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samstillreading's review
1.0
Ugh. I don’t really know how to say this eloquently but here it is: this book sucked. Dreadfully. It had so much promise – Japan, historical fiction, a strong female character, a beautiful cover…and yet I had to force myself to read it. It was boring, I couldn’t keep track of the characters and it jumped around a lot. I think I know even less now of the samurai era than before I started.
Blossoms and Shadows is set in 1860s Japan, as Westerners began to enter the country and Japan itself was in a revolution. We follow Tsuru, a doctor’s daughter, as she grows up, gets married and works in war-ravaged Japan. She has an illicit relationship with a family member while pretending to be a man, suffers a breakdown, goes back to her husband and eventually adopts her sister’s child. Tsuru occasionally disappears during the book and we follow a Japanese historical figure for a chapter. I found this particularly difficult as I couldn’t keep track of their names (and I studied Japanese for six years!) nor did they have a lot of meaning or anything memorable to keep them in my head.
While beautifully presented, this novel has little to recommend it. Perhaps if you are already familiar with this period in Japanese history, you might enjoy it. Tsuru is an uncomfortable character, chopping and changing in sex, her ambition and loves. It’s hard to follow and frankly, quite boring.
Blossoms and Shadows is set in 1860s Japan, as Westerners began to enter the country and Japan itself was in a revolution. We follow Tsuru, a doctor’s daughter, as she grows up, gets married and works in war-ravaged Japan. She has an illicit relationship with a family member while pretending to be a man, suffers a breakdown, goes back to her husband and eventually adopts her sister’s child. Tsuru occasionally disappears during the book and we follow a Japanese historical figure for a chapter. I found this particularly difficult as I couldn’t keep track of their names (and I studied Japanese for six years!) nor did they have a lot of meaning or anything memorable to keep them in my head.
While beautifully presented, this novel has little to recommend it. Perhaps if you are already familiar with this period in Japanese history, you might enjoy it. Tsuru is an uncomfortable character, chopping and changing in sex, her ambition and loves. It’s hard to follow and frankly, quite boring.
revslick's review
2.0
Please note, if you've read The Tales of the Otori by Hearn think of this book as a totally different and nothing like the former except it is located in Japan.
With that out of the way.... This is a decent starter for historical fiction. Hearn's dilemma is she packs in so much information and names that unless you've had at least some basic Japanese history you'll find the story become tedious, which it did. However, she has a flair for words, story, and great character development so I'll be checking in with her next book to see her progress.
postscript: if you haven't read The Tales of the Otori - excellent series!!
With that out of the way.... This is a decent starter for historical fiction. Hearn's dilemma is she packs in so much information and names that unless you've had at least some basic Japanese history you'll find the story become tedious, which it did. However, she has a flair for words, story, and great character development so I'll be checking in with her next book to see her progress.
postscript: if you haven't read The Tales of the Otori - excellent series!!
sarah42783's review
2.0
I was quite disappointed by the last instalment in Hearn's Tales of the Otori series so I wasn't really enthused by the idea of reading this book. I finally decided to give it a go and although it wasn't nearly as entertaining as the Otori books it turned out to be an okay read.
What I found most interesting was the depiction of 19th century Japan and particularly the turbulent times of the 1850s and 1860s, which I knew nothing about. I also liked the strong female character and her struggle in a male-dominated society. That said, I think one of the main problems of the book is that there are too many characters. So many of them in fact that I was confused by all the characters and their various Japanese names and nicknames. So much so that I eventually gave up trying to remember who was each character and what was his/her role in the book. I also felt that the short chapters about the historical characters in the story were unnecessary and didn't add anything to the main plot.
I can't say I'd recommend reading this book but I do recommend reading the Tales of the Otori which is an excellent series set in a fictional feudal Japan.
What I found most interesting was the depiction of 19th century Japan and particularly the turbulent times of the 1850s and 1860s, which I knew nothing about. I also liked the strong female character and her struggle in a male-dominated society. That said, I think one of the main problems of the book is that there are too many characters. So many of them in fact that I was confused by all the characters and their various Japanese names and nicknames. So much so that I eventually gave up trying to remember who was each character and what was his/her role in the book. I also felt that the short chapters about the historical characters in the story were unnecessary and didn't add anything to the main plot.
I can't say I'd recommend reading this book but I do recommend reading the Tales of the Otori which is an excellent series set in a fictional feudal Japan.
bibliocharylodis's review against another edition
2.0
wanted to love it... didn't... the first 100 or so pages were quite good and then it just turned into some weird fictionalized history book...