4.5 Stars

I loved this book so much! I love reading books that dive into history that I do not know a lot about. This book was so eye opening for me. It was beautifully written. I will sing all the praises for this one! Highly recommend.

The narrator did an amazing Job! Lovely voice and easy to listen to.

Thank you to Brilliance Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audio book.

Falling Wisteria by Laila Ibrahim

Pearl Harbor had a huge effect on the USA but none more so than the Japanese Americans all forced to leave their homes. Kay Lynn had to watch her best friend Kimiko and her family end up in an internment camp. The men in her life are going to war and she has to find a way to make it in the world that is rapidly changing.

It's a really great historical fiction. It was well written and the pace was great. I could feel the anxiety and anguish coming off the page where Kay Lynn was concerned and I really felt like the author did an excellent job of keeping true to the realities of history while writing a beautiful story of friendship and survival.

4 stars

This moving story of families, friends, and neighbors who are ripped apart and brought together in the wake of World War II in the San Francisco Bay area highlights the discrimination and fear that ran rampant in our nation during that time.

This book is tied to previous novels by Ibrahim that started with Yellow Crocus. Main character Kay Lynn is a descendant of characters in those earlier books. I think I would have benefitted from reading them first in order to get a better understanding of her background. I felt a kinship to her as she struggles through a crisis of faith that feels a lot like my own. I mourned with her as her Japanese American neighbors were sent to an internment camp following the Pearl Harbor attack, as friends and family members go missing or are hurt or killed as a result of the war.

The story felt somewhat disjointed at times and I had a hard time keeping track of the many characters. All in all though, a decent read/listen. Great audio narration.

3.5 stars.

This is a story about a young woman called Kay-Lynn and is set in Berkeley during the 1940s. Falling pregnant at the end of high school, her boyfriend does the honourable thing and marries her. When we meet them, they’re still happy married and have 2 children. Over the following years, there are the following major plot lines:
- Kay-Lynn’s best friend is a fellow mum called Kimiko. As her name indicates, she’s of Japanese ancestry but was born in the US. Despite her US birth certificate, she’s treated as a potential traitor by the US government and carted off to a concentration camp in Utah along with her whole family. After the war, Japanese Americans are still treated as second-class citizens when it comes to housing etc. An utterly shameful episode in the “land of the free”.
- Kay-Lynn’s husband is initially exempted from the war draft as he’s a father but is eventually conscripted and sent to work at a missile loading site with minimal health & safety. You know what’s going to happen next….
- Kay-Lynn’s brother volunteers but is soon captured and a Japanese POW. Will he survive? Will he make it back?
- Post war, everyone’s trying to pick up the pieces and process their trauma. Will Kay-Lynn’s Unitarian faith be able to help here?

This is war seen through the eyes of an ordinary woman as she sees overseas conflict but also battles against the prejudices/racism at home. The scars war leaves are shown with the unspoken question of “when is war ever worth this cost?” running through it all.

I received an advance review copy of the audiobook for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a heartbreaking visit back to California in the days leading up to and the first few years following WWII. Two women, best friends, business partners, and the mothers of two young best friends, enjoy their lives and their relationships. One is white and one is of Japanese descent. their world is shaken tremendously by the world. The woman of Japanese descent, although she, her husband, and their children are all citizens, are moved to internment camps. Both husbands are called to duty to support the war. But other examples of racism and systemic discrimination come to light the lead character becomes more aware of the challenges that others face every day.

I loved the story and the storytelling. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was wonderful.

For readers who would like to read another great book on the Japanese internment, i recommend "On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet," which was a community read list few years ago.

Historical fiction is a genre that is near and dear to my heart. Falling Wisteria was a fabulous listen. It was a story about family and friendship that left me warm inside.