No-No Boy (Classics of Asian American Literature)

Easily one of the best books I have ever read (I studied English in college. I've read a LOT of good books, including this one which was an assignment for an Asian-American literature class), extremely well-done and thought provoking. John Okada deserves more recognition as an author and i'm just very glad that there's finally a Kindle version available for this. A lot of my classmates didn't like this book, but it was a very small class so I have a basic theory as to why: They were fairly sheltered and they missed its point. This is the only book I've studied where people didn't agree on the tone of the novel - generally, whether people like something or not, they can concede that it's hopeful, or dark, or terrifying, or what have you. I saw this book as dark but ultimately hopeful; those who didn't like it just saw the darkness...which is especially interesting to me because we started the semester reading America Is In The Heart, which is one of the most depressing novels I've read. We all agreed on that one. so why did this one cause such controversy? Maybe it's honestly just because it's written better. Okada is very talented and very complex, there's a lot of nuance in this and a lot of conclusions that could be drawn from the characters and what they say and do. If you're leery about paying money for this, maybe try a library first. It's not a long book and a pretty quick read, no dragging descriptions or flowy language. I got right into it and finished it in less than a week, and I've read it 5 or 6 times in 3 years. Love it or not, in my opinion, it's a work of genius.

No-No Boy is a novel written by John Okada in 1957. No-No Boy is about Ichiro Okada, a Seattle-born man of Japanese descendent, returning to Seattle, his hometown, after being imprisoned during World War II for not denouncing the emperor of Japan and refusing to report for U.S. military duty. I learned about this book because of some recent controversy over the re-publication of this book by Penguin Books. Penguin claims the work was not properly copyrighted and is public domain property. Since 1976, University of Washington Press had been publishing No-No Boy (and sending royalties to the Okada family). I bought and read the UW Press edition. Ichiro is shunned by the Japanese Americans that served in the military and saw him as a traitor to the United States. He is shunned by Whites because he looked Japanese. He was stuck in a no-man’s land of being seen as neither Japanese nor American. While this book is fiction, the emotions and situations were real. The Japanese Americans returning to their homes after the WWII internment was extremely difficult, and for those that were “no-no boys”, their experiences had to have been heart-wrenching. This book captures powerful emotions. What makes this story remarkable is that it was written at a time when no one talked about the Japanese American experience and how it affected them. Okada does a wonderful job of presenting the nearly hopeless, desperate dilemma faced by Ichiro. Okada’s writing style is almost poetic; it has rhythm. Okada does an admirable job of describing life in post-war Seattle, identifying streets and landmarks by name. One curious technical error is a reference to watching the local Seattle baseball team on television. At the time, televisions were available to the public but prohibitively expensive for households, especially Japanese returning from internment camps where everything had been taken from them. There was also no televised Seattle (Rainiers) baseball in the years immediately after the Japanese return to the coast (about 1947). The Seattle Rainiers didn’t televise their games until 1956. It took me a few days of research to check this out including watching a 90-minute documentary on the history of the Seattle Rainiers. I rate this book 5 stars because it evokes the emotional strain Japanese Americans must have felt after the war and because it was a landmark publication for its time.

NO-NO BOY (2014 reprint) is an interesting book both in itself and for its unique place as perhaps the first novel by a Japanese-American. First published in 1957, it was mostly ignored and quickly disappeared. "Rediscovered" and passed around nearly twenty years later and republished by an Asian-American consortium of writers, it has since taken its rightful place as an important classic. It was John Okada's only book (a librarian and tech writer, he died of a heart attack at just 47), and reads like an autobiographical novel. Quite the opposite. Okada served honorably in the US Army Air Corps. His protagonist, Ichiro Yamada, on the other hand, was the titular "no-no boy," who refused to serve in the armed forces or swear allegiance to a country which had confiscated his family's Seattle home and business and placed them all in a desert internment camp for two years. Because of his refusals he spent two more years in prison. The story itself covers a short period of days following his release from prison well after the war has ended. He returns to Seattle where his parents have reestablished themselves in a small grocery store with living quarters in the back. His younger brother is ashamed of him and can't wait to join the army after high school. His father welcomes him back, and so does his controlling mother, who is delusional in thinking Japan won the war and slowly slips into insanity. Ichiro tries to reconnect with former friends and look for work, but his prison time and his race hamper both endeavors. Interior monologues abound, many of them bitter and frustrated, all of them powerful testaments to rampant postwar prejudice directed at Japanese-Americans. Postwar America of the 1940s is vividly painted here, with its slang, swing bands, roadhouses and private clubs. Ichiro watches helplessly as one veteran friend, badly maimed, is hospitalized, and another no-no boy loses himself to drink and destructive behavior. NO-NO BOY is a powerful novel of being the wrong race, the wrong color, and on the wrong side after the war. John Okada was a very talented writer and this, his only book, is finally getting the respect it deserves. It shouldn't have taken so long. Very highly recommended. - Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER

A well written story of the period when Japanese Americans were interned, which delves deep into the thoughts and emotions of Ichiro Yamada. After being sent to an internment camp with his family, he and other second-generation Japanese American men were asked to volunteer to fight in the American army. This book shows society's rejection of him as a non-white American as he grew up, and the guilt he feels for not serving in the army when others in his community did serve with many being injured. We also see the complicated dynamics within his own family (his younger brother goes into the army immediately after high school, and his mother fiercely clings to being Japanese). Ichiro's friendships and attempts to find a job also give the reader views into the era especially in the Portland-Seattle area. The writing reminded me somewhat of James Baldwin's books, describing the conflicting emotions and decisions that the protagonist must deal with.

A little-known fact about American history: at the time of World War II, the U.S. War Department required men of Japanese descent to answer two “loyalty” questions: “Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States? Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of American and faithfully defend it?” Most answered “yes”; those who answered “no” were referred to as No-No Boys. Their reasons were complex; some had family living in Japan, others didn’t understand why they should give their lives to a country who had stripped them of all rights of citizenship (despite being born in America). And that preamble brings us to this novel, written in J957 by John Okada (the Seattle-born author himself fought for America in the war). At the opening of the book, his No-No Boy, a disgraced Ichiro Yamada, has spent two years in prison at a time when war fever was at a peak pitch. He is universally despised by Americans (including those of Japanese descent) and his family – a half-crazy mother who believes Japan has won the war, a passive father, and a younger brother who despises him – makes him feel like a stranger in a strange land. In one particularly strong passage, Ichiro says “It is not enough to be only half an American and know that it is an empty half. I am not your son and I am not Japanese and I am not American.” Who is Ichiro Yamada then, and where does he belong? That is the question at the crux of this novel. Riddled by shame, seething with anger, coping with mixed feelings about the only country he has known – its horrific treatment of those of Japanese descent combined with its its generosity of heart – Ichiro’s radicalized persona is a stand-in for second-generation Japanese men who were forced to confront this darkness.” Upon meeting one kind man, Ichiro ponders, “What words would transmit the bigness of his feelings to match the bigness of the heart of this American who in the manner of his living, was continually nursing and worrying the infant America into the greatness of its inheritance?” With his secondary characters—Ichiro’s brother, his draft resister pals, and those who took a different path (notably Kenji who is slowly dying of his wounds and Ralph, who reenlisted), John Okada provides a 360-degree look at the men of those times. As a literary book, it can be a bit rough around the edges; it’s not perfect. But it is still compelling and unique and courageous. Ruth Ozeki, herself a wonderful writer, pens a superb foreword that captures the book’s meaning for a whole new generation of writers of Japanese descent. The questions this book raises are timeless and universal.

The Japanese immigrants had it hard before WWII. During much of the war they were sent off to internment camps in the middle of nowhere. Wrenched by his dislike of the way his family and others were treated and constantly told by his mother to be Japanese while he also wishes to be American, the narrator, Ichiro, choses not to fight for the USA (no) and not denounce his Japanese ancestry (no)/ After spending time in jail, he tries to re-enter is community. HIs mother has bought into myths about a Japanese victory, his father is seems almost spineless and seeks refuge in drink, his brother is off to enlist in the Army, and most of his past friends are also searching for their place in life, suffering from their time in the war and or/ disdainful of his choice not to serve. He does not like the torment but also feels unworthy the kindness he does encounter. The Japanese internment history, in addition to all the other issue that tear at second generation Americans. make for truly difficult emotions.

I was moved by this 1957 novel as I have not been moved in a long time by any book. I thought I had read most classic American literature in my long lifetime but somehow missed NO NO BOY until now. I would tend to believe that many other readers also have. This powerful, compelling book immerses the reader totally in the Asian-American experience and the tragic drama of the 'no no boys' from the 1st paragraph until the last with no letup. It is likewise a treatise on racism to rank with the best from any ethnic point of view. This is a novel on par with American literature classics from an time & setting. Why it is not may be a testament to its theme & its potential impact on society at large. Also, do not miss the FORWARD & AFTERWARD...great writing & commentary

The old edition so does not have the wonderful new prologue.😪