The Buddha in the Attic
The Buddha in the Attic tells the story of a group of young women brought from Japan to San Francisco as “picture brides” a century ago in this “understated masterpiece … that unfolds with great emotional power”
-San Francisco Chronicle
In eight unforgettable sections, The Buddha in the Attic traces the picture brides’ extraordinary lives, from their arduous journey by boat, where they exchange photographs of their husbands, imagining uncertain futures in an unknown land;... READ MORE
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Awards& Recognitions
PEN/Faulkner Award Winner
National Book Award Finalist
France’s Prix Femina Étranger Winner
Albatros Literaturpreis Winner
Langum Prize for American Historical Fiction Winner
American Academy of Arts and Letters Literary Award Winner
​Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award Finalist
A San Francisco Chronicle and Boston Globe Best Book the Year
Named a Top Ten Book by Library Journal and Vogue
A New York Times Notable Book
A New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times bestseller
Published worldwide in 22 languages
Additional News, Interviews
Elle • President Obama’s Favorite Books
Harper’s Magazine • Six Questions for Julie Otsuka
Poets & Writers • The Urgency of Knowing, A Profile of Julie Otsuka
National Endowment for the Arts Big Read • An Interview with Julie Otsuka
Media
The Leonard Lopate Show, WNYC • Interview with Leonard Lopate
Here and Now, NPR • Interview with Robin Young
Cover to Cover Bookwaves, KPFA • Interview with Richard Wolinsky
About This Book
In eight unforgettable sections, The Buddha in the Attic traces the picture brides’ extraordinary lives, from their arduous journey by boat, where they exchange photographs of their husbands, imagining uncertain futures in an unknown land; to their arrival in San Francisco and their tremulous first nights as new wives; to their backbreaking work picking fruit in the fields and scrubbing the floors of white women; to their struggles to master a new language and a new culture; to their experiences in childbirth, and then as mothers, raising children who will ultimately reject their heritage and their history; to the deracinating arrival of war.
Julie Otsuka has written a spellbinding novel about identity and loyalty, and what it means to be an American in uncertain times.
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