This was a phenomenal book! Wynne-Jones does an incredible job of weaving the story of a long dead Japanese soldier into the life and imagination of a 17-year old Canadian boy who has just had his entire life rearranged when his father suddenly dies.

I do not like war books and I'm not a huge WWII history fan, but I could not put this book down. The pacing and tension throughout the book had me on the edge of my seat. And I wasn't just interested in what happened to Isamu but I became invested in Evan's own story as well. The books moves seamlessly back and forth from present day Ontario to 1944 and a Japanese island dubbed Kokoro-Jima by the Japanese soldier who finds himself stranded there.

The characters in this book have a depth that one doesn't typically find in these stories. From the protagonist Evan to that long-ago soldier, Isamu Oshiro, to Evan's retired marine grandfather, Griff, each character had his own complex reality that made him come alive.

The book has everything a successful story has: adventure, mystery, heartbreak and resolution. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a great read. I think it will especially resonate with tween boys, who are reluctant readers. ( )

Well done and beautifully written... but also not my kind of book. I was expecting historical fiction, so the paranormal twist took me by surprise. ( )

Two stories merge into one in this interesting mystery. After 16 year-old Evan's father passes away, his grandfather comes to help him sort things out. His hippie(ish) dad and grandfather didn't get along, and Evan has never met "Griff" - a tough career army man. But before Griff arrives, Evan begins reading a book he found in his father's room. The book is the diary of a Japanese soldier on a small deserted island, and something in it had prompted Evans dad to believe Griff had murdered someone. And when Griff shows up, he's every bit as scary as Evan worried he might be, and Evan's fears seem to be coming true.

I'm not normally a fan of the 'story within a story' novels, and nearly quit reading this one. On the day I had decided to give it up, suddenly the story of the Japanese soldier took a very weird turn - and I mean "weird" in a good way! All of the sudden I could barely put it down. I hope it's not a spoiler to say there are some fantastical elements to the story, and if you're looking for historical fiction, this way strays a little into the realm of ghosts and monsters. Some other reviews I looked at were disappointed with that element, but I loved it. ( )

A darkly beautiful imagining of a piece of WWII history that most Americans never read about in textbooks--POWs and relations between American and Japanese soldiers in the Pacific.

Evan's father died when he was 18 and the only other relative he had was his estranged grandfather, a veteran of World War II. As Evan tries to deal with his grief, he finds a self-published book his father had been reading. He begins to read the story of a Japanese soldier who was marooned on a small heart-shaped island in the Marshall Islands. Then his grandfather shows up, a military man who never forgave his son, Evan's father, for emigrating to Canada to evade the draft.

The reader follows the days of tension between Evan and his grandfather and reads the story of the marooned soldier (the Japanese was joined by the navigator of a downed American plane). The story features ghosts of people not yet born, flesh eaters called jikininki, and an unkillable monster called Tengu.

Will the two men be able to form a relationship? Will the truth of what happened on that island be revealed? ( )