When the Emperor Was Divine

Modern Age
When the Emperor was Divine Author: Otsuka, Julie Buy at Amazon | BookShop.org Time Period: Modern Age Time Frame: 1942-1945 Geographic Area: North America Country: United States Topics: WWII Genre: Fiction Reading Age: Young Adult, Adult Format: Novel Published: 2003

American History > Modern Age > WWII

On a sunny day in Berkeley, California, in 1942, a woman sees a sign in a post office window, returns to her home, and matter-of-factly begins to pack her family's possessions. Like thousands of other Japanese Americans they have been reclassified, virtually overnight, as enemy aliens and are about to be uprooted from their home and sent to a dusty internment camp in the Utah desert.

In this lean and devastatingly evocative first novel, Julie Otsuka tells their story from five flawlessly realized points of view and conveys the exact emotional texture of their experience: the thin-walled barracks and barbed-wire fences, the omnipresent fear and loneliness, the unheralded feats of heroism. When the Emperor Was Divine is a work of enormous power that makes a shameful episode of our history as immediate as today's headlines.

Other Similar Books

Other suggestions on the subject of World War II (Japanese Internment).

• Baseball Saved Us (by: Mochizuki, Ken, MG, LE)
• The Bracelet (by: Uchida, Yoshiko, LE, MG)
• Sylvia & Aki (by: Conkling, Winifred, MG)
• Paper Wishes (by: Sepahban, Lois, MG)
• Stealing Home (by: Torres, J, MG, UMG)
• Fred Korematsu Speaks Up (by: Atkins, Laura, Yogi, Stan, MG, UMG)
• Weedflower (by: Kadohata, Cynthia, UMG)
• The War Outside (by: Hesse, Monica, YA, A)
• When the Emperor Was Divine (by: Otsuka, Julie, YA, A)
• No-No Boy (by: Okada, John, YA, A)
• Displacement (by: Hughes, Kiku, YA, A)
• They Called Us Enemy (by: Takei, George, YA, A)
• We Are Not Free (by: Chee, Traci, YA, A)
• Farewell to Manzanar (by: Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki, YA, A)
• Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (by: Ford, Jamie, YA, A)
• Within These Lines (by: Morrill, Stephanie, YA, A)

Other suggestions on the subject of World War II.

• The Bracelet (by: Uchida, Yoshiko, LE, MG)
• You Wouldn't Want to Be a Secret Agent During World War II (by: Malam, John, LE, MG)
• Baseball Saved Us (by: Mochizuki, Ken, MG, LE)
• Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross (by: Sorell, Traci, LE, MG)
• You Wouldn't Want to Be a World War II Pilot (by: Graham, Ian, LE, MG)
• Stealing Home (by: Torres, J, MG, UMG)
• History Smashers: Pearl Harbor (by: Messner, Kate, MG, UMG)
• On the Horizon: World War II Reflections (by: Lowry, Lois, MG, UMG)
• An Elephant in the Garden (by: Morpurgo, Michael, MG)
• Island War (by: Reilly Giff, Patricia, MG)
• Sylvia & Aki (by: Conkling, Winifred, MG)
• World War II Naval Forces: An Interactive History Adventure (by: Raum, Elizabeth, MG)
• The War That Saved My Life (by: Brubaker Bradley, Kimberly, MG)
• Yonder (by: Standish, Ali, MG, UMG)
• The Attack on Pearl Harbor: An Interactive History Adventure (by: Lassieur, Allison, MG)
• Max in the Land of Lies (by: Gidwitz, Adam, MG, UMG)
• Lily's Crossing (by: Reilly Giff, Patricia, MG)
• The War I Finally Won (by: Brubaker Bradley, Kimberly, MG)
• Max in the House of Spies: A Tale of World War II (by: Gidwitz, Adam, MG, UMG)
• The House of Sixty Fathers (by: DeJong, Meindert, MG)
• World War II Pilots: An Interactive History Adventure (by: Burgan, Michael, MG)
• Number the Stars (by: Lowry, Lois, MG)
• The Night War (by: Brubaker Bradley, Kimberly, MG, UMG)
• Paper Wishes (by: Sepahban, Lois, MG)
• Just a Girl: A True Story of World War II (by: Levi, Lia, MG)
• Willow Run (by: Reilly Giff, Patricia, MG)
• Twenty and Ten (by: Bishop, Claire Hutchet, MG)
• World War II Infantrymen: An Interactive History Adventure (by: Otfinoski, Steven, MG)
• Snow Treasure (by: McSwigan, Marie, MG)
• Safiyyah's War (by: Noor Khan, Hiba, MG, UMG)
• A Whale in Paris (by: Presley, Daniel, Polders, Claire, MG)
• Raid of No Return (by: Hale, Nathan, MG, UMG)
• Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (by: Coerr, Eleanor, MG)
• Genevieve's War (by: Reilly Giff, Patricia, MG)
• Fred Korematsu Speaks Up (by: Atkins, Laura, Yogi, Stan, MG, UMG)
• World War II Spies: An Interactive History Adventure (by: Burgan, Michael, MG)
• The Little Riders (by: Shemin, Margaretha, MG)
• The Dollmaker of Krakow (by: Romero, R. M., UMG)
• The Songbird and the Rambutan Tree (by: Abendanon, Lucille, UMG, YA)
• The Book Thief (by: Zusak, Markus, YA, UMG)
• When My Name Was Keoko (by: Park, Linda Sue, UMG)
• Catherine's War (by: Billet, Julia, UMG)
• A Place to Belong (by: Kadohata, Cynthia, UMG, YA)
• Code Name Kingfisher (by: Kessler, Liz, UMG, YA)
• Heroes: A Novel of Pearl Harbor (by: Gratz, Alan, UMG, YA)
• World War II: Kids Who Survived Tell Their Stories (by: Nicholson, Dorinda, UMG)
• Guts & Glory: World War II (by: Thompson, Ben, UMG)
• Code Girls (Young Readers Edition) (by: Mundy, Liza, UMG, YA)
• Code Talker (by: Bruchac, Joseph, UMG)
• When the World Was Ours (by: Kessler, Liz, UMG, YA)
• Under the Broken Sky (by: Nagai, Mariko, UMG)
• Weedflower (by: Kadohata, Cynthia, UMG)
• The Bletchley Riddle (by: Sepetys, Ruta and Sheinkin, Steve, UMG)
• Girl in the Blue Coat (by: Hesse, Monica, YA, A)
• Double Victory: How African American Women Broke Race and Gender Barriers to Help Win World War II (by: Mullenbach, Cheryl, YA, A)
• Barefoot Gen 2 (by: Nakazawa, Keiji, YA, A)
• World War II: The Definitive Visual History (by: DK, YA, A)
• The Rebel Girls of Rome (by: Taylor, Jordyn, YA, A)
• The Library of Legends (by: Chang, Janie, YA, A)
• When the Emperor Was Divine (by: Otsuka, Julie, YA, A)
• Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II (by: Mundy, Liza, YA, A)
• The Port Chicago 50 (by: Sheinkin, Steve, YA)
• My Long List of Impossible Things (by: Barker, Michelle, YA, A)
• Code Name Verity (by: Wein, Elizabeth, YA)
• Code Name Pauline: Memoirs of a World War II Special Agent (by: Cornioley, Pearl Witherington, YA, A)
• Barefoot Gen 3 (by: Nakazawa, Keiji, YA, A)
• Within These Lines (by: Morrill, Stephanie, YA, A)
• Mare's War (by: Davis, Tanita S., YA)
• In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors (by: Stanton, Doug, YA, A)
• The Shadow War (by: Smith, Lindsay, YA)
• X, Y & Z: The Real Story of How Enigma Was Broken (by: Turing, Dermot, YA, A)
• Maus I (by: Spiegelman, Art, YA, A)
• The Boys Who Challenged Hitler (by: Hoose, Phillip, YA, A)
• Bomb: The Race to Build --and Steal-- the World's Most Dangerous Weapon (by: Sheinkin, Steve, YA)
• Women Heroes of World War II―the Pacific Theater: 15 Stories of Resistance, Rescue, Sabotage, and Survival (by: Atwood, Kathryn J., YA, A)
• Displacement (by: Hughes, Kiku, YA, A)
• Parallel Journeys (by: O'Brien, Tim, YA, A)
• Anya's War (by: Alban, Andrea, YA)
• Kursed (by: Smith, Lindsay, YA)
• Wrath Becomes Her (by: Polydoros, Aden, YA, A)
• No-No Boy (by: Okada, John, YA, A)
• Maus II (by: Spiegelman, Art, YA, A)
• The Faithful Spy (by: Hendrix, John, YA, A)
• Salt to the Sea (by: Sepetys, Ruta, YA, A)
• Seized by the Sun: The Life and Disappearance of World War II Pilot Gertrude Tompkins (by: Atwood, Kathryn J., YA, A)
• Nothing Sung and Nothing Spoken (by: Tyndall, Nita, YA, A)
• Farewell to Manzanar (by: Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki, YA, A)
• Leonora in the Morning Light (by: Carter, Michaela, YA, A)
• Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (by: Ford, Jamie, YA, A)
• The Berlin Boxing Club (by: Sharenow, Robert, YA, A)
• White Rose (by: Wilson, Kip, YA, A)
• The War Outside (by: Hesse, Monica, YA, A)
• The Blossom and the Firefly (by: Smith, Sherri L., YA, A)
• All the Light We Cannot See (by: Doerr, Anthony, YA, A)
• They Called Us Enemy (by: Takei, George, YA, A)
• Great or Nothing (by: McCullough, Joy, Tung Richmond, Caroline, Sharpe, Tess, Spotswood, Jessica, YA)
• Barefoot Gen 1 (by: Nakazawa, Keiji, YA, A)
• Flowers in the Gutter (by: Gaddy, K. R., YA, A)
• Names in a Jar (by: Gold, Jennifer, YA, A)
• Under the Same Stars (by: Bray, Libba, YA, A)
• Between Shades of Gray (by: Sepetys, Ruta, YA, A)
• We Were the Lucky Ones (by: Hunter, Georgia, YA, A)
• The Paper Girl of Paris (by: Taylor, Jordyn, YA, A)
• The Last Checkmate: A Novel (by: Saab, Gabriella, YA)
• Atomic Women: The Untold Story of the Scientists Who Helped Create the Nuclear Bomb (by: Montillo, Roseanne, YA, A)
• We Are Not Free (by: Chee, Traci, YA, A)
• The Postcard (by: Berest, Anne, A)
• The Last Rose of Shanghai: A Novel (by: Dai Randel, Weina, A)
• The Bookseller of Dachau (by: Ryan, Shari J., A)
• Maria: A Novel of Maria von Trapp (by: Moran, Michelle, A)
• The Kitchen Front (by: Ryan, Jennifer, A)
• Light Perpetual (by: Spufford, Francis, A)
• Berlin (by: Lutes, Jason, A)
• The Underground Library (by: Ryan, Jennifer, A)
• The German Wife (by: Rimmer, Kelly, A)