Press > Book Review by Rebecca Brown
As Carl Nomura writes in his Preface: "Writing has always been important in my work. I wrote scientific articles when I was a scientists, and white papers and memos when I was in management. When I retired making the transition from the cold and inert world of science and business to the warm and pleasant ambiance of an artists' community, I figured the time had come to write about my experiences."
Which start, as no other I have known, with The Roll of a Bottle, when Carl Nomura's father a "stern, uncompromising man, with a ferocious temper and a childish temperament" ordered his far-flung children to return to the nest because an old Japanese superstition was that should a bottle roll toward you over a table, you had only three more years to live. This proved remarkably accurate for the tyrant of the Nomura family.
Mizuko Takahashi Nomura, Carl's mother, was entirely different. Born in the lap of luxury in Japan, she grew into a pampered princess who towered over her countrymen. A good student, she longed to get away from a stepmother who loathed her. As fate would have it, a widower with two children, came back from America to find another wife. Mizuko followed him to Seattle, only to discover she was not to be the cosseted, adored wife – her destiny would be to labor on her husband's farm. This was just before World War I.
Ten years later, husband & wife gave up on farming & went to work for the railroad in Deer Lodge, Montana & where in a boxcar, Saburo (later to be called Carl) – the third son, was born.
Sleeping on Potatoes is a grand adventure of a life – from dire poverty to the American Dream. About a time when teachers couldn't pronounce names of foreign heritage & handed out "English" ones without batting an eye. From a time of exclusionary racism to a nation at war, & having to watch European enemies being treated better than American-born citizens.
Carl Nomura has a delightfully wry sense of humor, which bubbles to the surface at surprising moments, to bring a chuckle or a giggle to the dust & dirt of the American experience of being the wrong kind of people.
That this American made it into the world of sciences, gaining his bachelor's, master's & doctorate degrees in a time when to be of Japanese descent was anathema, is a testament to his chutzpah & determination to be as American as Horatio Alger.
Sleeping on Potatoes is a memoir which needed to be told, it is also a grand story from which we all can benefit because it is written with brief, luminous strokes & is funny & sly, alarming & wry, telling of one man's path through the unique American white water of prejudice, as well as the best revenge – of living the good life & thriving!
While Carl Nomura offers memories of his family & sketches from his life, he mixes "past-past" with "when I was older"-past in a delightful compôte of relational connections, jokes, letters, essays & vignettes.
Sleeping On Potatoes is much more than a memoir, it is the sum of one feisty & interesting Spirit's sojourn on earth & how he'd like to be remembered.
Very well done – a keeper!
(05/09/04)