The Language Inside

Emma Karas, a Caucasian American raised in Japan, considers herself Japanese. When her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer and the family must return to the U.S., Emma feels displaced from her home, especially as the move coincides with the Japanese earthquake and tsunami that devastates part of the country. Living in New England with her paternal grandmother, Emma longs for the familiarity of Japanese food, culture and friends. However, a volunteer job in a rehabilitation center and a chance meeting with a Cambodian American boy gives her reason to acclimate. Both young people are charged with creating poetry .However, Samsang, a complex Cambodian boy, also helps refugees from Pol Pot’s regime deal with survivor’s guilt. This is show more a remarkable, visually arresting book. Thompson writes in free verse because Emma and the stroke victim she aids write poetry, one letter at a time, and Emma journals her own poems. The format of the book is evocative in a way that I have seldom encountered with edged page designs and origami cranes decorating the pages. As a migraine sufferer, Emma tells us about her pain, but Holly Thompson shows us her symptoms, the aura and partial blindness that so many migraine sufferers know, with the rearrangement of words and empty spaces. It is an astonishingly accurate visual depiction of what a migraine feels like. This is a book full of teachable moments and themes: displacement, survivors’ guilt, identity, loyalty, illness, friendship, and family. The ability of Zena, the stroke survivor, to express her inner turmoil through poetry, will inspire young readers to try their hand at their own poems. This is a story that belongs in that rare collection of cross-over books because of the elevated quality of the writing and the masterful handling of difficult themes. show less

Author, Holly Thompson uses free verse to weave together a great multi-cultural story about family, friends, love, hardship, and what to do when the language inside doesn’t match the language outside.

The main character, Emma, and her family move from Japan (the only home Emma’s ever known) when her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer. The family moves to Massachusetts to stay with a relative so that her mom can be treated in Boston.

Her mother’s breast cancer, the move - it all leaves Emma with a lot of stress and she starts to suffer from severe migraines. Emma also experiences a lot of guilt having left Japan right after it was struck by the tragedy of a Tsunami. She feels she should be there with her friends to help clean up show more the destruction and start rebuilding.

Her grandmother signs Emma up to volunteer at a long-term care facility while she’s in town. She is there to help a patient named Zena , who suffers from locked-in syndrome, write poetry. The only way Zena can communicate is with her eyes. Emma has to hold up an alphabet board organized by row and color, reading each one out until Zena looks up to select a letter. I found this dynamic of the story to be very heartwarming as we get to watch Zena and Emma’s relationship grow as they connect with one another through their mutual love of poetry.

There is also a small romance aspect to the story between Emma and Samnang, a fellow volunteer at the care facility. It’s a sweet relationship that develops slowly throughout the story but at times it was frustrating too because they weren’t even going out but Emma would get all worked up and upset if he hung out with another girl *insert eye roll*.

“I look at him
and he looks straight back at me
into me
and there’s a calm
between us

we are just sitting, breathing,
and I think we are smiling
with out eyes.”

As you can see, this book deals with a lot of different issues; breast cancer, locked-in syndrome, post traumatic stress disorder, and migraines, to name some, but it does so effortlessly, weaving them together into one coherent and touching story about one girl’s journey to find herself. show less

The Language Inside by Holly Thompson is a novel in verse, realistic fiction.

Emma Karas is a white girl, but she's really more Japanese than American. She has lived in Japan most of her life and loves the culture and food. When her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer, Emma's family moves outside Lowell, Massachusetts for medical treatment. Emma is devastated. Her best friend's family was hit badly by the tsunami and Emma feels she should stay and help. Upon arriving in the United States, Emma feels lost without the food and culture she loves. Her grandmother opens her home to the family but serves American food.

Upon the urging of her grandmother, Emma begins volunteering with a woman at a facility who cannot speak or move due to a show more massive stroke. Emma and Zena form a bond over poetry. Emma is really good with Zena and even helps Zena's daughter learn how to communicate with her mother. Emma meets Samnang who drives her places and volunteers with her. She also joins activities at school and begins to make friends. She still feels guilty and misses Japan, but she's beginning to find a way to belong. She's never had migraines but develops them upon living in the US. When her mother's recovery will take longer than anticipated, Emma's father has to return to work in Japan. Emma feels pulled between a life she loves and her new budding life.

The novel is quick to read because it's told in verse; it's engaging and interesting. I liked Emma because she's a do-er. She is active and cares about people and is good at just about everything. I think she could have been more concerned about her mother; she came off as a little self-centered. It's a realistic look at the vagaries of change in one's life. show less

I didn't realize this book was in verse until I started reading it. The formatting in epub was okay, although I did have to turn a couple of extra pages at times, so the pagination was off. Not unsurprising.

What was surprising was how much I liked it. I'm not really a poetry person. And to some extent it was even about poetry.

Excellent story of young adult from Japan to MA. A poet who helps others and her transition to living in America. The verse novel is easy to read and profound.

Next in my continuing efforts to discover a love for verse, I picked up Holly Thompson’s The Language Inside. I also own a copy of her novel Orchards, so I’m glad I liked this one. Sadly, I’m still not really a verse person, but I was able to enjoy The Language Inside in spite of my remaining skepticism towards verse.

Read the full review at A Reader of Fictions.

Right after a tsunami in Japan where Emma has always lived she learns she must go to Massachusetts so her mother can get breast cancer treatments.