This book shows it's age a bit, in how some things are handled, but it is a generally good look at way in which Japanese-Americans were put in camps in the American west... and how their presence clashed with the Americans who were sending their sons to war. Clashed and cooperated.

The Heart Mountain Relocation Center, Wyoming, (now a museum) was an actual internment camp where thousands of Japanese, both immigrants and American citizens, were relocated after Pearl Harbour. Greta Ehrlich uses the real place as a base for her fictionalised account of life in such a camp, and chronicles the interactions of the deportees with the local community. In this vivid and often heart-breaking novel we meet some of the Japanese as they try to adjust to their new life, and we also become acquainted with the local community, mainly farmers and ranchers. The focus is on McKay, a young man deemed unfit to fight and who struggles to keep the family ranch going whilst his brothers are away serving in the military. This is just the bare bones of the story and it is best to let the narrative unfold slowly, as in real life. I found this an insightful, compassionate and deeply moving novel. McKay stole my heart, and reminded me very much of some of Larry McMurtry’s heroes – strong, tough, capable, but with tender hearts. It’s a very human story, one in which politics and love often collide in unexpected ways. Ehrlich’s descriptions of the Wyoming landscape are beautiful, and her descriptions of the physical and emotional pain and loss of war equally evocative. An excellent read.

I was offered this chance to review the re-issue (as an ebook) of what I believe was Gretel Ehrlich's first novel because I have reviewed many of the works of Ivan Doig, and I accepted it because of that connection, the historical and physical setting of the book, and the fact that I am aware of Gretel Ehrlich as a respected writer. I certainly wasn't sorry.

The story tackles a lot, wrangling the parallel stories of at least 6 people into something that works pretty well as a portrait of a community (or more accurately communities) in a time of struggle. Objectively, I think it probably would be a stronger book if it had tracked at least one less person, but all the threads do contribute to a strong whole.

It is impossible for me not to draw some comparisons with Ivan Doig, who wrote about a similar area. Ehrlich shares his ability to draw an evocative picture of a time and place, and her characters are well drawn, with a depth and complexity that makes them worth the writing. I did feel while reading that the book lacked something that I expect when I read Doig's works, and I think that I will call it warmth. This is a grim story in so many ways, and rightly so--it was a grim time, and the deportation of Japanese Americans to concentration camps in the interior was ugly. Even so, I think I would have enjoyed the book more had there been that warmth, that touch of humor, that allows a story to tell of grim events without weighing the reader down.

But several days after finishing the book, I am still contemplating some aspects of it, and seeing value in aspects of it that on first reading I thought gratuitous. Some parts that at first feel like they are intrusions by minor characters help to add depth and complexity to our understanding of the nation's treatment of the Japanese Americans (not justification, because some things cannot be justified, but we can at least understand the causes. Perhaps that understanding can help prevent similar mistakes from being made in the future). And that is proof to me that this is a good novel, and one that deserves reading, and possibly re-reading.

My Recommendation:
Read it. If you have any interest in American history, WWII, or how racism informs our actions, read it. And if you want to know what a Wyoming winter feels like, or a summer...read it. It's not a light book, but it does cast a good light.

Heart Mountain

by Gretel Ehrlich

Maybe this is a personal thing, (but judging by the surfeit of books on this topic I'm guessing it's not) but I find stories on Japanese internment camps an interesting counterpoint to the many stories of World War II that find their settings in Europe. It is a similar instinct to watching a train wreck, I think, witnessing after the fact such an obvious breach of the rights and principles we've come to expect as our own. So yes, I get that, and I am a little ashamed for finding it gripping. Heart Mountain was a real place, and the author, who primarily wrote non-fiction before this novel, researched the topic well. This is a good and bad thing, with some parts overladen with the type of facts you don't really see (or need) in a novel.

While I found the topic compelling, some of the characters were barely more than stereotypes, which slowed the story. The tension at the internment site was much more natural and plausible than the accompanying romantic plot line, which I didn't find very credible. I'm not sure how it stacks up against the other books on this topic, but I did think it added an unexplored point of view.

One other note: If you are looking for a summary of the book, you'll find one on Amazon - the Goodreads version is oddly vague.


For Goodreads:

Why I picked it — I have read a bunch of books on the topic, and the multiple viewpoints interest me.
Reminded me of… When the Emperor Was Divine, by Julie Otsuka, and Tallgrass, by Sandra Dallas
For my full review — click here

In the 1940s, during World War II, Japanese-Americans were forced to move to interment camps around the US while their constitutional rights were suspended, by a government that was supposedly fighting against fascism in Asia and Europe.

This is a story set in one of those camps, Heart Mountain in Wyoming, and the people who were confined in there, whose inner conflict was caused for the feeling betrayal by their own country, for which they would have fight for if allowed, since most of them were born as US citizens and view themselves as Americans.

On the other hand, there are also characters from the nearby town and farms; men who aren’t allow to join the army for their physical disabilities, women running their farms alone, not knowing if their husbands are still alive, etc., addressing the war from many different points of view.

I was really shocked by the internment camps for the Japanese Americans, which I had never heard or read of, so I began this novel with enthusiasm, expecting to immerse myself in a great piece of historical fiction but, despite how much I wanted to like the book, I couldn’t connect with the characters – there are too many of them, each chapter told from every one’s perspective, and sometimes the plots aren’t relevant to the story. I first thought the author wanted to tell a story about the interactions between the camp people and the locals, but there are many secondary plots about local characters on their own, with things happening out of the blue for no purpose whatsoever. In the end, the only parts I enjoyed were the descriptions of the seasonable work with the cattle in the mountains, riding for days in that beautiful scenery.

So, as you would have guessed, I can’t recommend the book. There are too many characters and I haven’t really connected with their stories, regardless of the appeal the internment camps as a theme represent.

This is very much a case of it's me, not you. There was nothing particularly wrong with this book, although the writing was a little clunky at times, but I just couldn't get into it. I wasn't connected to the characters and I didn't really care about the plot. If it sounds interesting to you, I would still recommend it as I have seen quite a few good reviews but as I have said it didn't work for me.

Heart Mountain by Gretel Ehrlich is a sprawling historical epic that combines Western fiction with WWII fiction to provide a moving account of Wyoming ranchers keeping the home fires burning during the war and of Japanese-Americans who were imprisoned (interned) at the Heart Mountain relocation camp. Told from multiple viewpoints, the novel is a bit choppy and disjointed starting out, but stick with it. The author slowly immerses you in the geography, the workaday world, and the intense emotional lives of very varied characters. As WWII fiction generally focuses on the atrocities committed by the enemy, it’s too easy to forget about the ugly side of the war effort at home. Heart Mountain shows the conflicting feelings of those left behind (too old to fight, deferred for medical reasons, women) and those disillusioned by fighting (a medic, a prisoner of war, and a wounded soldier, as well as a Japanese-American pilot). It also shows the varying responses of those interned and of the isolated community surrounding the camp. This is straightforward, old-style historical fiction and recommended for twentieth century historical novel fans.

I did not finish this book. I found myself bored and irritated with the lackluster storytelling.

The book description is somewhat deceiving describing this as "the story of Japanese Americans forced into a relocation camp-- set in Wyoming during WWII." It turned out to be not just about the internment camps and the people there, but a blend of their stories with the people in the Heart Mountain area . It provides a view of how the war impacted both the Issei, the Japanese immigrants and the Nisei, Japanese Americans and a lot more about the people living in the area that I expected.

There are two major alternating narratives, one of a young man in the town outside of Heart Mountain and one of a young man inside the internment camp. McKay is a cattle rancher who is deemed not fit to serve because of an injury but his two brothers are off to the war leaving him to tend to the ranch. Kai is Nisei, trying to figure out who he is - torn between two worlds and disillusioned with the country he was born in as he is captive in the camp. There of course are interactions between the people in both sides that makes for an appealing story line. An accidental shooting brings McKay to Mariko. I felt connected to these main characters and was always interested in what would happen with them. For me the problem was that there were just too many other characters especially outside of the camp and what was happening with them made the overall story of this shameful period in our history feel a bit diluted. I felt distracted from what I thought was the heart of the story.

It just didn't have the depth or intensity of Snow Falling on Cedars or When the Emperor Was Divine, two other books about the internment that I've read. However, this appears to be an accurate depiction of this history, as the author has interviewed people who actually were interned at Heart Mountain, conducted significant research at archives and universities as well as personally written accounts.

I received an advanced copy of this from Open Road Media Access through NetGalley.