The Buddha In the Attic

If you're looking for a short, powerful novel to round out your reading list for this year, I suggest Julia Otsuka's The Buddha in the Attic, finalist for the 2011 National Book Award in Fiction.  The novel traces the journey of Japanese "picture brides" from their oceanic journey to the United States during the early 20th Century, through their eventual "disappearance" from the communities in which they settled, to live in government sanctioned internment camps during WWII.  The focus of the book, however, is the time in between these two experiences, during which Otsuka provides readers an intimate portrait into the lives of women who face a variety of joys and (mostly) hardships in their struggle to obtain a piece of the American Dream. The unnamed narrator recalls "a few of us," "we could not have known," "our new husbands"--emphasizing a collective experience that simultaneously unifies the characters, and creates empathy in its readers.  Poetry lovers will especially appreciate the lyricism created by Otsuka's narrative approach.