Clark and Division is an easy read. Fast paced.

Almost a young adult murder mystery.

What I like about the book is the coming-of-age story of a young Japanese woman, relocated to Chicago from an American incarceration  “Camp” during WW II.

It feels very natural and believable. Almost like reading her diary.

She learns about racism, sexism, corruption, and violence in the USA.

Set in 1944 Chicago …

… the story of a young woman searching for the truth about her revered older sister’s death, brings to focus the struggles of one Japanese American family released from mass incarceration at Manzanar during World War II.

… The life in California the Itos were forced to leave behind is gone; instead, they are being resettled two thousand miles away in Chicago, where Aki’s older sister, Rose, was sent months earlier and moved to the new Japanese American neighborhood near Clark and Division streets.

But on the eve of the Ito family’s reunion, Rose is killed by a subway train.

Aki, who worshipped her sister, is stunned. Officials are ruling Rose’s death a suicide. Aki cannot believe her perfect, polished, and optimistic sister would end her life. Her instinct tells her there is much more to the story, and she knows she is the only person who could ever learn the truth.

naomihirahara.com

Naomi Hirahara is an American writer and journalist. She edited the largest Japanese-American daily newspaper, The Rafu Shimpo.