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A review by marcella
The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This was a lovely, slowly revealed biopic.
The least charitable way to read this is a thin narrative of attraction shuffled along by a series of ghastly horrors. I found the depictions of the Japanese internment camps compelling (stripping away dignity and freedom from a huge and arbitrary group), but thebrutal child abuse scenes came out of nowhere and felt gratuitously awful.
I liked the prose and the narrator, though. And I liked all the old folks with rich inner selves, living life with various degrees of independence, and learning to accept new limitations without caving into them. Perhaps some of the various misfortunes that befell the characters felt overwrought because it covered multiple long lives compressed into one book.
The least charitable way to read this is a thin narrative of attraction shuffled along by a series of ghastly horrors. I found the depictions of the Japanese internment camps compelling (stripping away dignity and freedom from a huge and arbitrary group), but the
I liked the prose and the narrator, though. And I liked all the old folks with rich inner selves, living life with various degrees of independence, and learning to accept new limitations without caving into them. Perhaps some of the various misfortunes that befell the characters felt overwrought because it covered multiple long lives compressed into one book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Racism, and Rape