 Customer Reviews
This is a wonderful and beautifully illustrated book., 15 Nov 1998
This is a wonderful story about friendship. A young Japanese girl is sent to an internment camp. Before she leaves an American friend of hers gives her a bracelet to remember her by. When the bracelet is lost, the little girl is heart broken. Later she realizes that one does not need material objects to symbolize a friendship.
This is a wonderful and beautifully illustrated book., 15 Nov 1998
This is a wonderful story about friendship. A young Japanese girl is sent to an internment camp. Before she leaves an American friend of hers gives her a bracelet to remember her by. When the bracelet is lost, the little girl is heart broken. Later she realizes that one does not need material objects to symbolize a friendship.
A Gripping Masterpiece!!, 02 Apr 1999
This story is great for anyone even remotely interested in World WarII. It connects you with the characters and you feel for them. I loved this book.
A haunting, quietly heartwrenching story, 30 May 1999
"Picture Bride" is an unforgettable novel. In her deceptively simple style, Yoshiko Uchida draws the reader into the Japanese-American world and brings it to life. Unlike the cold, factual feel of a textbook, Uchida uses a character (Hana Omiya) who is easily identified with to portray early 20th century America as seen and felt from the Japanese perspective. Hana is a woman with a strong spirit who seems to have been born in the wrong world, and you find yourself both pitying her circumstances and admiring her strength, which lasts to the end. This was a novel I thoroughly loved.
Strength of character in the face of tremendous struggle, 15 Feb 1999
Picture Bride begins with Hana coming to America to escape the dead-end future her sisters experienced in arranged marriages to men they did not know in pre-WWII Japan. Her hopes rest on marriage to a young, successful businessman to whom she has never spoken. She finds instead a non-communicative middle-aged man who misrepresented his success and person in his letters, an unforgiving man who sees her as his property on their wedding night. The novel shows Hana's growth as she learns how to do what is best for the both of them while having to work around her husband's male ego and low self-esteem. She cannot merely take over the failing business; she must make her husband think it is his idea. The pathos of bigotry pervades the entire work: They are tolerated in their new neighborhood only after a "nocturnal visit" from individuals who are "looking out for the welfare of the community" because a Japanese family has moved in. Add the estrangement of a Nessei daughter who knows little Japanese and fears failure to assimilate from an Issei mother who speaks very little English and struggles to maintain her Japanese roots. Violence and intolerance heighten; the shell of humanity on the Pacific Coast disintegrates with the attack on Pearl Harbor. Throughout, the women in Uchida's novel are models of feminine strength in a male world, always emerging from struggle greater than they entered it. Great for Freshman English to U.S. History students and everyone else as well. I couldn't put it down as it plucked at my heart. A must-read for all Americans who don't want to repeat or continue the pattern of bigotry in the U.S. and for all descendants of Asian immigrants.
An amazing look at US history and Japanese-American culture, 01 Dec 1998
Picture bride, an excellent novel, boasts a wonderful cast of characters. As a story about Japanese-immigrant life in America during the 1930's and 1940's, Picture Bride tells a tale that the average American never hears. Best of all, after reading Picture Bride, a person understands current Japanese-American culture and its roots. The Japanese immigrants' fortitude and strength in Picture Bride amaze the reader. Hana a young Japanese woman, comes to America expecting to marry a young, prospering merchant. Instead she finds Taro, a kind older man with a low-class shop. Despite her disappointment, Hana accepts Taro and makes a relatively successful life with him, a testament to her inner strength. Taro himself endured changes in fortune upon arriving in America. He had to work as a houseboy but saved money and later started his own shop. all immigrants in the novel face the added trial of discrimination. Hana and Taro almost lose their home because of it. Reverend Okada, the Doctor, and Kenji Nishima give help to and support to others in the Japanese community while accepting the same hardships. The hard-working, accepting personalities of the characters make Picture Bride an intriguing novel. The story of the immigrants' new, American lives greatly interests the reader because many readers first learn about Japanese immigrant life by reading Picture Bride. Details of immigrant life, from funny anecdotes about a confused Japanese student and a bathtub to descriptions of Hana making breakfast tea, reside in the pages of the novel. Picture Bride also addresses the issues of discrimination and the interment of Japanese-Americans during WW2. After reading Picture Bride, the reader knows more about the Japanese-immigrant experience. Picture Bride gives the reader a better understanding of Japanese-American culture, also. The Japanese who came to America, like Hana and Taro, worked hard to fit into American society, but they still held onto their culture. Hana and Taro wanted their daughter Mary to lucubrate so she could earn her M.D. and earn respect from the San Francisco natives. Kiku, Hana's friend, helped Hana fit in when Hana first arrived by dressing her in western-style clothing. Henry Toda even changed his name to ease his assimilation. Japanese immigrants, from the farmers like Henry Toda to the houseboys and shop owners like Taro, worked hard to gain accept- ance into American society and make new lives for themselves. Japanese-Americans today have continued to be hard-working citizens. The Japanese immigrants retained their culture, too. Hana and Taro still ate pickled radish, rice, tea, and other Japanese foods. Hana kept her kimono and obi to wear on special celebrations like New Year, and Taro and Hana spoke Japanese with their friends and with each other. In present-day society, vestiges of Japanese culute, in food, language, and special traditions, still exist in Japanese-American homes. Picture Bride helps a reader understand and admire this unique culture and its roots. Picture Bride tells the story of America-the story of the immigrant. It is a story every American should hear.
An inspiring story. The book will not stay closed., 01 Dec 1998
The Picture Bride is an oustanding novel, full of feeling and inspiration. Hana, the main character, knows she wants more in life than what her family can offer her in Japan. She sets all her hopes on a new life in America with a man owning a prosperous shop. Upon arriving she finds reality to be a world away from her expectations, the man she has promised to marry does not look like his picture and his little shop is not fairing well at all. Hana must make due with her life in America and struggle to survive with her new family. Enter the life of a Japanese-American after the bombing of Pearl Harbor through the Picture Bride. Everything that Hana goes through is felt by the reader. Her emotions come out clear and strong as she fights to accept her life in America, to make ends meet, and to face prejudice and injustice in a land promising freedom.
A cultural book which reveals universal themes, 01 Dec 1998
Yoshiko Uchida's The Picture Bride is a compelling story of Hana, a Japanese women who immigrates to America. Uchida entwines Japanese culture with universal themes of marriage, family, love, bigotry, pride, and determination throughout the story. The novel is a wonderful piece of literature that reveals horrible truths of American history which evokes the human conscience and soul. I highly recommend this book, especially to anyone who wants to know more about Japanese-American culture.
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