Review: No-No Boy by John Okada

No-No Boy

by John Okada

Five Stars: “For me, the discovery of John's (Okada) 1957 novel was like a white writer feeling gloomy and alone in a literary history, discovering Mark Twain. No-No Boy proved I wasn't the only yellow writer in yellow history.” Thus wrote Frank Chin in 1976, referring to the discovery of Okada's ground-breaking novel in a second-hand bookstore in Seattle.

You may have heard of the Japanese interment, yet you might not have realized the devastating effects of that interment on those Americans victimized by it.

This seminal contribution to Asian-American Literature opened my eyes. Maybe, it'll open yours, too.