East Is East by T. Coraghessan Boyle
"East Is East" by T. Coraghessan Boyle is a novel that explores the profound cultural misunderstandings between American and Japanese societies through the story of Hiro Tanaka, a young man caught between two worlds. Hiro, the illegitimate son of an American musician and a Japanese woman, arrives in America with romanticized expectations shaped by his distant ideals of freedom and acceptance. However, his experiences on Tupelo Island reveal the stark realities of prejudice and misunderstanding, as he navigates a series of misadventures that highlight the ignorance inherent in both cultures.
As Hiro grapples with his identity, he becomes a victim of local biases, ultimately leading to a manhunt that forces him to confront the darker aspects of existence far from his dreams of brotherhood. The novel delves into themes of alienation, survival, and betrayal, particularly through his relationship with Ruth Dershowitz, a writer who exploits his plight for her own gain. In the end, Hiro’s journey culminates in a poignant realization about the enduring divide between East and West, embodying the idea that despite his hopes for belonging, he remains an outcast in both cultures. The narrative serves as a commentary on the complexities of identity and the often harsh truths that accompany the pursuit of personal fulfillment.
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Subject Terms
East Is East by T. Coraghessan Boyle
First published: 1990
The Work
T. Coraghessan Boyle’s fifth novel, East Is East, satirizes the intransigence of the American and Japanese cultures, exposing the ignorance and ethnocentrism fundamental to their mutual misunderstanding.
Hiro Tanaka, the illegitimate son of an American musician and a Japanese mother, jumps ship off the coast of Georgia, hoping to escape the stigma his half-breed heritage has earned him in his native Japan, and perhaps to track down the father whose act of abandonment drove Hiro’s mother to suicide. Hiro has a romantic image of America: “He envisioned a city like Tokyo, with skyscrapers and elevated trains and a raucous snarl of traffic, but every face was different—they were white and black and yellow and everything in between and they all glowed with the rapture of brotherly love.” His identity as a Japanese, however, has been shaped by the writings of nationalist Yukio Mishima, who extolled a code of personal conduct tragically untenable in the West.
Hiro washes up on the shore of Tupelo Island, where his contact with the locals leads to a series of comic misadventures aggravated by his poor grasp of English and their prejudices. When he accidentally scares a black man to death, he becomes the object of a manhunt led by the local sheriff and his bigoted assistant.
Hiro seeks refuge at Thanatopsis House, a writers’ colony on the island, and is hidden away by Ruth Dershowitz, one of its writers-in-residence. Ruth’s intentions are humanitarian at first but the competitive environment of the colony and her personal insecurities as a writer lead her to exploit her relationship with Hiro for raw material for a story.
Hiro is captured by the authorities but escapes into the nearby Okefenokee Swamp, where the primordial struggle of nature comes to symbolize the hell he has found the West to be. Reduced to primitive survival instincts, Hiro realizes he has been betrayed by his illusion of America as a place of brotherly love. He also feels betrayed by Ruth, who helps rescue him from the swamp but who schemes to write a journalistic account of Hiro’s ordeal and recover the reputation that she has lost through her association with him.
At the novel’s end, Hiro understands that being only half-American makes him as much an outcast in his adopted home as in Japan. In a final affirmation of his identity, he follows the samurai code to its inevitable extreme. His action acknowledges the implacable truth of the aphorism from which the title is taken: “East is east, west is west, and never the twain shall meet.”
Bibliography
The Atlantic. CCLXVI, October, 1990, p.135. A review of East Is East.
Booklist. LXXXVI, June 1, 1990, p.1849. A review of East Is East.
Dickinson, Charles. Review of East Is East. Tribune Books, September 9, 1990, 5.
Friend, Tad. “Rolling Boyle.” The New York Times Magazine, December 9, 1990, 50, 64-68.
Godwin, Gail. Review of East Is East. The New York Times Book Review, September 9, 1990, 13.
Library Journal. CXV, June 15, 1990, p.132. A review of East Is East.
Los Angeles Times Book Review. September 23, 1990, p.3. A review of East Is East.
New Woman. XX, September, 1990, p.46. A review of East Is East.
The New York Times. CXXXIX, September 7, 1990, p. B6. A review of East Is East.
Newsweek. CXVI, September 3, 1990, p.66. A review of East Is East.
Payne, David. Review of East Is East. The Washington Post Book World, September 2, 1990, 1.
Publishers Weekly. CCXXXVII, June 29, 1990, p.87. A review of East Is East.
The Village Voice. XXXV, September 11, 1990, p.55. A review of East Is East.
The Wall Street Journal. September 7, 1990, p. A 13. A review of East Is East.