The Floating World (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Cynthia Kadohata
- First Published: 1989
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: The 1950’s and 1960’s
- Setting: California, Oregon, Arizona, Nebraska, and Arkansas
- Principal Characters: Olivia Ann, Obasan, Mariko, Charlie-o, Walker
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: 1950’s
- Locales: United States
The Floating World is Cynthia Kadohata’s first novel. It details the impressions of its narrator and central character, Olivia Ann, as she travels by car with her Japanese American family in the Far West, settles with them in Gibson, Arkansas, and strikes off on her own in Los Angeles. The mostly episodic plot is organized around these three phases in the narrator’s growth from childhood to young womanhood.
The floating world, or ukiyo, refers to the unsettled life that Olivia’s family leads until they settle in Arkansas, to the “fears, resentments,...
[The entire page is 2188 words long]
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