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Clark and Division tells the story of a Japanese family in America after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and sent to camps then onto Chicago. A sister is trying to find out what happened to her older sister that got to move to Chicago before they did. It was an okay mystery. Not great but still good. I will read the next book in the series, bc I do want to know a few things.

#readaway2024

I read this book for my Book Club. It was a mystery within a historical fiction story. It was about a Japanese family that had lived in an internment camp after the attack on Pearl Harbor. When they were released they were sent to Chicago to start their new life. The older daughter went first to get everything ready. When the others arrived they found out she had died. The younger daughter went on a mission to find out what happened to her.

I'm giving this a soft pick only because it's marketed as a mystery read but in reality it's more of a historic fiction read with mystery elements. If that makes sense. Otherwise, I enjoyed the story and the characters. A part of WWII that isn't discussed as much. #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

This is a soft pick for me. The historical detail is great but writing and mystery aspect are just so-so. The MC is 20 but super sheltered, which makes cultural sense. New to Chicago after leaving the Japanese internment camps, she struggles with her older sister‘s untimely death. The author gets the often untold history right (my MIL was in the camps and then Chicago). The writing however is just meh.

Full review https://www.TheBibliophage.com

Thanks for the encouraging words.

After a selection slump, the library provided me with this book. Aki Ito and her mother and father are interred in a concentration camp in California during WW 2. Rose, Aki‘s older sister, secures early release and is sent to Chicago where she is making preparations for the remainder of her family to join her. This book is timely due to the subject of the ugliness of racism and touching on abortion while giving me a good story.

There is a mystery to be solved in this novel, but it takes second seat to the tale of a Japanese American young woman whose life was severely disrupted by the WW2 internment. Some have complained that there‘s too much history, but there is quite a bit of heart too. Full review. https://www.facebook.com/1082882538/posts/10224460537235966/

Aki Ito and her family, interned in Manzanar, are resettled in Chicago. The eldest daughter arrived earlier, but was killed in an apparent accident. Aki believes she was murdered and tries to find the truth, which is far more complicated.

I found this to be an incoherent novel, which couldn‘t decide on a defining genre. As a result, the different characters and story lines get muddled. Ms Hirahara writes well, but did her characters no favors.

“Rose was always there, even while I was being born.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

The American - Japanese experience during WW2 was a central theme of this book and clearly the author had done so much research to ensure she portrayed one truth to that experience - I learnt so much! However at times the insertion of historical details, context and histories didn‘t flow with the story and inconsistencies with the text were a little jarring at times.

The house is quiet, puppy is sleeping and I‘m snuggled under a blanket just turning to page one. Bliss!

My goal for 2022 is to tackle some hefty history tomes….going to intersperse them with some new to me mystery series 👍🏼

I liked this, but not nearly as much as I thought I would. Reads a bit YA (which is generally not my jam). Interesting to learn more about what life was like for Japanese Americans during WWII, particularly the forced relocation post-incarceration.

Hirahara uses a murder mystery to frame her story of a Japanese-American family forced to relocate to Chicago in WW2. Lots of fascinating period detail, but light on the suspense.

Interesting setting and characters: Japanese Americans released from prison camp during WWII are forced to relocate to Chicago.

I feel grateful for all the research Hirahara did for this novel. I knew very little about Japanese American resettlement in the Midwest after life in concentration camps, like Manzanar. Barred from returning to their lives on the west coast, many wound up in Chicago taking on low wage jobs to keep afloat. Aki‘s story about life before internment and upon her family‘s release, hinges on the mysterious death of her sister, Rose.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ ½

I am loving this book, the #endpapers and the artful details throughout.

A sad part of Japanese American history. One year before the end of World War 2, Aki Ito and her family are sent from Manzinar and forced to relocate in Chicago. After her older sister, Rose, is killed in a subway accident near Clark and Division Street, Aki suspects foul play as she investigates racism, prejudice, and corruption in this historical mystery.

When your book and your current reading spot are a mood ❤️🖤🤍❤️🖤🤍❤️🖤🤍❤️🖤🤍❤️🖤🤍❤️🖤🤍❤️

Also, this book is AMAZING!! I‘m halfway through and I‘ve already written down another book from this author that I. Have. To. Read. ASAP! It‘s a library book for me, but I think I might buy my own copy 🤗

Current reads: Map of Salt and Stars, Dead Dead Girls, A Burning

HEA or open-ended ending: Both are good!

Tag the last book added to your TBR: Clark and Division

#WeekendReads

The mystery is far less compelling than the opportunity it provides to examine the lives of Japanese Americans resettled in Chicago after being allowed to leave the internment camps out west in the 1940s. Extensively researched, this story about a young woman who must uncover the truth about her sister‘s death—the day before they were to be reunited—illuminates a fascinating period of history I knew little about. A good read. On sale 8/21.

Today‘s book on the patio is a mystery set in 1944 Chicago and it tells the story of a Japanese American family after their release from WWII internment camps. I haven‘t read anything else by the author, who has won the Edgar Award for another series she wrote, but this one sounds very interesting. (I also love the old photograph of Michigan Ave. and Wacker Dr. on the cover—it looks very much the same today.)