Book Review: Sleeping on Potatoes by Carl Nomura - Page 2

By the time the Great Depression rolled around, although nothing happened to improve their life of poverty, something did happen to improve the quality of their lives. Kazuichi died. "No member of his family wept at the funeral.... Suddenly, the quality of my mother's life improved, for there was no one around to batter her."

The lowest point of Nomura's life, though, was yet to come. World War II followed the Great Depression, and along with it came the toughest test of his resilience - the internment of the Japanese at camps built on barren land dotted across the mid-western and western United States. The family lost its home and whatever possessions it had accumulated by that time, and was herded into Manzanar, one of the "Relocation Centers" in California.

The ignominy of being confined to the camps and labeled an enemy of the United States, although he was an American citizen, and the physical pain that accompanied back-breaking work as a farm laborer on beet and potato farms (internees could opt to work as farm laborers, which afforded a little bit more freedom than being locked up in the camps) were compounded by the emotional scars of seeing German and Italian prisoners of war receiving better treatment.

This, as Nomura describes, was the turning point.

I must... prepare myself to oppose people in powerful positions or influence from disenfranchising innocent American citizens. This required two things: an education to show me what to do, and enough achievements so that people would respond to me.

Even from the wretched experiences at the internment camps, Nomura managed to take away a few lessons: "I learned about the miserable lives of the migratory workers; that we can endure great pain by sheer will; and the effectiveness of teamwork." Not to forget poker strategies.

Following the end of the war, the narrative moves on to college life (interrupted by a brief stint in the army when the United States decides it wants him on its side, after all), marriage and children. In a section entitled "Marriage", Nomura provides endearing descriptions of his wife and each of his children. His relationship with his children stands in stark contrast to his experiences with his own father - Nomura takes intense pride in his children (saying, quite simply, "She is great" to describe one of his daughters or "It's hard for a proud parent to be modest about him" to describe one of his sons) and both he and his wife develop an enviable, easygoing rapport with them.

Article Author: Sujatha Bagal

Sujatha Bagal is a writer based in the Washington, D.C. suburbs. She also blogs about parenting, travel, books, movies, food and politics at Blogpourri, which she started in Bangalore to document life as an expat in that city.

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