Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster's Daughter

This book was a lot of what I was looking for. After reading the Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx I wanted another true life real and gritty and seedy story to sink my teeth into. This provided exactly that. The story of a girl raised amid nasty people, money, drugs and pride. Too many drugs, too much sex and too many beatings all too soon. Rape/death/addiction/self destruction are all recurring themes. A traumatic life that parallels many people in America but I think is/was a rarer occurance overseas. She tries to run then tries to embrace her legacy as a member of the greater Yakuza family and allows the reader to experience the changes in her life and thinking that bring her around full circle in many ways to face herself and her past. Not very long, I read it all in under a week but it was well worth it.

this book is extremely simple in language and description. That makes it more personal and as she runs through her life, there is a certain closeness you feel to the author. Her experiences were extremely painful but somehow I drew strength and empowerment from the choices she made.

This was a really interesting read. Tendo takes you through her horrible experiences beautifully. Her descriptions are so vivid that I found myself on the verge of tears at times when reading this. As the reader, you really want her to be okay, after tragedy upon tragedy. You really get sucked into her life, which to me was an experience I had never even read of before this. I would absolutely recommend this book - you'll learn about an incredibly strong woman that overcame extreme hardship in her life as a Yakuza's daughter.

The reviews above express most everything I would like to say about this book. I just wanted to add that I have never been much of a reader, actually I really have never enjoyed reading, and although I know this book is rather short. It kept my interest from start to finish, and I couldn't put it down. It took me a while, but I finished it in one sitting.

A great read, was hard to put down once I got started. Not at all the type of life you would expect from a family that was once very powerful. Her child hood bullying, drug use during her teen years, and horrible relationships with men in the past serve as a warning that just because a life style may appear to be glamorous does not mean that it is. Told with shocking truth, Shoko Tendo's memoir is a great read.