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sapuche's review
5.0
This review is for an ARC I received.
In The Widow, The Priest, and The Octopus Hunter, author Amy Chavez – a 25-year resident of Shiraishi Island in the Seto Inland Sea – beautifully describes the life of where she lives, the varying experiences of the island’s dwindling inhabitants, and the long-held but disappearing culture and traditions of her community. In her portrayals of more than 40 fellow islanders, which rely to a large extent on personal interviews, we’re also given a fascinating portrait of the author herself – a Shiraishi islander through and through – though she often remains in the background of what we see and hear.
In her book, Chavez provides a one-of-a-kind perspective on Japan, movingly and in beautiful prose. She doesn’t merely give us a peek at traditional life on Shiraishi, but lays it all out in a sumptuous banquet for readers to nourish themselves on.
For anyone looking for a comparison, Chavez’s book reminded me of John Berger’s Photocopies. But Chavez doesn’t just give us snapshots of islanders in the Seto Island Sea; rather, she recounts entire lives, some lived from as far back as 1920 until now. Through them the island, chapter by chapter, gains form and comes vividly and sympathetically to life. I know of no other book that portrays traditional island life in Japan like this one – we hear directly from many islanders, often about the central dramas they’ve lived through, and also those the island itself has survived – and since that life is quickly disappearing, this book does all it can to record it before it’s gone. As if that weren’t enough, her descriptions of the island are breathtaking.
Another interesting thread through the book is Chavez’s attempt to collect and understand the scattered pieces of the life of her house’s former owner, Eiko. In Chavez’s own words: “I found myself wanting to know more about this woman who left her soldier husband’s spirit tablet behind on the Buddhist altar of the house to reside with an American girl who was not only a stranger, but a sure progenitor of the enemy who had killed him. Thus sparked with new curiosity, I embarked on the task of interviewing as many of the island’s mostly elderly residents as I could to compile this oral history of Shiraishi Island and a war widow named Eiko…” (p. 26) Chavez’s natural curiosity to learn more about Eiko – and more about the island during Eiko’s time – offers a payoff at the end when Chavez helps us imagine from beginning to end Eiko’s nearly-forgotten life, then gives an epilogue in which there is a sweet, somber closure to it all.
In book form, Chavez manages to do exactly what the island’s one Buddhist priest tries to do when he goes from house to house to pray for family ancestors and the happiness of each family: “During those visits the old people talk to me. They want me to listen to their stories, so I do. And their stories are important. They are once-in-a-lifetime experiences and it’s sad that people will soon forget these things.” (188)
I highly recommend The Widow, The Priest, and The Octopus Hunter.
In The Widow, The Priest, and The Octopus Hunter, author Amy Chavez – a 25-year resident of Shiraishi Island in the Seto Inland Sea – beautifully describes the life of where she lives, the varying experiences of the island’s dwindling inhabitants, and the long-held but disappearing culture and traditions of her community. In her portrayals of more than 40 fellow islanders, which rely to a large extent on personal interviews, we’re also given a fascinating portrait of the author herself – a Shiraishi islander through and through – though she often remains in the background of what we see and hear.
In her book, Chavez provides a one-of-a-kind perspective on Japan, movingly and in beautiful prose. She doesn’t merely give us a peek at traditional life on Shiraishi, but lays it all out in a sumptuous banquet for readers to nourish themselves on.
For anyone looking for a comparison, Chavez’s book reminded me of John Berger’s Photocopies. But Chavez doesn’t just give us snapshots of islanders in the Seto Island Sea; rather, she recounts entire lives, some lived from as far back as 1920 until now. Through them the island, chapter by chapter, gains form and comes vividly and sympathetically to life. I know of no other book that portrays traditional island life in Japan like this one – we hear directly from many islanders, often about the central dramas they’ve lived through, and also those the island itself has survived – and since that life is quickly disappearing, this book does all it can to record it before it’s gone. As if that weren’t enough, her descriptions of the island are breathtaking.
Another interesting thread through the book is Chavez’s attempt to collect and understand the scattered pieces of the life of her house’s former owner, Eiko. In Chavez’s own words: “I found myself wanting to know more about this woman who left her soldier husband’s spirit tablet behind on the Buddhist altar of the house to reside with an American girl who was not only a stranger, but a sure progenitor of the enemy who had killed him. Thus sparked with new curiosity, I embarked on the task of interviewing as many of the island’s mostly elderly residents as I could to compile this oral history of Shiraishi Island and a war widow named Eiko…” (p. 26) Chavez’s natural curiosity to learn more about Eiko – and more about the island during Eiko’s time – offers a payoff at the end when Chavez helps us imagine from beginning to end Eiko’s nearly-forgotten life, then gives an epilogue in which there is a sweet, somber closure to it all.
In book form, Chavez manages to do exactly what the island’s one Buddhist priest tries to do when he goes from house to house to pray for family ancestors and the happiness of each family: “During those visits the old people talk to me. They want me to listen to their stories, so I do. And their stories are important. They are once-in-a-lifetime experiences and it’s sad that people will soon forget these things.” (188)
I highly recommend The Widow, The Priest, and The Octopus Hunter.
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