Crown City
A man is tasked with finding a missing painting in Naomi Hirahara’s historical novel Crown City.
While adrift in grief, Ryui is offered a job in California by his father’s former client. After a harrowing voyage from Japan, he enters a world of boardinghouses and streetcars; he sets to work at an emporium specializing in Japanese crafts. Ryui’s immigrant status gains him a spot on the waitstaff of noted artist Toshio Aoki for his Cherry Blossom dinner. After the dinner, Aoki implies that Ryui stole a painting. When Ryui protests his innocence, Aoki offers an alternative: Find the missing painting.
Ryui is young, inexperienced, and rigid in his thinking. His culture shock is evident in the comparisons he makes between American and Japanese culture. He clings to his cultural sensibilities as a way to stay connected with his homeland and build relationships in Pasadena, but with varying degrees of success.
Set in the early 1900s, the story is framed by two letters sent from a Japanese internment camp. This is a clear indication that anti-Japanese sentiment will play a role, but the book unfolds in ways both familiar and unexpected. The slow pace of the investigation into the missing painting provides ample opportunity for Ryui to explore his new home and make his own decisions for the first time. The novelty of it all allows him to describe all in exacting detail without overburdening a narrative balancing his coming-of-age, his growing understanding of prejudice, and the mystery. The language is evocative and immersive, lending weight to Ryui’s observations, and real people and events add historical credence and narrative depth to the mystery.
Crown City is a measured coming-of-age novel in which a man ponders what must be preserved for the sake of one’s cultural identity.
Reviewed by
Dontaná McPherson-Joseph
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