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A review by catbrigand
Polite Lies: On Being a Woman Caught Between Cultures by Kyoko Mori
3.0
This is a difficult book to review, much like it was a difficult book to read. It strikes me that Mori repeatedly refers to herself as a cheerful person, because one could easily come away from this book with the impression that she is deeply unhappy.
This is the third book of hers that I've read, and all share a common theme, clearly drawn from her own life, of an abusive stepmother and absent father. I ache for her as I would for any, and her stepmother surely seems almost supernaturally cruel. But one has to wonder if her experiences in Japan, written from a perspective twenty years removed, are heavily tinted by her unhappy home life. I think it is unfair to assume that all her Japanese friends are in miserable marriages with unhappy, confining home lives. While it's true that Japanese society has an ingrained sense of collectivity, duty, and respect, I don't think it's as constricting as depicted--I don't think people think about it much.
For the bones I had to pick with this, I try to remember it's not my memoir. I hope it accomplished for her what she needed it to.
This is the third book of hers that I've read, and all share a common theme, clearly drawn from her own life, of an abusive stepmother and absent father. I ache for her as I would for any, and her stepmother surely seems almost supernaturally cruel. But one has to wonder if her experiences in Japan, written from a perspective twenty years removed, are heavily tinted by her unhappy home life. I think it is unfair to assume that all her Japanese friends are in miserable marriages with unhappy, confining home lives. While it's true that Japanese society has an ingrained sense of collectivity, duty, and respect, I don't think it's as constricting as depicted--I don't think people think about it much.
For the bones I had to pick with this, I try to remember it's not my memoir. I hope it accomplished for her what she needed it to.