meganbmoore: (haibane renmei)
Women of the Silk tells the story of Pei, a young Chinese woman who is sent to a silk factory as a child. The story begins shortly before she enters the factory in 1919, and ends when she is forced to leave due to the Japanese occupation in 1938. The Language of Threads picks up where Women of the Silk left off, and covers Pei’s life in Hong Kong through 1952. These are the first books of Tsukiyama’s that I’ve really loved since encountering In the Samurai’s Garden early last year.

Like most of Tsukiyama’s works, the focus is on young Chinese people in the first half of the 20th century, the world they live in, and their encountering life and cultures outside of their previous experiences. Here, Tsukiyama also focuses on the concept of family, both in the concept of the family you’re born into, and the family you make, particularly the latter. Almost every important relationship (and there are many) is between women (one of which is established as being romantic in nature, and one other-possibly two-carries that implication) both in terms of family and friendship, and Tsukiyama’s depictions of both rural China and the silk factory and occupied Hong Kong are fascinating.
meganbmoore: (angstier than you)
Hana Maruyama is 38, but has the body of an 80-year-old thanks to Werner’s Syndrome, a genetic defect that causes rapid aging. Hana is almost entirely dependent on her mother, Cate, and the two live a very quiet, orderly life. Hana’s best friend, Laura, has not seen Hana in over ten years, despite repeated offers to visit with her two daughters, who are Hana’s goddaughters. On the verge of divorce, Laura decides to take matters into her own hands, determined to see Hana at least once more before Hana is robbed of her awareness.

The book is split between the present and Cate and Hana’s pasts, not only with their living with Werners, but also the experiences of Cate and her husband, Max, as a biracial couple in the 50s and 60s, and Hana and Laura’s youthful friendship. Tsukiyama’s writing, I think, is better suited for whimsical, if sad, takes on history, and so ends up somewhat stilted when dealing with the present. Very good, but I’m starting to wonder if I’ll like any other book of Tsukiyama’s as much as The Samurai’s Garden.

meganbmoore: (misbehaving in seoul)
Covering the years between 1940 and 1965, Night of Many Dreams is the story of Hong Kong born and raised Joan and Emma Lew (15 and 9 at the start of the story) both during World War II, which they spend in Macao, and after. I was initially put off by how easily the sisters fit into stereotypes-pretty Joan is flighty and dreamy, obsessed with Hollywood, and wants to be an actress, while plain Emma is smart, practical, bookish (and only Important Authors are namedropped), and wants to go to school in the United States.

Thankfully, they rise above the stereotypes and they, along with their mother and aunt, paint an interesting portrait of Chinese women and family throughout their decades. I particularly like that their mother, despite clinging to tradition, is largely accepting of her daughters’ choices.

Unfortunately, it never quite managed to charm and engross me the way The Samurai’s Garden did, even though the subject matter seems more geared to me, though I did like it. I think part of it is the The Samurai’s Garden was bittersweet because it was about a time and a place, but the bittersweetness of Night of Many Dreams feels more like “real books are bittersweet at best, but more likely sad and/or tragic.”
meganbmoore: (reincarnated heian warriors do it best)
Stephen is a young Chinese man suffering from tuberculosis in 1937. When his father sends him to the family’s summer home in Japan, he becomes involved in the lives of the older residents: Matsu, the property’s caretaker and gardener, Sachi, an old friend of Matsu’s who is a leper who lives in the mountains nearby, and Kenzo, who was Matsu’s friend and Sachi’s fiancée in their youth.

For most of the book, which spans thirteen months, the escalating problems between Japan and China area distant threat, made present mostly through Stephen’s letters from his family in China. The focus, instead, is on Stephen’s quiet life in Japan and the history of, and relationship between, Matsu, Sachi, and Kenzo, and how they influence Stephen’s life. There’s also a minor subplot involving Stephen falling in love with a local girl, but while well done, it isn’t as interesting as the older people and their relationships with Stephen and each other.

It’s a very quiet book but, after a somewhat slow beginning, a rather engaging one, and it manages to be convincingly tragic without making everyone dead, eternally miserable, or alone forever.

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July 2020

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