50books_poc | 2. The Floating World, Cynthia Kadohata

This is Kadohata's first novel; it draws on her own experiences as the daughter of a working-class Japanese-American family who together spent a good deal of time travelling in search of work.

Unfortunately, I just can't get into this book. I first read (or tried to read) it a few years ago, but found it really hard to become absorbed in. It just didn't seem coherent; I had a lot of trouble connecting the events of the different chapters, to the extent that when I came to reread it this week I actually couldn't remember whether I'd made it to the end the previous time. And having definitely finished it this time, I'm still not sure whether or not this was the first time I'd reached the finish line.

The problem might be that it's a coming-of-age story — I've never found coming-of-age stories very interesting. Alternatively, it might be that as a non-American I'm missing the context and background knowledge to properly appreciate the subtleties; this is quite possibly the real explanation, since I did notice some things relating to racism/prejudice this time around that I didn't last time.

I would be interested in hearing from anyone who's read this and liked it.