Hoffman, Erin: At the Foot of the Lighthouse
At the Foot of the Lighthouse (Todai Moto Kurashi) (2012)
Written by: Erin Hoffman
Art by: Scott Bakal
Genre: Short Story/Magical Realism
Published by: Tor.com
Rating: Good Read
When I need to take a break from work, one of the few websites I visit is Tor.com, and today, when I loaded it up, I was greeted with a new Tor.com short story. I rarely read those, even if they interest me, so my initial thought was, "Oh, that's nice," and then I read the title and the author.
Erin Hoffman was my roommate at the Odyssey Writer's Workshop back in 2005. And as soon as I saw her name, I remembered her talking about the story on Facebook, and I immediately started reading.
So in case it's not apparent, let's make it super-duper obvious:
Disclaimer: I know and am friends with the author.
It was an odd reading: I had to stop and come back later on another break and read a little bit more. Before writing this review, I wanted to go through it a second time, but for this second time, I wanted to read it all in one sitting. So the review is based on two reads, but it's more personal reflection than a total review, so you've been warned.
I can't remember when I first learned of Japanese internment camps in the United States during World War II. I do remember that when I first learned of them, I felt betrayed, because in all my studies during middle school and high school, I never learned much about Japan during WWII, except that Pearl Harbor brought the U.S. into the war, and that we ended it by hitting Japan with two atomic bombs. And that's simplifying it to the extreme.
It was a betrayal. Not because it's my heritage, but the second World War was fascinating to me while growing up, but all we focused on was the Holocaust, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I am saying that when I learned that the U.S. had interment camps during that same war, it was simply betrayal.
I still don't know a whole lot about the American war with Japan during WWII, nor do I know anything about those camps. My husband and I watched HBO's mini-series The Pacific early this year, and damn if that wasn't an eye-opener. There's so, so much I don't know, and reading Hoffman's story reminded me just how ignorant I am in this regard.
Why I'm sharing this with you, I don't know. I guess I believe in being up front and honest about our limitations, and I definitely believe that in regards to reviews, context is important.
Hoffman's story made me think. A lot.
Before I get into any kind of meaty review, I do want to share one thing: this story is obviously very, very personal to Hoffman. I don't say that because I know her and consider her a friend (although I do); I say that because one click on her author photo should let people know this story is coming from a personal place. She's not Ms. Whitey McWhite writing about something from the outside in, but rather the inside out. If you're interested in the genesis of Hoffman's story, as well her inspirations and how it relates to her own history, please click here for her blog entry. It's quite good, but please, do yourself and read the story first.
And now, the review:
The story invites multiple readings. It's one of those sneaky ones that you read a certain way the first time through, and by time you hit the ending, you realize you need to read it again from a different point of view. Those, in my opinion, are always the best stories, because that means there's layers, and the possibility of getting more out of said story out of every read.
Hoffman's story is utterly bitter and ironic, a kind of sucker punch that leaves you in a kind of shock long after the story is finished. That ending, as well as the beginning, of this story is what's the strongest. The middle left a lot of questions open for me as a reader who's pretty much completely ignorant about that time in history. While it certainly invites the reader to learn more, there's something to be said about writing in such a way that allows the reader to fill in the blanks. Some readers will get EXACTLY what you're doing, no hand-holding required. Other readers will draw the wrong conclusions, and there's no way to control that without spelling everything out to the letter, and that takes away from the story's inherent beauty and bitterness.
Oh, and it is bitter. Christ, the irony of the ending still gets to me, but it's perfect. It speaks volumes, and even though the story left me with many questions, I can forgive it simply for the beginning, and the end.
And the writing just has some beautiful moments too. No, I'm not saying that because I know the author. If you don't know me better than that, then you will in time. Here's some quotes:
For a few more moments she just breathes, urging still, still. At last she throws her younger self into the stove and quickly picks up another item, casting it in after, as if to bury the memory of the last. But the next object, a box of hanafuda cards, stops her again. She extracts a small card from the carved container and tucks it into her belt without looking at it. The tendons in her hand are tight like the claws of a sparrow clenched around a morsel of bread. Then the box follows the letters, which are already blackened throughout and quickly melting to ash.
And this:
Grandmother was born in a fishing village north of Shizuoka. Even some of our neighbors think that she’s a foreign national, but she got her citizenship in 1923, right before they passed the Oriental Exclusion Act. Two years ago, they made her report to the town hall. She came back with her fingertips black from the Custodial Detention Index. Days after the ink was gone, she would rub her hands against her woolen housecoat when she thought no one was looking.
Hoffman is the author of Sword of Fire and Sea, and the recently released sequel Lance of Earth and Sky. If you've ever wanted to try her work, I highly recommend you giving this short story a try. It's highly representative of her writing style, and while her two novels are more epic fantasy in flavor, I still find her short stories to be better in quality (granted, I haven't read the second novel yet). At any rate, she's a talent to watch in the coming years.
And no, I'm not just saying that because she's a friend of mine.