Take a photo of a barcode or cover
emmareadstoomuch 's review for:
Speak, Okinawa: A Memoir
by Elizabeth Miki Brina
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