Under the Blood-Red Sun

This novel takes place in Hawaii, starting a little before the attack on Pearl Harbor. It deals with how the Issei (first-generation Japanese born) and Nisei (second generation Japanese born, but now American citizens) were treated before and after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Tomi is the central character of the book and through the events that happen to him and his family we first see the growing prejudice against anyone of Japanese ancestry in Hawaii, even before the start of World War II. Tomi's grandfather character is very distinctive and interesting. Tomi also has a white male friend, Billy, and we see that the prejudice can extend even to those who befriend anyone who has Japanese ancestry.

The story is very good, starting first with the normal lives of the characters, and then going into the actual attack on Pearl Harbor. Then the story deals with the aftermath of the attack as it concerns those people, including how persons of Japanese ancestry were subject to being taken by the FBI and other officials and placed in special camps, even though they were never actually charged with anything. The idea of holding someone for only a certain time, unless you could actually charge them with a crime, did not apply in this case.

The situation was much worse on the mainland where some 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry were removed from the West Coast and placed in internment camps and held for years, again with no charges being applied against them.

Most of the novels of this nature deal with events on the mainland, so it's good to have one like this, which is well-written and believable, deal with what happened in Hawaii.

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