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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2014
No one escapes their teen years, but every kid worth their salt tries to go straight to adulthood. That journey can be full of adventure, fun, mystery, surprise, disappointment, and the kinds of mistakes that turn a boy into a man. Ken’s War takes you inside the perceptions of a maturing teen who is fighting to define his own character. The characters surrounding him, from his father to the military personnel to the other kids and a tough spiritual master, all give him a point of reference as he zigs and zags through the fast-paced timeline of the quickly moving chapters. Authentically immersed in Japanese culture, the story allows the All-American Ken to Tom Sawyer his way from risk to reward, from the ache of loneliness to the first hope for affection. Young adult readers will trust this book’s straight talk. For adult readers, Ken’s War will peel away the years to recall those mornings when you fell asleep in despair and awoke in the morning to possibility.
