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  • The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka book cover
  • The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka book cover
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The Buddha in the Attic

by Julie Otsuka

Lives shaped by migration and belonging

$15.86 USD
$26.44 USD $15.86 USD
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Awards & Recognition

  • Award recognition

    PEN/Faulkner Award Winner

    The source says this book is a PEN/Faulkner Award winner.

AlbakiReads Editorial

Lives shaped by migration and belonging

Julie Otsuka’s novel follows Japanese women who travel to San Francisco as “picture brides” around a century ago. Its eight sections trace a shared history across migration, marriage, motherhood, and the pressures of cultural change, leading into the upheaval of war. The women’s experiences connect questions of identity and loyalty with the changing relationship between generations and the meaning of American belonging. The book’s structure gives the story a collective scope, moving through stages of the women’s lives rather than centering on a single biography.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in historical fiction about Japanese migration to the United States.
  • Readers drawn to stories of women, family, and generational cultural change.
  • Readers seeking fiction that explores identity, loyalty, and belonging.

Themes

Migration and displacementWomen’s lives and marriageGenerational and cultural changeIdentity, loyalty, and belongingWar

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - PEN/FAULKER AWARD WINNER -The acclaimed author of The Swimmers and When the Emperor Was Divine tells the story of a group of young women brought from Japan to San Francisco as "picture brides" a century ago in this "understated masterpiece ... that unfolds with great emotional power" (San Francisco Chronicle).

In eight unforgettable sections, The Buddha in the Attic traces the extraordinary lives of these women, from their arduous journeys by boat, to their arrival in San Francisco and their tremulous first nights as new wives; from their experiences raising children who would later reject their culture and language, to the deracinating arrival of war.

Julie Otsuka has written a spellbinding novel about identity and loyalty, and what it means to be an American in uncertain times.
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