Requiem

Also by Frances Itani

FICTION

Remembering the Bones

Poached Egg on Toast

Deafening

Leaning, Leaning over Water

Man Without Face

Pack Ice

Truth or Lies

Missing

Listen!

POETRY

A Season of Mourning

Rentee Bay

No Other Lodgings

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Linger by the Sea

Credits

COVER DESIGN: ROYCE M. BECKER

COVER PHOTOGRAPH: © JIM ZUCKERMAN / CORBIS

AUTHOR PHOTO: OTTAWA PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION

Review

“Remarkable … Understated … Requiem delicately probes the complex adjustments we make to live with our sorrows…. In this perfectly modulated novel, we see the emotional cost of suppression.”

—The Washington Post

“Itani writes with a delicate grasp of both the obvious and the unspoken, using ordinary words charged with extraordinary meaning to produce a serious book that nevertheless invites you to keep reading past midnight.”

—BookPage

“In Requiem, Frances Itani is at the height of her powers…. The Japanese- Canadian story has never been told with such passion, insight and telling detail…. Itani has told this story in amazing, cinematic detail…. [Requiem] is surely Itani’s greatest novel, although calling Requiem a novel does not do it justice. Requiem is a great work of literature from a determined author at the peak of her powers. It is also a sobering history lesson for all those Canadians who belittle other countries for their racism but are too smug and too blind to examine their own nation’s transgressions.”

—The Ottawa Citizen

“With Requiem, Itani has written an important and moving novel … told with painful and quiet eloquence.”

—Washington Independent Book Review

“Itani is an accomplished stylist; her prose is lyrical yet clear, her pace unhurried…. Itani’s empathy and understanding of human nature enliven her characters… . In this finely written, reflective novel, Bin’s physical journey and mindful recollections lead him to a place where he can choose to either hold onto his anger or make peace with his ghosts.”

—The Globe and Mail

“An undeniably respectful and moving homage to a shameful factual episode.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“Beautifully rendered … Both tribute and a wail of grief … Lyrical and undulating, Requiem rages too.”

—Telegraph-Journal

“An evocative and cinematic tale … Poignantly, the story’s determined brush strokes speak of quiet perseverance, underscoring the sense of loss, of talent suspended…. With a precise, elegant style Itani avoids the maudlin, and delivers a taut novel.”

—Maclean’s

“A beautiful, slow, meandering read that explores the past of Japanese Canadians in a particularly resonant way.”

—The Globe and Mail (Favorite Book of the Year)

Copyright

Requiem

Copyright © 2011 by Itani Writes Inc.

P.S. section © 2012 by Itani Writes Inc.

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