BookDragon Books for the Diverse Reader

Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara [in Shelf Awareness]

The incarceration of 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry during World War II is undoubtedly one of the most egregious episodes in 20th-century U.S. history. Third-generation Japanese American Naomi Hirahara carves a little-known sliver from that grievous experience and layers it with mystery to create her provocative novel Clark and Division.

The War Relocation Authority eventually began releasing young adults to relocate in small numbers in such cities as Chicago, Denver, and New York – because they were forbidden to return to their West Coast homes. In September 1943, Rose Ito was the first in her family to be discharged from Manzanar to resettle in Chicago. Her parents and younger sister, Aki, apply to follow her in the spring, although the official government literature states, “Don’t bunch up in numbers more than three.” Aki wonders about their quartet being “too many,” but tragically, Rose is killed on the tracks of Chicago’s Clark and Division subway station the night before the family’s reunion. Her death is ruled a suicide, but “Rose wouldn’t do that,” Aki insists. She’s convinced she knew her beloved, feisty, determined sister best, but is shocked when the coroner reports that Rose had had a recent abortion. Aki’s doubts and questions immediately multiply; her stubborn streak is emboldened as she chases down Rose’s roommates, friends, any acquaintances willing to talk. What Aki uncovers couldn’t be more timely – anti-Asian racism and violence, illegal medicine, mob control, dirty cops.

Born in California to a Japanese immigrant mother and a father native to California and raised in Hiroshima, Hirahara’s lauded literary career highlights her dual heritage. The author of nonfiction, young adult, and three mystery series (Mas Arai, Ellie Rush, Leila Santiago) delves into her first historic fiction with Clark and Division. Although she’s skillfully integrated historical events in many of her previous titles, her 10th novel incorporates three decades of researching and collecting the oral histories of Americans imprisoned for being of Japanese heritage. As a former journalist and editor for the Rafu Shimpo, the nation’s most prominent Japanese American newspaper since 1903, Hirahara was involved in reporting on the Japanese American demands for redress and reparations that resulted in the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which issued a national apology and $20,000 to each incarceration survivor.

While Clark and Division is currently a standalone endeavor, Aki Ito shows plenty of intriguing tenacity to star in a series of her own. Readers are sure to agree.

Shelf Talker: A thought-provoking novel featuring a Japanese American family transitioning from World War II imprisonment to resettlement in 1940s Chicago.

Review: Shelf Awareness Pro, July 13, 2021

Readers: Adult

Published: 2021

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