Expand the Canon Book Club: "No-No Boy" by John Okada

In our newest Greedy Reads book club hosted by bookseller Valerie Hsu, we read and discuss works that are considered classics today, but might be excluded from standard curricula or reading lists because of subject matter, personal identities of their authors, societal reactions at publication, etc. In other words, we read influential texts that you could have read in a high school English class but probably didn’t because of racism, sexism, homophobia, colonialism, eurocentrism, etc. in how our educational systems operate.

If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “I’m embarrassed I’ve never read ____” or “Why didn't anyone tell me about ___?” or “I was too young to appreciate ___ and I’d like to re-read it as an adult,” we’re here to help you out. Fill in your reading gaps with these classics you might have missed, and come discuss with us on the first Tuesdays each month.

We’ll meet on Tuesday, May 5 to discuss No-No Boy by John Okada. Here are other selections on the docket for you to get a sense of the types of books we’ll read:

• The Joyluck Club by Amy Tan
• Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
• Winter in the Blood by James Welch
• America Is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan
• Passing by Nella Larson
• The Bondswoman’s Narrative by Hannah Crafts
• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
• No-No Boy by John Okada

About No-No Boy:

“No-No Boy has the honour of being the very first Japanese American novel,” writes novelist Ruth Ozeki in her new foreword to John Okada’s classic of Asian American literature.

No-No Boy tells the story of Ichiro Yamada, a fictional version of the real-life “no-no boys,” who answered “no” twice in a compulsory government questionnaire as to whether he would serve in the armed forces and swear loyalty to the United States. Unwilling to pledge himself to the country that interned him and his family, Ichiro earns two years in Pr*son and the hostility of his family and community when he returns home to Seattle.

No-No Boy is available for purchase here!

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