Displaying 1 of 1 2021 Format: Book Author: Brina, Elizabeth Miki, 1981- author. Title: Speak, Okinawa : a memoir / Elizabeth Miki Brina. Edition: First edition. Publisher, Date: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2021. Copyright Date ©2021 Description: 289 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm Summary: "A searing, deeply candid memoir about a young woman's journey to understanding her complicated parents--her father a Vietnam veteran, her mother an Okinawan war bride--and her own, fraught cultural heritage. Elizabeth's mother was working as a nightclub hostess on U.S.-occupied Okinawa when she met the American soldier who would become her husband. The language barrier and power imbalance that defined their early relationship followed them to the predominantly white, upstate New York suburb where they moved to raise their only daughter. There, Elizabeth grew up with the trappings of a typical American childhood and adolescence. Yet, even though she felt almost no connection to her mother's distant home, she also felt out of place among her peers. Decades later, Elizabeth comes to recognize the shame and self-loathing that haunt both her and her mother, and attempts a form of reconciliation, not only to come to terms with the embattled dynamics of her family but also to reckon with the injustices that reverberate throughout the history of Okinawa and its people. Clear-eyed and profoundly humane, Speak, Okinawa is a startling accomplishment--a heartfelt exploration of identity, inheritance, forgiveness, and what it means to be an American"-- Provided by publisher. Notes: "This is a Borzoi book" -- title page verso. Includes bibliographical references. Subjects: Brina, Elizabeth Miki, 1981- Brina, Elizabeth Miki, 1981- -- Family. Brina, Elizabeth Miki, 1981- -- Travel -- Japan. Japanese American women -- Biography. Japanese Americans -- Ethnic identity. Japanese Americans -- Biography. Ryukyuans -- New York (State) -- Biography. Intercountry marriage -- New York (State) -- Syracuse. Racially mixed people -- Biography. Okinawa-ken (Japan) -- Biography. Genre: Biographies. Autobiographies. LCCN: 2020030710 ISBN: 9780525657347 0525657347 * 9780525657354 Other Number: 1154292370 System Availability: 5 Current Holds: 0 Control Number: 2322206 Request It Add to My List Share Expand All | Collapse All Find It Author Biography ELIZABETH MIKI BRINA is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Bread Loaf Scholarship and a New York State Summer Writers Institute Scholarship. She currently lives and teaches in New Orleans. - (Random House, Inc.) Large Cover Image Librarian's View Displaying 1 of 1