Alexa Kang

Nisei War series, book #1

In a few words:

Being a Nisei, a son of Japanese immigrants, the USA was not a friendly place to be in 1941 when Japan and the US were on the brink of war. All Tom Sakai wanted was nothing but a good life and a decent job. In search of his place in the world, he leaves Seattle for Manila where he met Fumiko, a Nisei from Los Angeles. They fall in love and together they began a new life...till Pearl Harbor....Now stranded in occupied territory, their survival hinged on whether they stood with the land of rising sun or the land of the free.

My thoughts:

I thought this novel was a war story with some historical facts set in the Pacific theater. I am a huge fan of historical fiction this one left me highly disappointed. Half the book is dedicated to Tom’s childhood and growing up as a Nisei. It was a long and tiresome intro. The pacing is so slow it almost put me to sleep. Later on when things got somewhat moving, the melancholic scenes and Tom reminiscing on his past left me in constant suspense I wanted so much to see what he had to face in the present ; after all wasn’t he in occupied territory where danger lurked everywhere and no one could be trusted. Tom did found out the hard way and was a witness to cruelty multiple times...scenes got hot and exciting but by then the ending was near...far too late to say I had been grabbed by the drama. The story had lost me long before....

On the up side:

The style is filled with emotional conflict and moral dilemmas. It also touches some racism, injustice and has a tad of romance without explicit sexually. The scenarios both played out in the US in the Philippines are believable and showed both sides of the conflicts.

I may not have liked this story at the fullest but it may please you. So this is only my opinion....give this novel a try if you wish.

I would like to thank the Book Whisperer for bringing this book to my attention.… (lisätietoja)

I just learned what ‘flash fiction’ is this week – and this is the first anthology of flash fiction that I’ve read. If this is any indication of how good very short stories can be, I’ll be reading a lot more. The quality of the stories here is uniformly high. All the stories but one are set in Europe during the Second World War, and all are told from the point of view of the Allies or the peoples of Nazi-occupied Europe. In one or two of them, Germans are shown in a more positive light, but on the whole the picture presented is a largely accurate one. There are one or two cases where a twist would have made a story better, in my opinion. Highly recommended, and — incredibly — you can download this for free to your Kindle.… (lisätietoja)

One of the great things about this novella is the refreshing change to the Asian front in World War II, and it is written by a (Chinese-American) author. She therefore brings to the story a lot of Chinese sensibilities that a Western writer might no be able to equal, even with research, such as their fondness for poetic language. The names are written in Chinese fashion, with the last names first. Occasionally, it was a little difficult to remember all the unfamiliar names, but I just used the search function to being myself up to scratch.

The story is very suspenseful, so I am not going to say too much about the plot. The story takes place in Shanghai, 1944. There are references to Nanking; if the reader isn't familiar with the story, it is one of the most horrific war crimes ever carried out. The protagonist, Yuan Wen-Ying, is a member of a formerly wealthy, powerful family in Shanghai knocked down, and in some cases, killed, by the Japanese invaders. Their home and property have been taken over by quislings working with the Japanese. She has joined a resistance group, Tian Di Hui (Heaven and Earth Society), who carry out some daring, and dangerous, actions against the invaders. The title becomes very poignant at the end.

The "Moon Chaser" was first published as part of the USA Today Bestselling anthology "The Darkest Hour: Tales of WWII Resistance". It is a spin-off novella from the WWII trilogy "Shanghai Story", and can be read as a standalone. Wen-Ying's older brother, Yuan Guo-Hui, who goes by the name Clark Yuan, is one of the main characters in the trilogy. I am definitely going to buy it -- the only question is, start it now, or wait for the last book to be published?

Kang has also written a World War II series about the European front: "The Rose of Anzio," featuring an American and an English girl sent to America for safety. The series is complete in four volumes. In addition, she has stories in a number of anthologies.… (lisätietoja)