Clark and Division

By: Naomi Hirahara

Narrated by: Allison Hiroto

Set in 1944 Chicago, Edgar Award-winner Naomi Hirahara’s eye-opening and poignant new mystery, 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.

Twenty-year-old Aki Ito and her parents have just been released from Manzanar, where they have been detained by the US government since the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, together with thousands of other Japanese Americans. The life in California the Itos were forced to leave behind is gone; instead, they are being resettled 2,000 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.

Inspired by historical events, Clark and Division infuses an atmospheric and heartbreakingly real-crime fiction plot with rich period details and delicately wrought personal stories Naomi Hirahara has gleaned from 30 years of research and archival work in Japanese-American history.

©2021 Naomi Hirahara (P)2021 Recorded Books

Impressive story telling

Historically accurate, yet intriguingly mysterious, Hirahara crafts a compelling story set in Chicago illuminating WW2 treatment of Japanese Americans.

Engaging story of sister love and honor

Naomi Hirahara's CLARK AND DIVISION (the name of a subway, or "L" station in Chicago) is basically about two sisters in a Japanese-American family living in Los Angeles after Pearl Harbor was bombed. It touches briefly on the years before that event when Aki's older sister Rose stuck up for her, and then in the Japanese detainment camp Manzanar how she became the strength of the entire family.
But most of the story takes place in Chicago when families were allowed to resettle in American heartland cities. Rose went first and when things were arranged, the family followed. The tragedy they faced on arrival was devastating, and Aki was determined to find the truth and to honor her sister.
The journey for Aki is long, painful, and increasingly dangerous. She makes good friends and bad enemies along the way. But she is determined and pushes forward to the explosive ending.
Hirahara has a way of writing strong human emotions with minimal words. And her characters are memorable and stay with you after the book is finished. Justice is served, but there are some loose ends, hopeful but unresolved, that I hope will be addressed in the next book, EVERGREEN.

Strong female protagonist educational window into internment of Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans in the USA

Good Twisty mystery, first person account of internment of young Japanese American woman and later resettlement with her parents in Chicago, a strange city to them. lt made me realize people were not able to go back to their old lives in America after the war ended. Their property, businesses, homes, cars, were stolen and they were not returned or compensated for them after the war ended. This family ended up living in poverty in Chicago.

Just Ok

The story seemed to drag on places. I’m not sure I would have liked it as much if I wasn’t familiar with Chicago; hearing about the city was interesting.

Great narration . Excellent story line.

The story gave an unpolished view of the shameful and outrageous internment of Japanese Americans during world II.
It also showed the strength and unity of the Japanese culture and how the communities and familys supported one another in the camps and resettlement afterwards when thousands lost everything they owned, their homes, and their businesses.