The Concord Public Library held a book discussion last week centered on Julie Otsuka’s novel Buddha in the Attic. The novel documents the journey of young Japenese picture brides of the 1920s, similar to the mail-order brides of the current day.
The discussion was led by Robbin Bailey, one of the reference librarians. In attendance were Pat McClintock and Judy Eliasberg of the Concord area. Both of these outspoken and energetic women gave meaningful insight into the book. The turnout was lower than most discussions; usually a group of three to six can be expected.
Otsuka manages to give a profound look at hopefulness and the hopelessness of the picture brides of the early days of the last century.The journey of the young Japanese women starts with the voyage to San Francisco and ends with their departure to the internment camps of World War II. The women deal with adjusting to life in America, while trying to retain every bit of their culture they can.
McClintock said she was able to put herself in the shoes of the characters.
“If I was all of a sudden going to Japan, how important would that be to me to keep my identity to find other Americans who knew what we are?” she asked.
The novel describes how the women would come to cherish their husbands or come to detest them. The women deal with bearing children and raising them in a place where they are discriminated against.
Eliasberg voiced appreciation to her grandparents who emigrated to the United States from Greece,
“Every Thanksgiving I thank my grandparents for getting to this country,” Eliasberg said. “They laid themselves down and we stepped on them and moved on.”
The library holds book discussion a few mouths out of the year. In the past, they have focused on novels such as Water for Elephants and The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.
The library will be taking a break for the summer but will return in fall with its Concord Reads program.
The program will be going into its 12th year and will focus on New Hampshire resident Maxine Kumin, whose works include Where I Live, Inside the Halo and Beyond and Women, Animals, and Vegetables.
One does not have to be a Concord Public Library member to participate; novels featured in the program may be checked out of the library without a card.
