A perceptive and sensitive fictional account of the life of a Japanese gay man in the early 20th century.
In Lessik’s novel (based on a true story), a father shares his life story with a daughter he’s never met.
The author uses an ancestor’s story as inspiration for this existential novel. Kenzo Uchida is the son of a Japanese diplomat who was absent from his life. While in college, Kenzo commits to his partner, Mitsu Katayama, and later takes him along on his postings as he follows the same career path as his father. In Constantinople in 1919, he’s the Japanese consul general and enjoys a full social life. He’s advised by Edmund Kinver, the British deputy ambassador, to obtain a female companion to hide his same-sex relationship, and Ukrainian immigrant Elisa Dobrovska agrees to fulfill this role. In Paris, the trio befriend artists, such as Pablo Picasso, and attend jazz and ballet performances. Then tragedy strikes, and Kenzo suffers extreme grief. Elisa supports him and saves him from some sticky situations, and their relationship goes to a place that has lasting consequences. He doesn’t find out until years later that he has a daughter. After suffering further loss, Kenzo studies Zen Buddhism and embarks on a very different career. During World War II, he goes to visit his child for the first time. When he finds himself in a life-threatening situation, he writes an autobiographical account addressed to her. Lessik’s effective use of flashbacks allows Kenzo to tell his story fully, analyzing past events with the wisdom of hindsight as well as offering asides to his daughter. These elements imbue the already lively narrative with a depth of feeling and, often, a sense of poignancy. Kenzo experiences several important events during the interwar years, and he engagingly acts as a witness to 1920s Paris, growing militancy in Japan, and the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923. He also writes frankly about his sexuality, his ancestry, and his growing awareness of how others have perceived both. Ultimately, the protagonist teaches his daughter, and readers, about the importance of meditation and a Zen way of life.
A perceptive and sensitive fictional account of the life of a Japanese gay man in the early 20th century.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781608642861
Page Count: 322
Publisher: REBEL SATORI PRESS
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet bedtime story.
A boy and his stuffed bear head into the woods.
Having captured readers’ attention with Born a Crime (2016), his bestselling memoir of growing up in South Africa, comedian and television host Noah has written a parable about decision-making. As he puts it in a brief prologue, “It’s about disagreements and difference—but it’s also about how we bridge those gaps and find what matters most, whether we’re parents or kids, neighbors, gnomes, or political adversaries. It’s a picture book, but it’s not a children’s book. Rather, it is a book for kids to share with parents and for parents to share with kids.” With plentiful illustrations by Hahn and in language aimed at young listeners, it tells the story of a small boy so impatient to start his Saturday adventures that he rebels against the rules of his household and heads out without brushing his teeth or making his bed, despite the reminders of his stuffed bear, Walter. “We can’t just run away,” protests the bear. “Your mother will miss you. And where will we sleep? And who will make us waffles?” “We’ll build our own house,” the boy responds. “And we’ll grow our own waffles!” From there, the pair go on their walkabout, encountering a garden gnome, a pair of snails, and a gang of animated coins who have lessons to offer about making choices. Though the author suggests in the introduction that adult readers might enjoy the book on their own, those looking for a follow-up to the memoir or a foray into adult fiction should be warned that this is not that book.
A sweet bedtime story.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9780593729960
Page Count: 128
Publisher: One World/Random House
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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