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A review by chan_bean
Speak, Okinawa: A Memoir by Elizabeth Miki Brina
5.0
I have to give this book 5 stars if for for no other reason (and there are so many other reason to give it 5 stars) than the fact that it was a memoir that I enjoyed from start to finish. I picked this book up right before leaving the library and had to stop going home, sit down, and read the first three chapters all in one go.
Brina's writing is just so approachable and so vulnerable. This memoir is really ambitious -- it is equal parts about growing up biracial, growing up the child of an immigrant, growing up period, the history of Okinawa, the present state of Okinawa, generational trauma, inter-generational communication and differences, power imbalances in relationships, and love. That is so much to cover. But Brina does it in such a way that it doesn't feel forced. I put this book down feeling like I had genuinely learned something about every single one of these topics. It was hard to put down.
I really, really loved everything about this memoir, but the relationship between Brina's parents was what really gripped me. I went into this novel expecting to hate Mr. Brina -- the author mentions that her father has some rather conservative views, he was a soldier in the U.S. military that still currently occupies Okinawa, and he and his wife couldn't even communicate effectively when he married her and took her to the United States. But their relationship is so intricate: he is really doing his best to be a good husband, as best as he knows how. And Mrs. Brina is so enveloped in grief and trying to cope with her life in the U.S., that it feels like being a good wife shouldn't even have to be a priority for her. At a glance, I wanted to condemn their relationship as toxic and irredeemable. But the way that Brina writes about them... man, it's obvious that they have love for each other, and they love their daughter so, so much. It's heartbreaking, and reminded me that love comes in many forms. Some of them, rather ugly.
I don't know how to describe how much I loved reading this book. I'm really hoping I can find other memoirs like it. Speak, Okinawa is really inspiring me to give the entire genre another chance.
Brina's writing is just so approachable and so vulnerable. This memoir is really ambitious -- it is equal parts about growing up biracial, growing up the child of an immigrant, growing up period, the history of Okinawa, the present state of Okinawa, generational trauma, inter-generational communication and differences, power imbalances in relationships, and love. That is so much to cover. But Brina does it in such a way that it doesn't feel forced. I put this book down feeling like I had genuinely learned something about every single one of these topics. It was hard to put down.
I really, really loved everything about this memoir, but the relationship between Brina's parents was what really gripped me. I went into this novel expecting to hate Mr. Brina -- the author mentions that her father has some rather conservative views, he was a soldier in the U.S. military that still currently occupies Okinawa, and he and his wife couldn't even communicate effectively when he married her and took her to the United States. But their relationship is so intricate: he is really doing his best to be a good husband, as best as he knows how. And Mrs. Brina is so enveloped in grief and trying to cope with her life in the U.S., that it feels like being a good wife shouldn't even have to be a priority for her. At a glance, I wanted to condemn their relationship as toxic and irredeemable. But the way that Brina writes about them... man, it's obvious that they have love for each other, and they love their daughter so, so much. It's heartbreaking, and reminded me that love comes in many forms. Some of them, rather ugly.
I don't know how to describe how much I loved reading this book. I'm really hoping I can find other memoirs like it. Speak, Okinawa is really inspiring me to give the entire genre another chance.