No-no boy

This is the single published book of the author, who is a second generation Japanese-American. The book was first published in 1957 and then rediscover a few decades later after the author’s death. The story is covering more or less one week of a person’s life. He just got out of prison where

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he spent two years for refusing to signing up joining the US army during World War II. Before that he spent two years in the internation camp. His return to his home town, Seattle, is marked with soul searching, pain and death. Throughout the book the anti-hero tries to figure out why he said no, and what doe sit mean for his future. His mother escaped to cognitive dissonance and doesn’t accept/believe that her beloved Japan lost the war. When her son forced her to face the inevitable she dies. So does his friend who did join the army but lost his leg and during this crucial week he dies of an operation. There are other equally tragic characters (his younger bother who enlists to the army the day he turns 18, an abandoned wife, a painter who paints truck signs in an institute, the tough boy who provokes his own death…) all of them contributing to the protagonist’s doubts. He has no home, his past and future was taken away from him, his identity questioned. Strong and eye-opening book on the Japanese American’s situation after the war. It is not an autobiographical boo, the author did serve in the army.

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Historically important, gritty account of a Japanese who refused to fight in WWII. Identity struggle. Interesting read. Pending further review.

No-No Boy by John Okada is a Japanese-American experience after WWII internment camps and prison. Excellent follow-up to 'Silver Like Dust: One Family's Story of America's Japanese Internment' by Kimi Cunningham Grant.

Okada is a rare example of a Japanese-American published writer from the 1950s.

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A questionnaire was given to Japanese in camps which included 2 questions regarding the draft and renouncing Japanese allegiance (even though American citizenship was not an option). Young men who answered those questions "no," were called No-No Boys and taken to higher security and imprisonment. Okada writes of one No-No Boys angst-filled re-entry into Japanese and American community. I understood this book more because I read 'Silver Like Dust' first. Both were excellent.

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Unfortunately, this was Okada's only published work before he committed suicide. It's one thing to be a draft-dodger, but for Japanese Americans who wanted to prove their loyalty after being interned it meant a rejection of both Japanese and American identities.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

I understand why this is considered a classic; I was moved by the emotions and struggles of not only the main character, Ichiro, but by all of the characters, and how each was affected by their decisions regarding WWII, and even their

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greater life decisions (for example, Mama's views on Japan and America and WWII). It is well written but not plot driven. While I enjoyed reading it when I picked it up, I never felt compelled to pick it back up again when I wasn't reading. Even still, I think this novel will stay with me for a long time. All of the books I've read about Japanese Americans during WWII all took place before or during the war, so it was interesting to read a new perspective: what happens after the war, when people return home? There were many wonderful insights in this book...about being an immigrant, about being an American, and what that means...about racism and hatred and people. These insights and his beautiful writing ultimately land the book as "I liked it" even though the plot didn't fully capture my attention.

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I'm not really sure what to say about No-No Boy. It's very tragic. Very true. Very well-written. It highlights an era of American history that is often, if not always, glossed over. I had no idea about Japanese-American issues before reading this book, and I must say that Ichiro's story told it

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very well.

The only thing I would say is that the ending felt very abrupt to me and I wanted a little bit more. Every time it felt like things were concluding, more would happen. And then more happened, and then it ended.

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No-No Boy Summary. The novel opens as Ichiro, a no-no boy and second-generation Japanese American man, returns home to Seattle. World War II has just ended, and Ichiro is free for the first time in four years. He has spent two years in an internment camp, and the next two in prison, after he

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refused the draft.

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Japanese-Americans were imprisoned in the desert following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. For no reason. When they were released, the males of draft age were told to sign up to fight in WWII. if you didn't feel especially patriotic after being locked up in a desert prison for 2 years, and declined,

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you were again locked up. 2 more years. Is it any wonder that the young men characterized in this book were full of hate and despair? John Okada died at 47, his book largely unread, and unacclaimed by other Japanese-Americans.

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