The Woman in the White Kimono: (A BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick)
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The Woman in the White Kimono: (A BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick)
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While I found Naoko’s story more compelling than Tori’s, tori’s story might have been the more important one. The stigma attached to having relationships with the American soldiers meant that unfortunate women/young girls would find themselves ostracised from their family and ensnared in a very sobering maternity hospital. The characters were compellingly drawn, admirable, and strong – yet struggling with limited choices and truly miserable options.
She travels to remote seaside Japan to uncover the truth and finds her authentic home in this gorgeously written novel that sheds poignant light on a gut-wrenching time in Japanese and American history. Naoko Nakamura’s arranged marriage to the son of a friend of her father’s is important to reinforce the status of her family in the community; however, Naoko loves another. If it had been examined in more detail, it could have deepened Naoko’s character and the story would have been more authentic. Loved reading about the Japanese culture and traditions - the author seemed to manage to convey these parts of the story in a delicate, graceful way somehow. The two timelines fuse together when Tori unravels the past, making emotional connections that keep the reader riveted.I loved this book from the opening pages and felt that I could have easily read this in one sitting. I found this a pleasant enough read but it didn’t get to me the way it seems to have got to so many other readers.
It was made worse as the plot is based on a true situation; the evidence was unearthed through court records. I truly had no idea there was so much hatred towards America in Japan after WWII, but why wouldn’t there be? Her first historical fiction, THE WOMAN IN THE WHITE KIMONO, published with critical acclaim in over 25 languages, has been a No. It’s one thing to read a work of fiction that details these things, but to learn they actually happened? Then we switch to America where Tori’s beloved father is dying and on his deathbed leaves her a letter telling her about his post-war experiences in Japan.This story is poetic, hypnotic, and elegant while it also digs deep into the history of Japanese women during WW2, who found love in less than traditional places.
I rarely cry but this poignantly written book moved me to tears several times and, okay, I will even confess to ugly cry sobbing.
Thank you Edelweiss, Park Row Publishing, and the author, Ana Johns, for giving me an opportunity to read an early copy of this beautiful book in exchange for my honest opinion. It’s also incredibly readable, told in a way that the words flow easily through your mind and I couldn’t stop reading it. In her first historical novel, Ana Johns explores the tragic fate of the relationships between American servicemen and Japanese women, and their children, in post-World War II Japan. This may have been deliberate on the part of the author and the publisher; the truth would have watered down the romance.
I was more emotionally connected to Naoko than Tori, as Tori's character was relatively flat in comparison.
bestseller around the world, a BBC RADIO2 Book Club pick, Salt Lake County Library Reader's Choice winner, and a Reading Agency World Book Night 2023 selection. Set in both the present day and the 1950s, Ana Johns’s compelling debut novel with well-developed characters will appeal to readers who enjoy light commercial fiction. Her father has died, and, having passed on a slither of information that shakes up Tori’s world, she is determined to find the whole story. America - Present day Tori Kodachrome finds a letter containing a shocking revelation in which she questions everything about her father and her family to this point. While this book is not a mystery or suspense read I could not stop reading it, there was such a strong pull for this story that I read it in just few hours.
- Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
- EAN: 764486781913
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