kdferrin's review
2.0
I know times were different but I had a hard time with this "love" story because the woman's actions seemed to be so selfish.
Spoiler
My opinion may have been affected by the fact that I had just previously read a book that included a marriage where the woman was a beard so I picked up on the "secret" right away and it made it seem like an overdone plot devisechrissydisibio's review
4.0
I enjoyed this book a lot because of the characters. Alma, Ichmei, Irina, Seth... Each had an important role in the book even though it was a book mainly about Alma. Alma went through so many things in her life, and I like that she acknowledged she wasn't perfect- made it more real. Makes you think about things you regret. Also makes you think about getting old and how it's inevitable. The only thing I wish was for more info at the end about Irina and Seth! I also liked the twist at the end.
bgg616's review
3.0
This book was full of so many unbelievable happenings, from the beginning, that I decided to consider this to be a result of the application of a lot of magical realism by the author. The two that struck me from the beginning were - a wealthy family deciding to use all its money to rejuvenate parks in poor neighborhoods that were populated by drug dealers and other undesirables. As laudable as that is, I imagine many families would appreciate better housing especially in San Francisco. The second was the existence of a home for senior citizens that by its description and location would probably cost $10,000 for an assisted living apartment, but which is for seniors with limited means. The love story was pretty believable, but it was hard to decide if Alma, the main character, was realistic or selfish. Certain details seemed insufficiently developed such as Nathaniel, Alma's family, Alma's art career and more. Being well developed doesn't require more pages or space in the book, just the right kind of details. I did appreciate the way that details were developed throughout the book which was the "hook" to keep me reading.
mhewza's review
3.0
I just liked this! A really readable, fun novel, covering historical events of the Holocaust, Japanese internment camps in the US in WW2, immigration into the US, and a lot of themes include child pornography, miscarriage, abortion, racism, HIV, ageing, class. (Might think I’m playing fast and loose with the word ‘fun’ but it’s pleasant overall.)
Some minor issues with sexist, racist, stereotypical descriptions of characters but not mean-spiritedly. One superfluous character - Jean Valjean.
Lots of themes are brought in, which didn’t give them huge air time, but that’s like life.
Not high culture but a good yarn.
Some minor issues with sexist, racist, stereotypical descriptions of characters but not mean-spiritedly. One superfluous character - Jean Valjean.
Lots of themes are brought in, which didn’t give them huge air time, but that’s like life.
Not high culture but a good yarn.
bamahnken's review
4.0
The Japanese Lover is the first book I've read written by Isabel Allende, because I really enjoyed it and I hear her other books are even better, it will most likely not be the last book I read by Allende.
Filled with love-able characters, including the very flawed Alma Belasco I was kept interested because I wanted to know more about each character. There are a few major stories within the main story about the Japanese lover which I liked because it kept me fascinated by each character and brought life to their part in the main story.
Overall this is a good quick read. It does have historical elements in it but may not satisfy the avid Historical Fiction genre lover. The Japanese Lover: 4 out of 5 stars.
Filled with love-able characters, including the very flawed Alma Belasco I was kept interested because I wanted to know more about each character. There are a few major stories within the main story about the Japanese lover which I liked because it kept me fascinated by each character and brought life to their part in the main story.
Overall this is a good quick read. It does have historical elements in it but may not satisfy the avid Historical Fiction genre lover. The Japanese Lover: 4 out of 5 stars.
jmiae's review
3.0
This is such a hard book to rate. It took at least a dozen chapters before I could reconcile myself to the way Allende introduces (or rather doesn't introduce) her characters and their histories to the reader. At some points, it almost felt like she threw in new background information at random rather than carefully weaving them into the whole tapestry. In particular, Nathaniel's and Irina's respective dark secrets are weighty enough to warrant further investigation. But I guess it would have taken focus away from the main narrative of Alma and Ichimei, and honestly how often, in real life, do we get all or even most of the information about the people in our lives when we first meet them? And in the end, I was quite touched by the love story.
But beyond sentimentality, I have a lot of problems with this book. First, too many two-dimensional characters who either were not fully fleshed out but should have been (Isaac and Lilian, Larry and Doris--essentially the same couple but from two generations), or there was never really any plausible explanation for why they were there (i.e. Kirsten).
Second, Allende portrays everything, even some very serious topics, with a sort of rosy haze across it. This felt like Pixar's version of San Francisco. There was no grit, not even when she wrote about the internment camp.
Which brings me to my last point of contention. Maybe I've spent too much time amongst postcolonialists and far-left liberals at SOAS, but the way Ichimei and the rest of the Northern Californian Japanese-American population were portrayed smacked of Orientalism. As someone who's grown up with a strong Japanese-American identity and the granddaughter of nisei who were in the interment camps, I was thoroughly unconvinced by her portrayal of the issei and nisei. In terms of his characterisation, Ichimei was way more like an issei than the youngest nisei in the family should have been. I won't go into detail, because I could go on for paragraphs. But all in all, I had the impression that, to some degree, his status as a Japanese-American was used to give Ichimei more appeal as an 'exotic lover'.
Also, this was my first time reading fiction about the internment camps by someone who is not Japanese-American. On the one hand, there are a lot of inaccuracies or what I felt to be misrepresentations of Japanese-Americans of that generation. (Also, if Isaac was so compassionate towards the Fukuda family's plight during WWII, why did he want his grandson to be named after the president who put the Japanese-Americans in the internment camps??) But on the other hand, it's encouraging that people from other backgrounds are interested enough in the kind of discrimination directed towards Japanese-Americans during WWII to write novels around that history.
But beyond sentimentality, I have a lot of problems with this book. First, too many two-dimensional characters who either were not fully fleshed out but should have been (Isaac and Lilian, Larry and Doris--essentially the same couple but from two generations), or there was never really any plausible explanation for why they were there (i.e. Kirsten).
Second, Allende portrays everything, even some very serious topics, with a sort of rosy haze across it. This felt like Pixar's version of San Francisco. There was no grit, not even when she wrote about the internment camp.
Which brings me to my last point of contention. Maybe I've spent too much time amongst postcolonialists and far-left liberals at SOAS, but the way Ichimei and the rest of the Northern Californian Japanese-American population were portrayed smacked of Orientalism. As someone who's grown up with a strong Japanese-American identity and the granddaughter of nisei who were in the interment camps, I was thoroughly unconvinced by her portrayal of the issei and nisei. In terms of his characterisation, Ichimei was way more like an issei than the youngest nisei in the family should have been. I won't go into detail, because I could go on for paragraphs. But all in all, I had the impression that, to some degree, his status as a Japanese-American was used to give Ichimei more appeal as an 'exotic lover'.
Also, this was my first time reading fiction about the internment camps by someone who is not Japanese-American. On the one hand, there are a lot of inaccuracies or what I felt to be misrepresentations of Japanese-Americans of that generation. (Also, if Isaac was so compassionate towards the Fukuda family's plight during WWII, why did he want his grandson to be named after the president who put the Japanese-Americans in the internment camps??) But on the other hand, it's encouraging that people from other backgrounds are interested enough in the kind of discrimination directed towards Japanese-Americans during WWII to write novels around that history.
tronella's review against another edition
2.0
The main plot was alright, or would have been if Ichi had any personality traits other than "Japanese" and "likes gardening", but I thought Irina's whole backstory and her "romance" with Seth was poorly done, and the AIDS stuff at the end was very weird. Not everything has to be connected, okay?
lisanewsphoto's review
5.0
I loved this book. Isabel Allende is one of my favorite authors. I was send when the book ended. I wanted to read more of the lives of the people in the book.
valjeanval's review
4.0
I got this book for Christmas, and while it isn't the sort of thing I'd normally pick up for myself, I ended up really enjoying it. Every time someone asked me what it was about, I had a different description because it's just about so much. The title is a bit sensational for the actual themes of aging, death, trauma, and love. Each character is a work of art in their depth and complexity. The historical aspects seem meticulously well-researched, and it while it is not necessarily a work of historical fiction, it has lots of vivid descriptions of racial and feminist issues in the 40s-60s, including Japanese internment and relocation, a topic that desperately needs more coverage as the last first-hand sources are all in their 80s and above.
If I had to narrow it down to one idea, it would be that there are many ways to love at many points in our lives, and aging is as much about loving as any other point in our lives. Familial love, passionate love, comforting love, friendship love, even loving our pets are all explored with both tenderness and pragmatism.
This is a crying novel, and I think I'd like to read it again when I'm older. I may just be too young to connect on the levels Allende is working, but I'm old enough to appreciate the beauty of this story.
If I had to narrow it down to one idea, it would be that there are many ways to love at many points in our lives, and aging is as much about loving as any other point in our lives. Familial love, passionate love, comforting love, friendship love, even loving our pets are all explored with both tenderness and pragmatism.
This is a crying novel, and I think I'd like to read it again when I'm older. I may just be too young to connect on the levels Allende is working, but I'm old enough to appreciate the beauty of this story.