|
Journal Entry 1 by Breeze144 from Ajax, Ontario Canada on Wednesday, November 07, 2007
 Received from the author.
From Chapters.ca:
A deeply moving novel about resentment turning to poison, and how that misplaced emotion can nearly destroy one, if you permit it. With so many things happening in this world to innocent people, this book carries a timely message an important message of how letting go of these perceived wrongs can save your from your own self-destruction.
It opens with the story of lovers, Tori and Mieko, in Japan in the days before the U.S. dropped the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It opens on a Sunrise at Kasatsu Harbor, a small peaceful village that has no idea doom lurks on the horizon. Mieko has been ordered to report for duty to work on discovering biological weapons for warfare against Japans enemies.
Tori is left behind, hundreds of miles away from Mieko, where he is working to find the means to give Japan the power to end this war. Tori is caught on the edge of the Hiroshima blast, destroying their peaceful little hamlet. With nothing and no one left, Tori sets out to find her lover. Mieko learns of the bombing and rushes back to her, but they both miss each other in their journeys. Poor Tori discovers she must retrace her steps to find Mieko, which puts her right on the edge of the second bomb drop at Nagasaki. She is horribly burned, and ends up being hospitalized. These events send their lives even farther apart; even when they come together, Mieko doesnt recognize his love because of the scarring from the blast.
So full of rage with the destruction, Mieko vows revenge against America. This part of the book is told in first person narrative, but not from the POV of the leads. Then the writer, oddly, steps outside of rules of typical writing, and has the guide become part of the story, as the story shifts focus from Tori and Mieko, and more to the guide and his strong hatred of Japan, because he lost his father in the war. At this point, you see the devastating repercussions of long held resentment turn to poison, and how forgiveness and looking beyond ones own perceived hurts is ultimately the salvation from our own destruction. The story returns to watching another sunrise on the harbor, another day of hope, asking the underlying question of how will you spend it, in the positive light of forgiveness or giving yourself over the bitter resentment that could ultimately destroy you?
The style of writing is riveting, grabs the reader and never lets them down. Its deeply moving, thought provoking, and oh so timely.
One of those small books that will sneak up on the world by word of mouth. Well worth the time to read.
|
|
Journal Entry 5 by msjoanna from Columbia, Missouri USA on Friday, May 16, 2008
This has just arrived in NYC. Since there are no other readers, it may take me slightly more than the usual 30 days to get to this one, but I'll read it fairly quickly and try to find a new home for it.
|
|
Journal Entry 6 by msjoanna from Columbia, Missouri USA on Saturday, January 17, 2009
I was enjoying this book until 10 or so pages before the end when I suddenly wanted to throw the book against the wall, then stomp on it, then light it on fire. No really, I think if this book weren't already promised to tranq1, I might have thrown it away rather than inflict this ending on anyone else.
The storyline that traces Meiko and Tori, the two Japanese characters, is really lovely. I was a little disappointed at the beginning of the book that the author had chosen to bookend the story as a story within a story, but I was willing to give him a pass as a first-time author. Starting a story is hard and lots of new authors fall into trap. The writing, while nothing to write home about, was perfectly adequate and told a compelling and interesting story about doomed lovers who were separated by WWII and the atomic bombs in Japan. Overall there was optimism and only a bit of moralizing about the horrors of war and the need for peace and forgiveness through their story.
But 10 pages from the end, when the "within" story ended and the bookend outer story returned, the book just went off the rails. I don't want to put plot spoilers in this review, but I can tell you that this is perhaps the most ridiculous and silly ending to an otherwise good book that I've ever seen. The author just had no idea how to get off stage.
Ah well, I'll try to delete the end from my memory and just remember the perfectly nice inner story.
Off to tranq1 -- can't get the book out of my house fast enough.
|
Sunrise on Kusatsu Harbor
