Otsuka’s style, throughout, When the Emperor Was Divine, may strike people as a minimalist approach to the topic at hand, and I do agree. I think that for such a topic, which is clearly such an emotional nightmare for any family, Otsuka tried to leave out a lot of the blatantly overwhelming emotional dialogues to let the reader read between the lines, and try to force them to imagine how it would be in such a situation. I think that after reading Push, which is clearly a much more disturbing novel on the surface, When the Emperor Was Divine, was much harder to get the full experience from the novel that the author desired. I think that it could have been a better read if not read so soon after Push. I think the monotonous tone is not so much an example of a minimalist approach, but rather a way of showing the reader how the family tried to maintain optimistic while in an obviously excruciating circumstance. I think that most families would react this way, as to not discourage the others, and simply act level-headed. I think that her tone can be considered minimalist throughout the novel, yet I think that it plays a bigger role in letting the reader connect on their own, instead of being thrown into a situation that few people are well-informed about, if familiar with the internment camps at all.
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