The Floating World

This novel is an intriguing tale of a Japanese migrant family in 1950 told in vignettes from the eyes of the teenage daughter. The family are Japanese fruit pickers, chicken sexers and mechanics who travel around the United States merging their traditional culture with the poor south. The old grandmother is a gem of fear and wisdom. The book has high emotions and lovely language that is heavy-handed and quick. It catches the reader, forcing laughter and gasps, sometimes both at once!

Cynthia Kadohata's brilliant first novel is one of the few works in recent years that can bear comparison to Twain and Salinger's classics. In can be read for simple pleasure, for its subtle, profound depiction of a two- fold journey (both physical and spiritual), and for its exquisite artistry