"Yamashita is so tuned into now, she can see tomorrow."—Booklist on Tropic of Orange, starred review
"Through the Arc of the Rainforest progresses toward an apocalyptic resolution that spreads out like a Bosch triptych reproduced by Gauguin. In this, her first novel, Ms. Yamashita presents a critique of human waste and stupidity that is fluid and poetic as well as terrifying."—The New York Times Book Review
Yamashita’s innovative melding of fiction and essay explores issues such as labor, nationalism, and cultural diaspora. When the grandchildren of Japanese immigrants to Brazil move to Japan to assume the manual work native Japanese people no longer want, their need for cultural belonging, their homesickness for details of their birthplace, clash with the status quo. This book of hybrids—merging collage with text, story with history—opens a door onto one of the important issues of the new century.
Yamashita has a powerful story to tell about a community that is globally extensive and the freedom—physical and emotional—implied by that new geography.
Karen Tei Yamashita is a winner of the American Book Award and the Janet Heidinger Kafka Award. She is an assistant professor of Literature and Creative Writing at the University of California in Santa Cruz.