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rorikae's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
'Fifty Sounds' by Polly Barton is a memoir of Barton's life in Japan through fifty Japanese onomatopoeia. Barton connects each onomatopoeia to a moment in her life that elicited a similar feeling or experience to showcase what it was like for her moving to Japan and learning Japanese. It is a deeply personal memoir that does a great job of using its form in a creative way. This memoir focuses a great deal on being isolated, learning how to convey oneself in a different language and a different culture as well as how messy that gets. Barton isn't afraid to paint herself in a very stark, often unflattering but truthful light. I found this incredibly brave and her vulnerability made it easier to connect with her stories. At parts, it did drag a bit as the form makes each snippet feel relatively isolated and it takes awhile for all of the pieces to come together. Ultimately, I did find this a very thoughtful look at language learning and finding ones place (or lack of a place) when living in a different country.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Racism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, and Sexual content
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