Book Review: The Stories We Choose Not To Tell

The Stories We Choose Not To Tell. Kelly Fumiko Weiss. Windy City Publishers, May 12, 2020, Trade Paperback and E-book, 244 pages.

Reviewed by Kandice Cole.

The Stories We Choose Not To Tell, by Kelly Fumiko Weiss, is a novel that follows Angela, a bi-racial TV news producer, who attempts to make sense of her family’s complicated history after the death of her grandmother, Aiko, who was a Japanese incarceration camp survivor. As Angela grieves the loss of her grandmother, she also learns she is pregnant. This unexpected news, along with a box of family heirlooms given to her by her Auntie Pamela, motivates her to explore her Japanese identity more deeply.

While Angela had a pleasant upbringing with her Japanese mother, Judith, and her American father, Edward, she still feels incomplete.

Reclaiming her Japanese identity becomes a priority given the guilt that she starts to feel about the child she will be having with her husband, Carl. In an honest passage, Angela tells Carl, “I feel like it’s my fault that we aren’t Japanese anymore. Most people can’t even tell I’m Japanese when they look at me. I’m it. The straw that broke the camel’s back.” This internal tension that Angela wants to resolve becomes the impetus for her to fervently learn about her family’s history and understand the stories of her grandmother and mother.

As Angela takes this journey, she learns that not everyone welcomes this unpacking of family history, which inevitably includes many painful stories. One of these people turns out to be her husband, who develops intense emotions about Angela's obsession with her quest since it often leaves him feeling neglected. Angela stays the course, eventually coming to terms with her identity and how it intersects with the stories of those who came before her.

This is a beautifully crafted book that centers around a time in American history that is often forgotten. It shows how historical events, such as the Japanese incarceration camps, had far-reaching effects on individuals and their families who had to endure these painful, oppressive experiences. The author explores how family history informs how people choose to live their lives in the present. Throughout the book, one can see how Angela, her mother, and aunt grapple with the discomfort of the past and the resulting strained relationships in the present.

The brief chapters make this book easy to read and connect you to the characters as they navigate their moment-to-moment internal dialogue. As you leave the mind of one character and shift to the next, one can’t help but see the interconnectedness between this cast of characters as they move through grief, family drama, pain, and joy.

I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of The Stories We Choose Not To Tell. Kelly Fumiko Weiss situates history within a modern landscape and explores themes that are especially relevant as American society grapples with its complicated past and moves towards a more inclusive future.