I received the recently published novel Of White Ashes as a digital advanced readers copy. It eloquently fictionalizes the true story of the authors’ family as they suffered through the Second World War and its aftermath. The tale is based upon the experiences of author Kent Matsumoto’s parents as an American born Japanese boy living in Japan and an American born Japanese girl growing up in Hawaii when the war breaks out and follows them through the hardships of the war and its devastating ending precipitated by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Finally, the book describes how each parent coped with the tragedy of the war while living as American citizens in the United States after the war’s end.

The book is beautifully written both by Kent Matsumoto and his wife Constance Hays Matsumoto. The language of the novel is elegant in its descriptions of the beauty of Hiroshima and Maui before the war and brutal in its depictions of the horror of Kent’s mother’s family torn apart and taken from their idyllic home and locked up for many years in brutal internment camps as enemies of the US and the un- fathomable destruction, pain and suffering, and death witnessed by Kent’s father to his home and family and friends after the bomb exploded in Hiroshima. Although it’s obvious that Kent’s parents eventually meet and fall in love, their relationship and courtship takes many years and twists and turns to develop.

The trajectory of each of their lives, told in alternating sections written from each of their viewpoints, makes for an extremely compelling read, and I had a hard time putting the book down. Although I have read other books about the Japanese internment camps and descriptions of the bombings, none made the experiences as real and as gripping and captivating as Of White Ashes. Kudos to the authors for making the novel so engrossing. I recommend it highly.

Knowing an author’s inspiration for a story is always meaningful to me and even more so when it is inspired by a true story especially one related to the author’s family. I have read only a few books on Japanese internment camps and not much at all about the Japanese perspective of Hiroshima. Consequently, this was a learning experience, but more than that, it was a touching story.

Two people’s lives cross in California. Both American born Japanese, both having experienced loss, and trauma . Ruby growing up in Hawaii with the abuse of a vile stepmother and a father who closed his eyes to it. Koji growing up in Hiroshima and escaping its aftermath. Their stories before they met were heartbreaking, but it’s a lovely story of fate, of strength and resilience moving forward in spite of a past of hardship. Recommended.


I received a copy of this book from Apprentice House Press through NetGalley.

This story was a different aspect of WWII and i did learn much from it. With characters that will touch your heart, this novel will captivate you.
Many thanks to Apprentice House Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a well written story that must be read. So many people do not know the full story o the boning of pearl harbor to the extent that this story is told. A light must be shown on this horrible subject including how the Japanese Americans suffers as well as thousands and thousands of other people. The horrors of the booming of Hiroshima!

I so wanted to enjoy this story but it didn't grab my interest, and I had to put the book down. I'm sure other people will love it.

A well-balanced historical novel that takes place in Hawaii, Hiroshima, and California during the WW2 era. I call it well balanced because it presents the experiences of ethnic Japanese in both Japan and America with very little sugar coating. Yet, it is after all, a novel and it did have a happy ending after a lot of meandering. I think that for readers who want an easy way to understand this period of history, this is probably ideal.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. I appreciated how well researched it was and how nicely presented.

A beautiful and heartbreaking story of WWI from the side of the Japanese. In one case, Ruby and her family reside in Hawaii when ,shortly after the outbreak of the war, Ruby, her father, sister and step-mother are separated and relocated to internment camps as far from their Hawaiian home as they can imagine. The loss, the hardships endured and the frightening speculation about what may happen to them is well rendered and moving. Then there is Koji, living in Hiroshima, Japan. He survives the bombing of Hiroshima but it has taken such a toll on his young mind ( both characters are in their pre or early teens as the story unfolds). It is a frightful juxtaposition of the horrors of war and the cruel ways in which it twisted and destroyed lives beyond those who were combatants. This story was taken from real life accounts and stretches across time and geography. I had not read much about America's internment of Japanese during WWII and this book presents the challenges facing humanity on both sides of the Pacific. Well structured, well written and draws you in. Recommended

Based on the two authors’ family history, this is a compelling read. It follows both main characters as they navigate a world that made them an enemy because of their ancestry.
Ruby was very slow in releasing her grudges, of which there were many. However she finally realized it was hurting her the most.
It’s good historical fiction and allows readers an intimate view of the experiences for those with Japanese ancestry within the US during WWII and beyond.

An absolutely fascinating and extremely well written historical novel about two Japanese families, focusing on the daughter and son, one from each family…one living in Hawaii and the other living in Hiroshima. The book traces their lives from 1939, the bombing of Pearl Harbor through the bombing of Hiroshima and how these two families survived and dealt with the trauma of internment, destruction, and death. The story traces how these events effected and shaped their lives; the hope and despair and how they each overcame their experiences. Filled with family and individual love, it was a hard and heartwarming read. The detail of Hiroshima after the bombing was especially insightful. This novel is worth every bit of 5 stars, I wish I could have given it six!

Constance Hayes Matsumoto and Ken Matsumoto have written a beautiful and tragic story about part of US history that is still not too far in our past.

The Japanese Internment camps across parts of the US are the dirty secret that few know about. It's a topic that I studied extensively, including interviews with former US Senator Daniel K. Inouye. The fact that it's still something that can happen when the laws are in the wrong hands.

This is a book that has heartbreak, romance and overall, resilience. It's the story of America, of Japan, and of the power of love.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the published for this advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review. This review will appear immediately on Goodreads.
So much to unpack here. I am a heavy historical fiction reader but have been feeling like a departure because of all of the WWII historical fiction out there. I get it, the stories must be told before the last fades away! Much if not most of it is set in Europe however, so I welcome alternate experiences.
Based in a lot of fact and research, the reader is guided from Hawaii just before the Pearl Harbor attack to internment camps in America through the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and repatriation of Japanese Americans into a tired and wary society. So much to unpack!
How do families hear after such trauma and tragedy? How does one move on?
A personal note, I lived in Japan for 4 years. When we arrived, we learned a lot about post WWII Japan and how the Americans arrived (and stayed) and treated the Japanese with respect and more care than expected. We were taught about Hiroshima and toured many areas where the effects of WWII are still felt. I also lived in Hawaii for 4 years, experiencing the multi cultural islands and how they get along, and how Pearl Harbor’s echos remain today. I speak enough Japanese to understand most of the words said in this book, the foods they ate, and the rituals they have.My father fought in WWII in the pacific theater, in some of the battles mentioned in this book.
While I am not Japanese, this book was just so real to me. We never learn enough about the internment camps in the US, nor about the tragedy of Hiroshima. We just do not, I could not have appreciated Rubys school debate more. Brilliant.
I loved this book. I gobbled it in two sittings. I want to share this book with everyone. It’s not an easy read but necessary. I will suggest it for my book club and to my patrons.
5*

I found my favorite novel of the year, in this tragic but beautiful story, of two families, each experiencing WWII in different countries and in different ways, who meet and are able to blend their experiences and suffering into rich and satisfying lives.
While I was in college, one of our projects was writing a paper, reflecting an injustice in our history that affected the student.
I wrote about the similarities between the Germans persecution and elimination of Jews during WWII and the US internment of the Japanese. I had some knowledge of the Japanese people, recalling my father’s stories growing up in Hilo Hawaii and the Japanese community. He spoke a fair Japanese language and used to take us to the beautiful Japanese nursery near our home in S.F., as he looked for plants for his gardening business. He also shared with us, his affection for the Japanese neighbors of his childhood. Likewise I remember that same nursery standing empty, when it’s employees were removed and interned at some remote camp, and was puzzled that they were now the enemy.
Years later, when my daughter dated a fellow student of Japanese descent, his parents shared their story of internment. And this novel, brought those memories back.
The characters that the Matsumoto’s brought to this story were wonderful, sharing the rich culture of their people as well as their suffering. The descriptions of the bombing are horrific, and just brought forward, the strength it took to get beyond the experience and images that had to be ingrained in their memories. The research to do this is amazing.
My thanks to Apprentice House Press, NetGalley and the authors of the ARC of this five star worthy novel and one that should be included in every history class.

When the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, Ruby and her family leave the comfort and familiarity of Hawaii for a Japanese internment camp on the mainland. Her father is sent to one camp, and Ruby, her stepmother and sister are sent to another. Across the Pacific, Koji is pulled out of school and forced to work in a factory for the good of the Emperor. When the atomic bomb falls on his city, Koji, his brother, and parents open their home to help the survivors. Years later, Ruby and Koji meet in California, each bearing the scars of the past.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The war years were described in excruciating detail. I really felt for both Ruby and Koji and the circumstances they survived. The atomic bomb scenes were both heartbreaking and fascinating. In contract, most of their adult lives were glossed over and rushed through. While the young Ruby and Koki were multi-dimensional and well developed, the older characters were not. I wish the author had treated the older characters with as much detail as the younger. Because of this, the second part of the book just did not work. Overall, 3 out of 5 stars.

A parallel narrative story detailing Ruby, the Hawaii Japanese interned in American camps and Koji growing up in Hiroshima. Both suffer dreadfully during the Second World War in different ways: Koji loses his education, Ruby her freedom. Around 2/3 of the book, these two storylines converge as both their lives end up in post-war America.

Structurally, these parallel storylines should converge at the halfway point given that this novel is telling three stories (Ruby’s Koji’s, their joint lives). As they don’t, it leaves the final third feeling rushed and underdeveloped. It also means that the romance is quite rushed - they’re fighting for most of it then suddenly they’re marrying. There’s lots on the pre-war and during-war racism in America but the post war racism seems non-existent which doesn’t ring true.

Both of them have lots of scars from the war, especially mental, but they seem to get over them very quickly. Ruby’s trauma of the loss of her mother, her horrific stepmother, her weak absent father and the internment seems to disappear too quickly - if there’s scope for editing, this is one area to expand/develop.

An interesting read highlighting the plight of both Japanese Americans as well as your average Japanese citizen during the Second World War - with some structural changes, I’d rate this even higher.

Of White Ashes
I have read many WWII novels. Most of them were about the war in Europe and the Holocaust. This book was different as it depicted Japan and the West Coast of the United States and how Pearl Harbor and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki affected the two main protagonists in the novel. Ruby was born in the United States to Japanese parents and grew up in Hawaii. Koji was also an American citizen by birth but lived his whole childhood in Hiroshima.
After Pearl Harbor, Ruby’s father was arrested and jailed as an enemy alien in spite of being a leader in a Japanese temple and not having any political connections or activities. The rest of the family was interned in camps set up for Americans of Japanese descent and not freed until after the war ended. Koji’s farming family had a simple life in Japan until the devastating bombing of their home city Hiroshima. Koji had to keep his American origin in secret. After the bombing, Koji moves to the US and eventually Ruby’s and Koji’s paths cross. Can these two people forgive the trauma they have suffered during the war and give in to the attraction to each other? Or are the wounds so deep that they cannot be overcome? You will have to read the novel to find out. The synopsis of the novel mentions that the book was inspired by real events in the authors’ families.
I liked the book, but do have a few negative comments. Although there is a Japanese glossary at the end of the book, it interrupts the reader to constantly look up the meanings of words. The book would have had the same powerful affect if those Japanese words would have been in English. I found the second half of the book dragging and too long. Overall, this novel deserves four stars.
I received a complimentary copy of this book . Opinions are entirely my own.

Wow! What a great book! This book come to life as you travel through the experiences of Ruby and Koji and each of their families. This was a very difficult time in history that is described in detail and give understanding to what the Japanese people endured during this time. Very good read. I was given an advanced copy of this book by NetGalley and I am freely leaving my review.