No-no Boy

I’ve been reading No-no Boy by John Okada.  One of my favorite parts so far:

And you are too.  In any other country they would have shot you for what you did.  But this country is different.  They made a mistake when they doubted you.  They made a mistake when they made you do what you did and they admit it by letting you run around loose.  Try, if you can, to be equally big and forgive them and be grateful to them and to prove to them that you can be an American worthy of the frailties of the country as well as its strengths.

It’s about the experiences of Japanese Americans in the aftermath of World War Two as seen through the eyes of Ichiro.  It’s about the struggle to determine how we let heritage and environment effect our lives; and how we deal with the consequences.  Check it out.