Fiction
224 pages
5 Stars
This is a feel-good kind of book, and an interesting glimpse
into a far-away culture in pre-WWII Japan.
Stephen, a Chinese teenager raised in Hong Kong and schooled
in China is sent to the family beach home in Japan to recover from his
tuberculosis. All the young local men have been called up to serve in the
Emperor's army, so Stephen is pretty much alone in the house with the
caretaker/gardener.
This is a coming of age story, and a feel-good novel, not to
mention historical. There is a love interest, doomed by a leprosy outbreak in
the village, and the cultural aversion to it.
Had I started this book in the morning, it would have been a
one-sit read, as it was, I started it at night, and therefore made it a two-sit
read. I found it well written, and totally enjoyable. For me, this was a
fascinating insight into a culture so very different than mine, and yet so very
similar.
No comments:
Post a Comment