his mother, whose wish to escape the past was as strong as his father's ties to it, has died with her secrets. An acclaimed memoirist, poet, and playwright, David Mura is one of America's most insightful cultural critics. His memoirs, Turning Japanese and Where the Body Meets Memory, along with his poems, essays, plays, and performances, have won wide critical praise and numerous awards.
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