While The Cracks in the Life of Mike Anami is a novel loosely based on my parents’ lives, the basic outline is true as are many of the situations and events. Below are some photographs of my parents before and after the war.
My father in 1932, ten years old.
My father as a young man.
My grandmother, Imperial Valley, California.
My father in 1932, ten years old.
My father playing with a friend for the camera, Lecco, Italy 1945.
My father in Livorno, Italy 1945
My mother, in 1945.
My parents in Livorno, 1945.
My father in Italy posing with equipment taken from German prisoners.
In April of 2020 an article about the author and the book was published in this newspaper. To read it, clickhere.
In March of 2023 an article about the author and the book was published in this newspaper. To read it, clickhere.
Published by Konstellation Press in April, 2014
What follows are photos related to some of the events in the book.
The small village of Sella on the mountains North of the city of Genova, Italy
With his mother and sister at the “House of the Fig.”
Hugging puppies in front of the “House of the Fig,” 1955
In 1987 he returned to Italy on vacation, and this is how the front of the “House of the Fig” looked.
He would sit on the wall and gaze at the mountains or watch the oxen come up on the stone path. In 1987 the path was paved. Too bad.
“The boy had always liked his young uncle and beamed as he stood next to him, in his black smock, his book bag in one hand and the other in Libero’s pocket, searching for candy.” Scuola General Cantore, Genova, 1958.
This is the first book he received as a gift, for the occasion of the Epiphany, 1958.
Another book that he received as a gift, 1959.
His 7th grade textbook for geography.
His teacher, Ornella D’Amato, would mark in the anthology of literature the poems he needed to memorize.
When his mother took him and his sister to the beach, he read science fiction stories as he rested after playing for hours in the water.
The S.S. Constitution, American Export Lines. The ship provided regular service between New York and Mediterranean ports. 1088 passengers, 23 knots cruising speed, 683 feet long, 30,090 tons.
After seeing San Diego as the plane approached the airport, the boy was disappointed by El Centro.
He went to Central Union High School.
They found themselves in a sleepy desert town.
He joined the Field Science Club and went on school field trips.
He had survived his first year at Central and was now a sophomore.
The old man gazed at the architect’s idealized painting and he wished he could have entered into the picture…”
After he graduated from Central Union High School he went to Imperial Valley College, where he fell in love with philosophy, literature and film.
“They often wound up at Sambo’s, drinking coffee for the wooden tokens that were good for a 10-cent cup of coffee.”
He stayed up at night reading books that shook him to his foundations.
Ted Shigematsu 