- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (Oct 29 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0345452771
- ISBN-13: 978-0345452771
- Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 2.2 x 20.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 318 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,071,361 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Stories nestle inside stories like a set of Russian dolls in Bird's (Virgin of the Rodeo) wonderful fifth novel. Set in the late 1960s, it is narrated by 18-year-old Bernie, the eldest of six children in the peripatetic Root family. After her freshman year in college, Bernie joins her nomadic kin at their current home, an Okinawan air force base. They have changed: her younger sister, Kit, is out of control and "now being played by Lolita"; her once glamorous mother, Moe, is overweight and depressed; her father, who was a heroic and swaggering fighter pilot, has become a distant, self-loathing "ground pounder." And Bernie can't stop thinking of Fumiko, the family's former maidservant, whom no one is allowed to mention. Before being sucked into the family's torpor, Bernie escapes by winning a dance contest that lands her in Tokyo as the stage partner of Bobby Moses, a third-rate borscht belt comedian. There she delves into the past to solve the mystery surrounding Fumiko's disappearance and her family's deterioration. Bernie sharp and snarky, yet severely introverted is a delightful heroine, and the large cast that swirls around her is equally endearing. Particularly fine are the wisecracking yet nurturing Moe and the oddly touching Bobby Moses, who's vulgar and mediocre, but insistent on professionalism. The dialogue is first-rate, and all the '60s brand-name dropping is amusing; the decade becomes fresh again when seen from the unusual perspective of a military family (especially this one) removed from mainland society. (June) Forecast: Bird has David Sedaris's gift for mining scathing wit from family dysfunction. Only one of her earlier novels is still in print, but hopefully her move to Knopf (and a slew of enthusiastic blurbs from the likes of Rick Bass) will help her to win the large readership she deserves.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-Bird has created a deftly choreographed journey of the heart, delicate and nuanced in its disclosure of painful family secrets, yet liberally seasoned with robust humor. Readers travel with 18-year-old Bernie Root as she returns from her freshman year of college in the States to visit her military family, currently stationed on Okinawa. The "fresh eyes" with which she views her parents and five younger siblings will resonate with many teens. Beyond this, the complex range of emotions generated by her reentry into life on a military base, with all its familiar, yet insular and confining, characteristics is poignantly captured. Bernie's distress at her parents' deteriorating marriage and her continuing thorny relationship with her beautiful younger sister provide a sober backdrop that is nevertheless leavened by vignettes and hilarious reminiscences of life on the move and the pitfalls of always being the new kid in town. At the core of the story is the protagonist's attempt to unveil the mystery surrounding the disappearance of a beloved servant who lived with the family 10 years prior when they were stationed in Japan, while the father was assigned to a squadron flying surveillance missions shrouded in secrecy. Bernie intuitively senses that discovering Fumiko's fate is key to understanding the forces that are destabilizing her family. The revelations that ensue lead her along a path of self-discovery to a heartrending confrontation with the harsh consequences of one's actions, and to a new level of maturity. A beautifully paced story, especially recommended for (but not limited to) any locale with a military base nearby.
Lynn Nutwell, Fairfax City Regional Library, VA
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
On the map at the back of the pamphlet, Japan resembles a horned caterpillar rearing up in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
On the map at the back of the pamphlet, Japan resembles a horned caterpillar rearing up in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
I've read this five times,
By Ramstein66 (Germany) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Yokota Officers Club (Hardcover)
Bernie,17, Ace Stunned Air Force Brat Who Eventually Evolves: one of three heroines in a tragicomedy of female survival against very high odds. The other two, Bernie's Irish singing former nurse Mom, Moe, and Moe's Japanese servant and friend could not have more different backgrounds, yet share enduring strength and loyalty which weld them together but eventually endangers much more than their friendship. Bernie fights to make sense of the non-information which frames her brat existence upon returning to her family on a U.S. Air Base on a Japanese island, after a year at a state-side university agitating against the Vietman war. Her five sibs and mother "man the fort" while her fighter pilot father disappears on secret missions. Bernie gets lucky and manages to escape the tedium by touring crumbling military clubs as a gogo dancer, but pays a high price for her temporary freedom - until she uses her joy of dancing to right an old and painful wrong.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Why did it have to end?,
By Caroline W. "Caroline W." (Birmingham) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Yokota Officers Club: A Novel (Paperback)
I think this book replaced The Mommy Club as my favorite by Sarah Bird. It's a definite two-time read, but I'm saving it for later so I can savor it.Bernie, like most of the author's heroines, isn't quite mainstream. The only place in the world where she fits in is within her nuclear family, which travels around the world because their father is in the military. Her sister, Kit, is beautiful, popular, and walks into any group of people expecting to be adored - and is. Bernie watches this her whole life, not knowing what Kit is talking about when she says "Making friends is the easiest thing in the world." Bernie, on the other hand, has never had a friend except for their family's servant, Fumiko, years ago in Japan. There's a mystery surrounding her, and it affects her family because it was at the time Fumiko was sent away that Bernie's parents began speaking to each other through the children: "Tell your mother-", "Tell your father-" Nobody mentions Fumiko's name again. Given a second chance to find Fumiko, Bernie travels back to Japan as the partner of a bad comedian, who makes her bleach her hair blond, wear tons of makeup, go by the name Zelda, and dance to Peter, Paul and Mary in go-go boots that are two sizes too small. Bernie hates Peter, Paul and Mary. The story, like most of Sarah Bird's stories, is hilarious and poignant all at once. And in this case, it has to be her best yet.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Air Force Brat Experience,
By snarkypants (North Central Texas) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Yokota Officers Club: A Novel (Paperback)
I found Ms. Bird's book through an article in Texas Monthly, where she stated that all Air Force families have a shared culture, especially those who lived overseas. She listed things that such families probably have in their house, including: swords from Spain, Philippine wood carvings, Japanese dolls, copper and brass from Turkey. I did a mental inventory of the contents of my parents home and found the same items.This book is so poignant and beautifully written. "Bernie" comments that going back to her Air Force "home" is like a Jew going back to Krakow: the buildings are still there, but there's no one there who ever knew you. I've felt the same thing several times, wanting to go back to the overseas base where I grew up, watched movies, went to school, etc.; that base is now closed, and I'll never be able to show my old house, my old school, to my husband and daughter. This is a beautiful, bittersweet book, and it will live with me for a long time. I eagerly await Ms. Bird's next book.
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