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4.24 AVERAGE
4.24 AVERAGE
this book made me think about my family, made me think about war, left me thinking about relationships and all that sort of stuff
i will probably not stop thinking about this book for the next week haha
i will probably not stop thinking about this book for the next week haha
Wow. One of the best books I’ve read, hands down. While also thoroughly presenting the history of Okinawa, which should be much more well-known than it is, Elizabeth is remarkably vulnerable and honest as she writes about her experience growing up with an Okinawan mother and an American war-veteran father. Truly unforgettable.
I enjoyed pieces of this memoir, especially the reflections on growing up with an American father and an Okinawan mother. Definitely agree with other reviewers that it was ambitious to take on the whole of Okinawan history and oppression alongside the author’s personal memoir.
Took me some time to finish because some parts are so raw and honest that they made me feel so sad. I really loved this book and found solace in it. Very grateful I read this.
Borrowed an ebook and even though I've finished it, I may have to buy a copy to have forever.
Low 4.
The book covers the development of Brina’s, her mom’s, her dad’s, and Okinawa’s life.
For Brina, you have this the classic Asian American I-shunned-my-Asianness-since-childhood-and-now-realize-being-white-isn’t-all-that-or-I-couldn’t-fully-assimilate-because-oh-my-god-I’m-visibly-oriental story (idk the history behind the word oriental but I like it and it makes me feel fancy). For the mom, you have an immigrant’s story and the loneliness and cultural dissociation that comes with it. The dad grew up with a very do-good attitude but confronts life’s realities. Okinawa has been colonized by the United States and Japan and fights for self-determination.
It’s an entertaining book. Brina’s storytelling is fun. She’s honest and tender. Would recommend!
I don’t think the writing style is anything amazing, but at this point I might as well not say that for anything seeing as Lolita is the only book I’ve read (not read the entire thing just the first few chapters lol) whose prose I really liked.
My biggest issue with the book was how white it felt. It gave me the same vibes as many progressives where it feels like they’re subservient to any purportedly progressive ideology without any critical thinking (which is also why I’m hesitant to call myself progressive now).
Brina’s acceptance of her Okinawan side is a major development in her book. But ever since the beginning of the book, where she’s a child, she shows a very overt disapproval of her old beliefs. On a literary level, I wished she wrote with the same thoughts she had then so we could see them develop as she aged. On a political level, it makes her seem very credulous as she often repeats platitudes about the Asian American identity crisis.
And this is where this book suffers on a personal level for me. I think Brina readily accepts too many aspects of Japanese culture, some of which may be harmful in the first place.
Before you cancel me, hear me out. If I wrote the book like Brina did, it would be something like this: This entire time, I should’ve realized my parents never showing affection for me was their showing affection. I should’ve looked at the little things: my mom bringing me fruit, asking me if I’m hungry. My dad buying souvenirs when he returns from work trips. Instead, all I had was my American mentality of needing verbal reassurance, of wanting to hear I was loved.
On paper, this is true and I agree. However, we need to examine and critique all cultures as we see fit because we are not moral relativists. This Chinese culture of never verbalizing love deserves condemnation because humans, especially children, need verbal affirmation.
If you wear the subservient lens that often I see white people with, you get the argument one of my professors gave. She followed the stories of some foster children in China and published a book having the argument that Chinese parents telling their foster children they're going to leave them if they don't behave is good because the parents never leave and this reinforces some tacit understanding of love between the parent and child. That's some hot bullshit and justifies the emotional manipulation that's so central to traditional Chinese culture.
But I read that in Brina's memoir. There's this section where she talks about how Americans don't apologize enough because it's a sign of weakness but Japanese people apologize for everything (and listed a lot of examples). I'm not sure being apologetic by default is a good idea. What does it say about the space we inhabit as individuals and our rights to be who we are? More broadly, I think Americans over-glorify how orderly Japan is. You then examine a bit more closely and you find that it leads to stifling senses of self and an overall lack of self-assertion. This need to be polite and organized is also reflected in their homelessness policies, where many cities are designed to funnel homeless people into places unseen by the public eye. (For the record, I think much of Japan's organization and politeness should be adopted in America, but I'm saying things can go too far.)
My point was not to bash Japanese or Chinese culture but to say that books that examine this interplay between one culture and another—and most critically, make an implicit value judgment about which one is better by advocating for their author's accepted and suppressed aspects of their personal identity—should do so critically and diligently. We should be understanding and accepting of cultures foreign to our lives but we should also be critical. No culture is perfect and every culture is evolving. We should be the ones to help every culture push forward.
The book covers the development of Brina’s, her mom’s, her dad’s, and Okinawa’s life.
For Brina, you have this the classic Asian American I-shunned-my-Asianness-since-childhood-and-now-realize-being-white-isn’t-all-that-or-I-couldn’t-fully-assimilate-because-oh-my-god-I’m-visibly-oriental story (idk the history behind the word oriental but I like it and it makes me feel fancy). For the mom, you have an immigrant’s story and the loneliness and cultural dissociation that comes with it. The dad grew up with a very do-good attitude but confronts life’s realities. Okinawa has been colonized by the United States and Japan and fights for self-determination.
It’s an entertaining book. Brina’s storytelling is fun. She’s honest and tender. Would recommend!
I don’t think the writing style is anything amazing, but at this point I might as well not say that for anything seeing as Lolita is the only book I’ve read (not read the entire thing just the first few chapters lol) whose prose I really liked.
My biggest issue with the book was how white it felt. It gave me the same vibes as many progressives where it feels like they’re subservient to any purportedly progressive ideology without any critical thinking (which is also why I’m hesitant to call myself progressive now).
Brina’s acceptance of her Okinawan side is a major development in her book. But ever since the beginning of the book, where she’s a child, she shows a very overt disapproval of her old beliefs. On a literary level, I wished she wrote with the same thoughts she had then so we could see them develop as she aged. On a political level, it makes her seem very credulous as she often repeats platitudes about the Asian American identity crisis.
And this is where this book suffers on a personal level for me. I think Brina readily accepts too many aspects of Japanese culture, some of which may be harmful in the first place.
Before you cancel me, hear me out. If I wrote the book like Brina did, it would be something like this: This entire time, I should’ve realized my parents never showing affection for me was their showing affection. I should’ve looked at the little things: my mom bringing me fruit, asking me if I’m hungry. My dad buying souvenirs when he returns from work trips. Instead, all I had was my American mentality of needing verbal reassurance, of wanting to hear I was loved.
On paper, this is true and I agree. However, we need to examine and critique all cultures as we see fit because we are not moral relativists. This Chinese culture of never verbalizing love deserves condemnation because humans, especially children, need verbal affirmation.
If you wear the subservient lens that often I see white people with, you get the argument one of my professors gave. She followed the stories of some foster children in China and published a book having the argument that Chinese parents telling their foster children they're going to leave them if they don't behave is good because the parents never leave and this reinforces some tacit understanding of love between the parent and child. That's some hot bullshit and justifies the emotional manipulation that's so central to traditional Chinese culture.
But I read that in Brina's memoir. There's this section where she talks about how Americans don't apologize enough because it's a sign of weakness but Japanese people apologize for everything (and listed a lot of examples). I'm not sure being apologetic by default is a good idea. What does it say about the space we inhabit as individuals and our rights to be who we are? More broadly, I think Americans over-glorify how orderly Japan is. You then examine a bit more closely and you find that it leads to stifling senses of self and an overall lack of self-assertion. This need to be polite and organized is also reflected in their homelessness policies, where many cities are designed to funnel homeless people into places unseen by the public eye. (For the record, I think much of Japan's organization and politeness should be adopted in America, but I'm saying things can go too far.)
My point was not to bash Japanese or Chinese culture but to say that books that examine this interplay between one culture and another—and most critically, make an implicit value judgment about which one is better by advocating for their author's accepted and suppressed aspects of their personal identity—should do so critically and diligently. We should be understanding and accepting of cultures foreign to our lives but we should also be critical. No culture is perfect and every culture is evolving. We should be the ones to help every culture push forward.
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
I couldn't help but think of my mom and grandmother while reading this book. I didn't really know my grandmother since she died before I turned 5 but she was also a Japanese woman who married an American soldier and moved to America. I kept thinking of my mom and how similar her experiences probably were to the author's, especially being half Japanese and half American. I also really enjoyed learning some of the history of Okinawa interspersed throughout the memoir.
I love a memoir. If I ever say I'm reading nonfiction in a transparent attempt to sound intellectual, there is a 99% chance I'm reading a memoir, and the 1% is that I'm lying altogether.
So starting my reading year with a memoir felt fitting. And this was a good one!
It was also very...ambitious? It's a book detailing her life, her mom and dad's relationship, her mom's life, her dad's life, and the history and present day of Okinawa. In (checks notes) barely 300 pages.
So it probably goes without saying that I wish things were a little less disordered (things weren't told in chronological or thematic order) and this book were significantly longer.
Even still, it was very well written and powerful, and if the rest of my 2022 reads follow this track I'll be pretty pleased.
Which, knowing my cynicism and pessimism and intolerable personality, is very good.
Bottom line: A lot packed in a little, but well done anyway!
-----------------
pre-review
starting my year as i mean to go on: reading as much as possible
review to come / 3.5 stars
So starting my reading year with a memoir felt fitting. And this was a good one!
It was also very...ambitious? It's a book detailing her life, her mom and dad's relationship, her mom's life, her dad's life, and the history and present day of Okinawa. In (checks notes) barely 300 pages.
So it probably goes without saying that I wish things were a little less disordered (things weren't told in chronological or thematic order) and this book were significantly longer.
Even still, it was very well written and powerful, and if the rest of my 2022 reads follow this track I'll be pretty pleased.
Which, knowing my cynicism and pessimism and intolerable personality, is very good.
Bottom line: A lot packed in a little, but well done anyway!
-----------------
pre-review
starting my year as i mean to go on: reading as much as possible
review to come / 3.5 stars
Powerfully written, and an incredibly rich history of an island most Americans only think of as a vacation spot/military outpost. I found Brina’s interweaving of Okinawan history with her own experiences really effective. She handles incredibly difficult topics with so much honesty and compassion, and I think anyone whose families are recent immigrants will find something of themselves in this book.