When Mikan Road Was Ours by D.K. Furutani

 

Summary (from the publisher): Winner of Simon & Schuster’s Books Like Us contest, a gripping, earnest debut novel set across four generations of a Japanese American family, exploring California’s vibrant agricultural heartlands, the sharp edges of inheritance and what it means to truly belong.

Amidst a sweltering Los Angeles heat wave, Murano, a reclusive high school English teacher, is muddling through life. Reeling from his father’s death as well as his own recent cancer diagnosis, he spends his days grading papers and appeasing disgruntled parents while painstakingly counting down the days until summer vacation.

However, the monotony breaks when he inherits his great-uncle Benjiro’s unpublished memoir. He expects the pages to be a grim reminder of his position as the half-white son of the black sheep of the family. Instead, as he reads, Murano is whisked away to 1930s California, to a time when the Murano family was inseparable, relishing life on their bucolic farmland. As Murano is introduced to family members he never knew existed and confronted with the hidden complexities of the past, he is pulled close to the Japanese identity he’s dismissed all of his life.

Ultimately faced with more questions about his fractured family than answers, Murano becomes determined to discover the reasons behind his family’s dissolution following their incarceration in American concentration camps during World War II, no matter what hidden truths he might uncover about his ancestors or himself.

Lovingly crafted with poignancy and profound attention to historical detail, When Mikan Road Was Ours is a rich meditation on belonging that seamlessly blends the intricacies of heritage, the resilience of family bonds, and the struggle to reconcile a past filled with both heartache and hope.

Review: Thank you to Goodreads giveaways and Atria Books for an ARC of this novel. 

Murano is an isolated high school English teacher struggling with his father's death and his own cancer diagnosis. When he inherits his great-uncle Benjiro's unpublished memoir, he becomes aware and interested in the family story he never knew. In the 1930s, the Murano family lived in California on a farm, until their Japanese heritage had them yanked into American concentration camps during World War II. 

The premise and history behind this book are beautiful and a full five stars. The history of Japanese Americans being incarcerated simply because of their country of origin is horrifying and this novel sheds light on their stories in a fictional way. I loved learning that this is based on the author's own family history and reading a memoir written by one of his own relatives. There was something so tragic in both what happens to Murano's family but also the way this history and connection is forgotten. Murano is never told these stories and has no connection to any relatives at the beginning of this book. This was a beautiful exploration of family and cultural identity and inherited grief. 

However, I did think the execution of this was lacking. The pacing was very slow and was mostly Murano sitting down to read chapters from the memoir. It was also difficult to keep track of the different characters in the historical timeline, and I got a bit confused a few times about the chain of events. I guess reading it, I kept wondering why the author didn't just choose to write this as a non-fiction exploration of his family history, instead of fictionalizing his family story. I didn't connect to the characters as much as I had hoped and I think this had the potential to be vastly more moving than it ultimately ended up being.  

Stars: 3