YA Guy: You’ve published widely as a
journalist, a picture story book author, poetry and more. What made
you decide to publish a novel for Young Adults?
Christine Kohler:
I’ve always written in multiple genres and markets. Some professors criticized
me for not focusing on just one. Today experts call that “building a platform.”
But editors published my work in those different genres and markets, so that
encouraged me not to limit myself. I was an editor and copy editor for a Hearst
daily for several years when I started writing novels. I think I did so for a
couple of reasons. One, there were stories I wanted to tell that could only be
told as fiction, and in the longer form. Two, it was a challenge to write and
publish novels. I needed to keep challenging myself as a writer.
YAG: No
Surrender Soldier is a historical novel, based on the true story of a
Japanese soldier, Shoichi Yokoi, who spent nearly three decades hiding in the
jungles of Guam. What drew you to this story?
CK: I worked as a
political reporter and foreign correspondent for Gannet, covering the West
Pacific. I had lived in Japan, Guam and Hawaii for nearly a decade. While
living and traveling throughout Pacific-Asia I was able to visit WWII battle sites
and study aspects of the war in the Pacific Theatre firsthand. The courage of
people on all sides in the face of horrendous atrocities and deprivation moved
me deeply. Researching and writing No
Surrender Soldier came out of my
effort to try to understand why people do what they do under extreme
circumstances.
YAG: How much time did it take you to do
the research for No Surrender Soldier?
CK: It’s hard to
put a time on my research. When I was a journalist in the Pacific I never
thought about writing a novel. Studying WWII just came from a reverence for the
people who fought and my natural curiosity. (When I was growing up, my dad took
me to Civil War battle sites and told me stories about that war. On my blog I
also wrote about how my dad read to me war literature as a child. My dad had
served in the US Navy during WWII when he was only 16 years old.) I had brought
a Guam high school history book back to the U.S. Mainland when I moved back,
and years later I picked it up and read it, along with other books about Shoichi
Yokoi and WWII on Guam.
YAG: One of the things I loved about No Surrender Soldier was the
relationship between the narrator, 15-year-old Kiko, and two men from the World
War II era: his grandfather and the stranded Japanese soldier. Tell us
something about those relationships. Why were they important to you? Why are
they important to Kiko?
CK: When I wrote
the first draft of No Surrender Soldier, the
relationship between Kiko and his grandfather is as it stands now in the
finished book. It never changed. I’m really not sure where Tatan bihu San
Nicolas (Kiko’s grandfather) sprang from. But I do know why I understood his
personality and dementia. When I was in graduate school, I did media relations
for a long term care community that has one of the best Alzheimer’s units in
the country. When I wrote my story I was just telling a story. But in
hindsight, I guess it was the best choice to give Kiko a close relationship
with a man--his tatan--who went through hell trying to protect his family--and
failed--during the Japanese occupation of Guam.
All three men are
stuck. The grandfather tests Kiko in a rite of passage, with his father’s
blessing. However, because of the dementia worsening, there is also a changing
of roles, from protector to dependent and from dependent to protector. Isamu
Seto, the WWII soldier, is also stuck emotionally, physically, psychologically,
and spiritually. That’s all I can say without giving away spoilers. But those
who read No Surrender Soldier will be able to see why it is a
classic coming-of-age novel and why the Kirkus reviewer wrote, “Both characters form new understandings
when they encounter one another.”
YAG: Another thing I loved about your book
was how seriously and respectfully you treated the beliefs of the Chamorro people
of Guam--both indigenous beliefs and Christian beliefs. Can you tell us some
more about your approach to faith in this novel?
CK: Ninety-eight percent
of Guamanians are Roman Catholic. As you can tell from my story, Old World
Catholicism is part of their everyday life, from celebrating village patron
saints in processions and fiestas to coming-of-age rites. I can’t imagine
anyone writing a book, fiction or nonfiction, about Guam--Chamorros in
particular--and not including how Catholicism plays a part in their lives.
I would also like
to add that Isamu Seto is a devout Buddhist with Shinto beliefs and practices.
Seto’s faith is every bit as vibrant and crucial to his character, culture and
survival as Kiko’s Christian faith is in No
Surrender Soldier.
YAG: I’m always interested when female
authors choose to write from a male POV (and vice versa). What was involved in
the creation of the character of Kiko? How did you decide a teenage boy was the
right person to tell this story?
CK: From the
first draft, Kiko was the main character. I never hesitated or waffled on this.
It is Kiko’s story I needed to tell. What was a difficult decision, though, was
to finally switch his voice from third to first person. I knew I had to nail
the male voice and the Chamorro pidgin English authentically. That was the only
scary part.
In my defense of
being a woman writing a nearly all male cast, and a strong coming-of-age male
book, one, I grew up as my dad’s “boy.” I’m the eldest from my parents’ first
marriages, and have four brothers, four to seven years younger than me, from my
parents’ second marriages. I lived with my dad, not my mother. So I grew up
working on cars, fishing, dredging the lake, helping with fixing plumbing and
electrical and fiber-glassing the boat, and building in the workshop. It’s no
wonder I didn’t think anything about going into a male-dominated profession
like journalism.
Secondly, a lot
of male authors write novels with female protagonists and a lot of women
authors write novels with male protagonists. What is gender different, though,
is that women who write books with male protagonists often hide their gender
using initials. Had I known at the beginning of my writing career that I would
end up writing middle grade and young adult novels with strong male
protagonists and themes, then I possibly would have used my childhood nickname,
Chris. But I couldn’t have known. I believe teen guys are smart enough to care
more about the story than the gender of the storyteller. After all, it didn’t
stop them from reading a certain male protagonist book written by a female
author who went by her initials J.K.!
