A review by crystal_73
Speak, Okinawa: A Memoir by Elizabeth Miki Brina

2.0

This memoir started off strong and then seemed to lose its way, so much so that I decided not to finish it. There were a lot of competing themes, and naturally some were more interesting than others. I enjoyed learning of her mother’s journey and the author’s upbringing, but I was overwhelmed when she launched into the intensity of her internalized racism, how that impacted her relationship with her mom (it’s hard to even like the author at some points), the bouts of the island’s history…I’m sure there’s more in the second half. Overall it felt like she had a lot of ideas of where to take this, and it just wasn’t executed well.