Book, 1995 by David GutersonThis is the kind of book where you can smell and hear and see the fictional world the writer has created, so palpably does the atmosphere come through. Set on an island in the straits north of Puget Sound, in Washington, where everyone is either a fisherman or a berry farmer, the story is nominally about a murder trial. But since it's set in the 1950s, lingering memories of World War II, internment camps and racism helps fuel suspicion of a Japanese-American fisherman, a lifelong resident of the islands. It's a great story, but the primary pleasure of the book is Guterson's renderings of the people and the place.
Movie, 1999 directed by Scott HicksFeatures: Ethan Hawke, Youki Kudoh
Tagline: First loves last. Forever.
Awards: Nominated for Best Cinematography Oscar
Did you know? Many of the extras in the scene where the Japanese are sent to internment camps were Japanese-Americans who had actually been sent to the camps in the 1940s.
Have you read the book or seen the movie?
