Author: Katherine Tamiko Arguile
Year of release: 2020
Publisher: Affirm Press
Genre Modern & contemporary, Fiction
Release Date 28th April 2020 Rating 🌟🌟🌟
Synopsis
Years after the death of her cruel and complicated mother, Erika’s house is still full of the things Michiko left behind: an onigiri basket, a Wedgewood tea set, a knotted ring from Okinawa. In defiance of Japanese tradition, Erika has also kept the urn containing Michiko’s ashes, refusing to put her memory to rest. Erika throws herself into working as a chef at a high-end London restaurant and pretends everything is fine. But when a cousin announces that she will be visiting from Japan, Erika’s resolve begins to crack.
Slowly the things Michiko owned reveal stories of Michiko’s youth amid the upheaval of Tokyo during and after the war. As the two women’s stories progress and entwine, Erika is drawn to the island of Okinawa, the homeland of her grandmother. It’s a place of magic and mysticism where the secrets of Erika’s own past are waiting to be revealed.
Review
The things she owned examines a strained relationship between mother Michiko and Erika, even though her mother Michiko has passed on some 12 years before. Erika’s house if full of her mother’s belongings, including that of her mother’s ashes which goes against Japanese tradition laying the deceased memories to rest.
Unable to face the memories she has of the strained relationship she shared with her mother and make sense of what that all means, Erika begins to discover more about her mother then she ever thought she would when her cousin from Japan Kei comes to London for a visit.
I found this book was well written, thoughtful, a change of pace in the books I usually read you could even say The things she owned was a peaceful read against all the noise of life. The things she owned is beautifully descriptive tale that pulls the reader into Japanese culture and really highlights the beauty in life’s little things.
In those beginning chapters it was obvious the story has wonderful characters that bring this story into the light. I felt where the plot-line was slower in parts that I the reader thought it should be the characters author Katherine Tomiko Arguile created were sensational even the minor characters felt completed and I felt as if I knew them. Thanks to the authors skilful writing the change in perspectives flowed seamlessly throughout the story without having to disrupt this reader in the later chapters.
Thanks to the dual timeline and perspectives I felt I was able to gain access to the full story when it comes to Michiko, her youth wasn’t an easy one, growing up during as well as experiencing the aftermath and it’s long lasting effects of the second world war really help gain a reader’s sympathy for this character where without this detail there might not have been any.
Having now come to the end of the story I wonder if this story could have been better for this reader by having a structural change, the middle and ending chapters held my interest much more so than the beginning.
For such a descriptive book I did however feel as if the ending felt rather rushed, personally I felt like an epilogue would have suited this book well. Reviewers note this is a slow read but it is worth it in the
end. Upon reaching the end I feel for this reader the last half of the book captured my attention better than the first.
I would recommend this book to a mature audience, reviewers note as someone who has struggles with foreign language I appreciate the glossary found at the back of the book.