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knobbyknees's review against another edition
4.0
(I'm not sure if this should be 4 or 4.5....)
The prologue of this novel hooked me immediately. Chizuru, a half-Japanese half-white woman, describes how she killed a bully in her elementary school class when she was eleven. Estranged from her famous violinist father, abandoned by her suicidal mother, Chizuru lives in a juvenile detention center until she's released when she is of age, changes her name, and moves to the US. The story begins when Chizuru - now named Rio, in her thirties, married and with an 11-year-old of her own - returns to Japan unexpectedly.
I screamed at the first part because I have never connected with a protagonist more. Like Chizuru, I am a hapa, I went to school in Japan, everything hit me with nostalgic feelings (and also unwelcome ones). I understood Chizuru's feelings, how it felt to be seen as only half of something, how it felt to be bullied for being different in a culture that is very unpleasant to the "other."
However, the older Rio was not what I expected. Rio talks a lot about how she was harvesting a "dark organ" that made her lash out, but she liked to do endurance running to keep that feeling contained. The Japanese culture, the depiction and truth of it, no matter how harsh or corny, didn't get fetishized like in a lot of books that take place in Japan. Rio returns to her home island, which is not the main island and therefore doesn't have all the flashiness of Tokyo. Everything about Japan felt honest. I just didn't get a good sense of the white people in this book. Rio's old teacher Danny and Rio's husband Sal both didn't make sense in their decisions, both past and present.
I wanted to love this book, and it was beautiful, but I'm not sure if I did. I wish it had been longer. I wish we'd explored a little more depth.
The prologue of this novel hooked me immediately. Chizuru, a half-Japanese half-white woman, describes how she killed a bully in her elementary school class when she was eleven. Estranged from her famous violinist father, abandoned by her suicidal mother, Chizuru lives in a juvenile detention center until she's released when she is of age, changes her name, and moves to the US. The story begins when Chizuru - now named Rio, in her thirties, married and with an 11-year-old of her own - returns to Japan unexpectedly.
I screamed at the first part because I have never connected with a protagonist more. Like Chizuru, I am a hapa, I went to school in Japan, everything hit me with nostalgic feelings (and also unwelcome ones). I understood Chizuru's feelings, how it felt to be seen as only half of something, how it felt to be bullied for being different in a culture that is very unpleasant to the "other."
However, the older Rio was not what I expected. Rio talks a lot about how she was harvesting a "dark organ" that made her lash out, but she liked to do endurance running to keep that feeling contained. The Japanese culture, the depiction and truth of it, no matter how harsh or corny, didn't get fetishized like in a lot of books that take place in Japan. Rio returns to her home island, which is not the main island and therefore doesn't have all the flashiness of Tokyo. Everything about Japan felt honest. I just didn't get a good sense of the white people in this book. Rio's old teacher Danny and Rio's husband Sal both didn't make sense in their decisions, both past and present.
I wanted to love this book, and it was beautiful, but I'm not sure if I did. I wish it had been longer. I wish we'd explored a little more depth.
tiffsquatch's review against another edition
4.0
I received this book at my December Book of the Month Selection and I'm glad I chose it. I probably wouldn't have picked this book up in bookstore on the dust jacket synopsis alone. Chizuru "Rio" Akitani is a remarkably and fantastically broken character. She undergoes some serious tragedies in her life and the prose used to describe her feelings as she grows up is incredibly powerful and resonant. Several times throughout the book, I could empathize with her - I've felt the way she felt, although for different reasons. The path the plot takes is a little surprising, but the conclusion was satisfying and I was very glad to have read this.
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