A review by tinaisslay
Speak, Okinawa: A Memoir by Elizabeth Miki Brina

4.5

 Throughout reading the beginning of this book I naturally had a hard time being empathetic with the author. As the author kept explaining her personal stories of her earlier life I found it hard to read, naturally, due to her impactful actions and apathetic ways of thinking. I knew there was reasons for it but it didn’t make it any easier to read… until the last few chapters. Throughout her book she mentioned the ravishing country filled with its own language, history and stories stored within its ancient cities, clear running rivers and traditional dancing that had been passed down for centuries. The author then exhibits the gruesome transitions Okinawa had endured, how the country was stripped and destroyed, from its land down to its own identity, for a war they weren’t apart of, anger they refused to partake in. The author deeply unpacks the trauma Okinawans were forced to endure and her relationship with her father, an American soldier stationed in Okinawa, on top of that. I’m going to end this review by mentioning how impactful those last chapters were. Apologies and forgiveness is what makes us human, it’s what brings us at peace with ourselves and with each other and the author beautiful encapsulates that while describing her relationship with her mother, an Okinawa woman who strongly fought to love her only daughter and husband, even during her darkest times of shame and lostness.