Evergreen (book)
Mystery novel by Naomi Hirahara set in postwar Los Angeles and sequel to Clark and Division (2021).
It is the spring of 1946 and Aki Nakasone returns with her parents to Los Angeles from Chicago, where they had moved two years earlier from Manzanar . They are soon joined by Aki's husband Art, discharged from the army where he had served in Europe with the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team . She finds a job as a nurse's aide at the Japanese Hospital of Los Angeles and manages to find the family a small home in Boyle Heights. A badly beaten Issei man Aki treats at the hospital turns out to be the father of Art's close army buddy, Babe Watanabe. Soon after his release, Babe's father returns to the hospital, this time with a gunshot wound, and succumbs soon after, with his son nowhere to be seen. Aki's attempts to track down Babe lead her into a netherworld of gangsters, decrepit trailer parks, and dire poverty. Her quest—and Art's new job as a reporter for the Rafu Shimpo —also strain their marriage as secrets build between them. Evergreen also examines the toll of battlefield trauma on returning veterans, the lingering impact of the wartime incarceration, and interactions between Japanese Americans and African Americans, Whites, and Jews in postwar Los Angeles.
Though Hirahara has authored three different series of mystery novels, she initially intended for Clark and Division to be a standalone. But the success of that book led her to reconsider. She also told Lincoln Der of her long interest in writing about Nisei women stemming from her time as editor of the Rafu Shimpo , a Los Angeles based vernacular newspaper that is the same one Art worked for. "I wanted to investigate their psyche beyond the demands put upon them as wives and mothers. It took me some time to take this on." Unlike the Chicago setting of Clark and Division , she knew Los Angeles well and also relied on back issues of the Rafu to place key events in the plot into an accurate historical timeline. [1]
Might also like Southland by Nina Revoyr (2003); Pineapple White by John Shirota (1972); Famous Suicides of the Japanese Empire by David Mura (2008)
Footnotes
- ↑ Lincoln Der, "The Heart of Naomi Hirahara's Evergreen," Discover Nikkei, Aug. 22, 2023, https://discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2023/8/22/evergreen/ ; Michael Schaub, "Naomi Hirahara was terrified at her first Bouchercon convention. Watch her now," The Orange County Register , Aug. 19, 2023, https://www.ocregister.com/2023/08/19/naomi-hirahara-was-terrified-at-her-first-bouchercon-convention-watch-her-now/ ; "California Book Club: Naomi Hirahara Transcript," Alta Journal , Aug. 18, 2023, https://www.altaonline.com/california-book-club/a44853010/california-book-club-naomi-hirahara-transcript/ , all accessed on July 14, 2025.
| Author | Naomi Hirahara |
|---|---|
| Pages | 312 |
| Publication Date | 2023 |
For More Information
Publisher websites: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/722061/evergreen-by-naomi-hirahara/ ; https://sohopress.com/books/evergreen/
Author website: https://www.naomihirahara.com/
Reviews
Ciccarelli, Julie. Library Journal , May 1, 2023. ["The author weaves a compelling tale, which is all the more poignant as it reminds readers of the shameful treatment of Japanese Americans, along with the racial prejudice still at work. A must-read."]
Kirkus Reviews , May 24, 2023. ["A thought-provoking noir with a searing period flavor."]
Nimura, Tamiko. " Naomi Hirahara’s Meticulously-Researched Mystery about Postwar Midcentury Japanese America. " International Examiner , Jan. 8, 2024, reprinted in Discover Nikkei, Mar. 14, 2024. ["The other delight is of course the meticulous historical research that Hirahara is known for in her fiction and nonfiction. She has a keen instinct for knowing what readers of post-Nisei generations are hungry for...."]
Powers, John. " This 'Evergreen' LA noir novel imagines the post-WWII reality of Japanese Americans. " Fresh Air, National Public Radio, Aug. 15, 2023. ["Yet for all her awareness of what was done to Japanese Americans, Hirahara doesn't let Aki or Art sink into hopelessness. On the contrary, the street they move to gives the book its title, Evergreen , a word filled with the promise of life going on."]
Publishers Weekly , May 11, 2023. ["Drawing on rich historical detail, Hirahara provides a visceral account of the hardships facing Japanese Americans during and just after WWII, and her lucid prose elevates this above standard mystery fare. It’s a memorable outing."]
Shiraki, Jill. "Murder and Emotions Unravel in Postwar Little Tokyo Mystery." Nichibei Weekly , July 20–Aug. 2, 2023, 11. ["Hirahara cleverly weaves together a riveting mystery with historical details of postwar Little Tokyo, touching on issues of race, postwar trauma and the rebuilding of community."]