|
|
Tsukiyama, Gail ListingsIf you cannot find what you want on this page, then please use our search feature to search all our listings. Click on Title to view full description
|
|
|
|
1 |
Tsukiyama, Gail Dreaming Water
New York St. Martin's Press 2002 0312206070 / 9780312206079 Y Hardcover N
From Publishers Weekly Tsukiyama (The Language of Threads) has a style at once evocative and formal, well suited to historical romances; now she takes on contemporary drama. At 38, Hana Murayama is dying of Werner's syndrome, a genetic defect that causes premature aging. Hana is almost totally dependent on her mother, Cate, who at 62 is still recovering from the sudden death of her husband, Max. As a child during WWII, Max had been interned with other Japanese-Americans in a camp in Wyoming and subsequently went on to teach history at a small northern California college. That background, her mother's love of gardening and her own usually feisty outlook are what Hana brings to her effort to live and die with dignity. Over the course of two days, Hana and Cate retrace in memory their lives and Max's. Their scattered and sometimes conflicting expectations are brought into sharp focus when Hana's best friend, Laura, now a successful East Coast lawyer, arrives with her two daughters, Hana's godchildren, allowing Hana and Cate to find a measure of the reconciliation that has eluded them. Tsukiyama has a wonderful ability to elicit delicate atmospherics; in particular, she uses the sense of touch to stunning effect. But the pacing is stilted, and neither Cate nor Hana allows herself a moment of private rage, although, in her thoughts, Cate strays briefly from the stoic. Her implicit frustration adds a note of vulnerability to the moving, subtle narrative. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Tsukiyama's fifth novel details a short span in the life of Cate and Hana, a mother and daughter coping with the onslaught of Werner's Syndrome. This syndrome, which ages a person abnormally, makes Hana look and feel 80 rather than 38. Yet she yearns for all the good things that life will never bring her, and Cate, recovering from the sudden death of her husband, cares lovingly for Hana. When Hana's best friend, Laura, arrives with her teenaged daughters to visit, Hana has a chance to reconnect with this troubled woman after a long absence. Laura and her children are able to help Hana and Cate face the future's uncertainties, while at the same time Hana and Cate discover that they are able to help Laura's girls grow up in numerous unseen ways. Tsukiyama (Women of the Silk) writes beautifully about courage and love, showing us the importance of daily kindnesses and highlighting the beauty found in the relationships among mothers, daughters, and friends. Highly recommended. Ellen R. Cohen, Rockville, MD Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Price:
10.00 USD
|
|
Add to Cart |
|
|
|
