"When I was growing up in Hawaii, everyone was a little bit of this and that. I always thought of myself as half-Japanese and it wasn't until I got to the mainland that I realized I am, for all practical purposes, white. My face defines me, in exactly the same way that my mother's Japanese-American face got her turned away from hotels in the south when she was traveling with her Caucasian husband in the 1960s, in exactly the same way every person is defined in the United States. What a shock that was. I still haven't gotten over it." --Rahna Reiko Rizzuto
I just read an excerpt from Rizzuto's Hiroshima in the Morning* (courtesy of Shelf Awareness) and was a leetle (okay, alot) intrigued--both by the story and the author herself. I think the quote above reflects the experiences of a lot of Americans, no? Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior comes to mind, for some reason. Also, does anyone have a copy of the book that I can borrow?
*Note: Yes, my book links are mostly to Amazon pages, for lack of a more cohesive book site. I suppose the publisher Web site would also be a good alternative--or maybe I should support some Indies in the future? I think my idea for an imdb of books isn't a bad idea...
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