The Strangeness of Beauty

Unbelievable beautiful and influencial. Not much more I can say. Read it, there's no possible way for you to be dissapointed.

Minatoya, with her amazinng vividness and force, helps readers explore the meaning of being "Japanese" and the rich heritage of the Japanese, Japanese-American and Western cultures. As readers blend Japanese and Western emotions, ideals and failings, they should begin to see the tip of what today has become the Japanese-American identity.Overall this is a job well done!

Absolutely beautiful novel about three generations of Japanese women. When Etsuko's sister Naomi dies during childbirth in Seattle, Etsuko takes on the role of mother to the baby, Hanae. After a few years of American life together, Hanae's father decides it's time to send both Hanae and Etsuko back to Japan, so Hanae can learn about her heritage and get to know her maternal grandmother, Chie. The three women, a Japanese woman from a prestigious samurai family (Chie), her ignored American-immigrant daughter (Etsuko), and her American-born granddaughter (Hanae), learn much about each other and the world during their turbulent years together. The setting is pre-World War II Japan, providing not only an incredible background, but the means for a fascinating history lesson as well. The characters are unique, intense, and real. And their interactions (both with each other and with their countries) are some of the most moving demonstrations of emotion I've encountered in a novel in some time. My fiance gave me this book for Valentine's Day, saying he thought it sounded like a book I might enjoy (and he knows how much a good book can impact me) -- I found it absolutely amazing that he was so right on. While a book might not sound like the most romantic of gifts, it sure says a lot about him that he knew me so well he was able to pick out a book I not only couldn't put down, but felt moved to copy passages out of as well. Highly, HIGHLY recommended! (And, boy, am I marrying well or what?)

The Strangeness of Beauty is a novel which starts out introspective,then flies off for more challenging corners of the sky: how does the way we see others affect the way they act towards us? Etsuko is a woman caught between two fertile, seductive cultures:Japanese and American,and two great loves:freedom and responsibility. While she quickly adapts to rise beyond her own personal tragedies,she is far less flexible when it comes to her beloved'daughter'.Hanae is a child torn between her Japanese heritage and her American upbringing.And,within the historic arc of this tale, there are no easy,comforting answers.I found this an engaging,mesmerising book,full of lyric moments,great insight and bittersweet reflections on those tiny parts of life we take for granted. I recommend this book and already have had people who borrowed it passing it along once they finish with it. Brava.

An extraordinarily beautiful story, which is serene in it's simplicity of atmosphere, yet also contains intense emotion, and characters who are not always the way they seem. Written in a way that feels very real, with wonderful descriptions. Highly recomended!