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A review by kauliflower
The Lost Ryū by Emi Watanabe Cohen
3.75
this book was not what i expected.. in a good way. i struggled at times due to plot holes but this book, at its core, was a heart-wrenching discussion about intergenerational trauma, purpose, race and the consequences of war. i truly feel as though my own words wouldn't do this book justice, so i've collected quite a few quotes to share its message with you all!
"Cheating at what?"
"At-at being! At existing! I was a fake Japanese person in America, and here, I'm a fake American."
"I'm not half anything. I'm not divided into parts, I'm just me: one single person that's a bunch of things all at once. And a mixed dragon would be like that, too. The two of us could be lots of things together, and neither one of us would have to pick a side."
"In America, race is everything. For some people, it's all they understand - it's the only thing they care about. And I don't fit. I can't be both - I have to be either, which sort of means I'm neither. Does that make sense? People don't know whether or not they're supposed to hate me - if I'm part of us or part of them. Like, even though there's no war anymore, everyone still wants to tell me which part of myself I'm allowed to be."
"Papa reminded the ryū of the consequences of a nation's pride."
"The Imperial Government was so in love with those old legends of chaos and war."
"All he'd ever done was try to fix something that was already broken. Shouldn't he get an apology in return? Why did grown-ups never acknowledge their own mistakes, when those were usually the mistakes that mattered most?"
"That's what hope is, I think: remembering that there are stories we haven't told yet."
"Cheating at what?"
"At-at being! At existing! I was a fake Japanese person in America, and here, I'm a fake American."
"I'm not half anything. I'm not divided into parts, I'm just me: one single person that's a bunch of things all at once. And a mixed dragon would be like that, too. The two of us could be lots of things together, and neither one of us would have to pick a side."
"In America, race is everything. For some people, it's all they understand - it's the only thing they care about. And I don't fit. I can't be both - I have to be either, which sort of means I'm neither. Does that make sense? People don't know whether or not they're supposed to hate me - if I'm part of us or part of them. Like, even though there's no war anymore, everyone still wants to tell me which part of myself I'm allowed to be."
"Papa reminded the ryū of the consequences of a nation's pride."
"The Imperial Government was so in love with those old legends of chaos and war."
"All he'd ever done was try to fix something that was already broken. Shouldn't he get an apology in return? Why did grown-ups never acknowledge their own mistakes, when those were usually the mistakes that mattered most?"
"That's what hope is, I think: remembering that there are stories we haven't told yet."