Dying in a strange land

by Milton Murayama

"Milton Murayama's long-awaited Dying in a Strange Land brings to a close the saga of the Oyama family. Familiar faces from All I Asking For Is My Body, Five Years on a Rock, and Plantation Boy return to advance the story from the years immediately following World War II to the 1980s. After her husband sinks them deep in debt, strong-willed and pragmatic Sawa takes charge of the family. Sawa says it's senseless to have so many children and not have one finish college, and she pushes Kiyo, Ann, and Scott to get college degrees." "Tosh, the eldest - who has long been saddled with the burden of his family's failures in addition to his own - is wise to his mother's "sob stories": "She goin' hold you to your samurai word," he warns his brothers. Even after he becomes an architect, Tosh is quick to blame his problems on oya kohkoh (filial piety)." "Living on the East Coast and unable to make ends meet as a writer, Kiyo, the third son, takes any job that doesn't leave him too word-weary or em