<i>Farewell to Manzanar</i> not a bestseller, but is steady

The only Japanese family in Ocean Park Impact of Pearl Harbor on her family Initial impact on life at camp Mixed blood people at camp from a child's point of view Embarrassed to talk about camp The birth of a novel through a conversation with her nephew Documenting family history for future generations Getting the book published Her father as a typical Issei East First Street the hub of Japanese American community California housing shortage after the war Farewell to Manzanar not a bestseller, but is steady Being involved in every aspect of the film Controversy over the film Trick in developing the film Unexpected positive reviews and an Emmy nomination Not a "camp story" but a human story Racism doesn't end

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I don’t think that the publishers thought for a minute it (Farewell to Manzanar) would ever be made into a film. It was kind of a conscious thing for them, or a conscious…we’re going to do this story. And I will tell you, I just never…you just never thought that it would be, you know, nothing like the other books that we’ve worked on or that I’ve done or Jim’s done that we thought would be, “Oh boy this might be a bestseller” or something.

But Farewell to Manzanar isn’t necessarily a bestseller, but it’s just steady and it even sells more now. You know, more people are reading it now because…I believe it’s because it’s accessible in that it speaks to a lot of people. You don’t have to be just Japanese, you know. It speaks to if you’re fat, if you were not pretty when you were young, you know. And it’s a father…I know that I’ve had kids call me up, write me letters about their fathers being alcoholics. So there are a lot of hooks there that people can hang their hat on in terms of their own empathy.

Date: December 27, 2005
Location: California, US
Interviewer: John Esaki
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

farewell to manzanar