Criminals follows the lives of a sister and brother, Ruth and Hank Tanazaki, as they struggle to free themselves from the weight of their parents' generation in a small Japanese American community in Los Angeles in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This poignant story of the double-edged nature of community-a force that supports the group, but often at the expense of the individual-explores the possibilities and limits of seeking personal freedom through creativity. Masaoka's dazzling, deeply-moving debut is also an eloquent addition to the canon of Asian American literature.