Date & Time

    As students growing up we are told a story must have a beginning, middle, and end. In this book, we find that it doesn't always have to be in that order. Kaye starts Date & Time with the ending which isn't very common in most stories. Although he starts the story with the ending it doesn't ruin the plot because we still don't know how he got to that point. In the second half of the book, Kaye mainly focuses on his identity crisis and growth from childhood. Using this format where he is telling the story from different lenses at different points in his life helps us as readers better understand his growth into adulthood and his current state of mind.

 

    Kaye undergoes a huge identity crisis, as most first-generation immigrant children do. Being too American for your cultural friends, and too cultural for your American friends. Kaye does not only feel that split outside with friends but also with family being that he is of Japanese and Jewish descent. Two identities that aren't often grouped together. In part two there is a mention of teeth and the fact that both his grandfathers had fought for opposing sides in World War 2. " Hate is a strong word, but it is the only strength I have left how am I to forgive the men that severed the trunk of my family tree and used its timber to warm the cheeks of their own children?” This quote is a great representation of the inner battle Kaye faces, he is essentially the product of 2 opposing sides that felt so strongly they participated in a war that would kill each other. How is he supposed to be able to love himself, if there was such a divide within his own family?

 

    Kaye in the end accepts himself and is a representation of many children of immigrant parents growing up. Unfortunately, we spend our youths unsure of our identities, and for some, they don't have the opportunity to come to find themselves and end up conforming to the standards set by the rest of the world. This book will always be timeless because it touches on subjects of divorce, family dynamics, identity crisis, and even addiction.

 

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