"These remarkable stories are written with the proportion and craft of the masters—there are hints of Chekhov, Elizabeth Bowen, Katherine Mansfield, and Grace Paley.... Each of the... short stories, written with the economy of haiku, is a treasure."

"The writing of history and the telling of stories are in our time very different. But these stories about the daily lives of Japanese American women in and out of World War II internment camps of the United States are history and herstory. The women are gutsy or fragile—that is, like any of us would be caught in exile while at home. The stories are beautifully written so we feel them even more deeply."

"Reading Hisaye Yamamoto's Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories is like sitting down and having a good talk with someone who really remembers, someone who will open a door to her feelings and thoughts about what it has meant to be Japanese American during the last 40 years.... Seventeen Syllables is an excellent resource, one that keeps getting better with time."