This is an unusual little book, which I read for Novellas in November. It is based on the experiences of Japanese women brought to California as brides in the early 20th century. It doesn’t have any detailed characters but instead treats the women as a disparate group and is written in first person plural.
The girls and women have never met their husbands. They have apparently been married by proxy and have letters from and photos of their husbands. But when their ship arrives, they don’t recognize them. Their husbands are twenty years older than their photos, and they are common laborers, not the bankers and professional men the women are expecting. The women have been brought there not to improve themselves but to provide sex and hard labor.
The novel follows the women in their many paths until World War II and the internment of almost all the West Coast Japanese residents. Somehow, despite its lack of distinct characters and plot, it builds. It makes you sympathize with the hard lives of these characters. It’s powerful.
What? Me Read? 
I loved this one. I thought the collective voice was so well done.
Yes, it was. It spoke for them as a group but factored in differences.
I thought this was a really good example of the use of the first person plural to convey a range of experiences.
Yes, probably one of the few.
First person plural is hard to pull off, but it sounds like the author succeeded here.
Yes, I think so.
I was really moved by the format of this book and it helped me see the issues as universal. Here is my review of the book written in 2019:
https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-buddha-in-attic-reflection-and.html