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kidneynerd's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
thisotherbookaccount's review against another edition
2.0
You can say that Inheritors by Asako Serizawa is a short story collection, but it really is a series of interconnected stories not unlike another recent book I read called Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. And while Homegoing is about the impact of slavery through multiple generations, Inheritors is about WW2 and its ramifications on generations of Japanese before, during and after the war.
The difference between the two books, however, is that most of Serizawa's stories left me cold and indifferent to whatever's happening on the page. One reason is because Serizawa's characters mostly speak with the same voice — her voice, I reckon. Another reason is that the first half of the book is written in a rough, obtuse style that's hard to penetrate for the most part. Even though both Inheritors and Homegoing provide a helpful family tree at the front of the book to help readers keep track of who's who, I never had to refer to it for Homegoing. Over here, though, I find myself being confused half the time as to how everybody is related, and it doesn't help that Inheritors is largely told without a chronological order.
In the end, the general indifference to the story, the obtuse style of writing and the lack of chronology made this a tough read for me. I honestly did not enjoy any of the stories.
The difference between the two books, however, is that most of Serizawa's stories left me cold and indifferent to whatever's happening on the page. One reason is because Serizawa's characters mostly speak with the same voice — her voice, I reckon. Another reason is that the first half of the book is written in a rough, obtuse style that's hard to penetrate for the most part. Even though both Inheritors and Homegoing provide a helpful family tree at the front of the book to help readers keep track of who's who, I never had to refer to it for Homegoing. Over here, though, I find myself being confused half the time as to how everybody is related, and it doesn't help that Inheritors is largely told without a chronological order.
In the end, the general indifference to the story, the obtuse style of writing and the lack of chronology made this a tough read for me. I honestly did not enjoy any of the stories.
margaretefg's review against another edition
4.0
Beautiful linked stories of several generations of a Japanese and Japanese American family.
ecruikshank's review against another edition
5.0
An absolutely stunning book of staggering trauma. Set primarily in Japan and told as a collection of nonsequential short stories, Inheritors portrays five generations of a family and the reverberations of their devastating experiences during World War II. Purely on a sentence level, the writing is gorgeous. A lot of contemporary literature has almost a flat affect, but there is a poetry to Serizawa’s writing that is totally captivating, particularly in contrast to the brutality of the book. I found myself reading sentences repeatedly just to savor the language. She also shifts between styles and structures extremely smoothly.
The book is unrelenting in its exploration of themes of memory, forgetfulness, complicity in and deliberate ignorance of atrocities, nationalism, identity, and intergenerational trauma, and I so appreciated how Serizawa explores complex questions of morality without (for the most part) moralizing. No character or group escapes without critique, but the author has a great deal of empathy and compassion for her characters and portrays them with nuance. One chapter in particular (Train to Harbin) was excruciating for me to read, and I imagine different readers will find different chapters to be especially difficult. (This book contains just about every kind of trigger, so definitely do some research ahead of time if that is a concern.) One of the themes of the book is propaganda and nationalistic forgetting after a war; I saw that reflected in my own experience, as growing up I learned almost nothing about atrocities committed against and by Japan during and after the war, with the exception of the atomic bomb.
The book is so complex and thoughtfully constructed; I saw some reviews that suggested that the author should have arranged the stories chronologically, but I thought the organization was brilliant. I relied very heavily on the detailed family tree in the beginning, which I rarely do; in addition to providing the characters’ relationships, it also lists their dates of birth and death and the stories that feature them.
Unsurprisingly, some chapters are stronger than others. There was something very destabilizing about jumping around in time, even though that was intentional; some chapters seemed to do a better job of situating the reader, whereas others felt a bit more obtuse. One of the chapters toward the end was a bit didactic and plodding and felt like it was hitting me over the head a little with a summary of the themes of the book. And while I see what Serizawa was doing with the final two chapters (and the penultimate chapter had shades of Ted Chiang), I could have done without them.
That said, this was an extraordinary and challenging novel (a debut?!) and an obvious five stars for me.
The book is unrelenting in its exploration of themes of memory, forgetfulness, complicity in and deliberate ignorance of atrocities, nationalism, identity, and intergenerational trauma, and I so appreciated how Serizawa explores complex questions of morality without (for the most part) moralizing. No character or group escapes without critique, but the author has a great deal of empathy and compassion for her characters and portrays them with nuance. One chapter in particular (Train to Harbin) was excruciating for me to read, and I imagine different readers will find different chapters to be especially difficult. (This book contains just about every kind of trigger, so definitely do some research ahead of time if that is a concern.) One of the themes of the book is propaganda and nationalistic forgetting after a war; I saw that reflected in my own experience, as growing up I learned almost nothing about atrocities committed against and by Japan during and after the war, with the exception of the atomic bomb.
The book is so complex and thoughtfully constructed; I saw some reviews that suggested that the author should have arranged the stories chronologically, but I thought the organization was brilliant. I relied very heavily on the detailed family tree in the beginning, which I rarely do; in addition to providing the characters’ relationships, it also lists their dates of birth and death and the stories that feature them.
Unsurprisingly, some chapters are stronger than others. There was something very destabilizing about jumping around in time, even though that was intentional; some chapters seemed to do a better job of situating the reader, whereas others felt a bit more obtuse. One of the chapters toward the end was a bit didactic and plodding and felt like it was hitting me over the head a little with a summary of the themes of the book. And while I see what Serizawa was doing with the final two chapters (and the penultimate chapter had shades of Ted Chiang), I could have done without them.
That said, this was an extraordinary and challenging novel (a debut?!) and an obvious five stars for me.
sara_unlost's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is an incredible collection of interwoven short stories. The way each one is an individual story but the collection as a whole paints a family's story through generations is truly remarkable. The themes of family, war, morality, and inheritance are intricately and delicately explored through the lens of World War II and the effects of that war. I cannot recommend this enough. It is a must read for any serious reader.
librar_bee's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
4.25 stars. I adore a generational historical fiction novel, and Serizawa delivered a beautifully complex and winding saga that pulled me in from the start. Through lyrical prose, varied storytelling formats (narrative, interview, temporal shifts) from a variety of perspectives, Serizawa confronts legacy - of Japan as a colonizing force, Japanese-Americans as scapegoats and minorities, and questions what it means to inherit these histories.
This novel tackles the subjugation of women (Korean & Japanese) by the Japanese government and American occupiers, suicide missions, Unit 731, and even futuristic scenarios in the last two stories. About halfway through the book, the dialogue began to drone and I would have preferred to see the futuristic elements interspersed throughout the book the way the past and present were. All in all, though, this is a must-read for anyone interested in Japan and its specific sociocultural legacies.
This novel tackles the subjugation of women (Korean & Japanese) by the Japanese government and American occupiers, suicide missions, Unit 731, and even futuristic scenarios in the last two stories. About halfway through the book, the dialogue began to drone and I would have preferred to see the futuristic elements interspersed throughout the book the way the past and present were. All in all, though, this is a must-read for anyone interested in Japan and its specific sociocultural legacies.
kristenesantos's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75