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kblincoln's review
4.0
I received a Kindle version of this book in exchange for a fair review.
Let me also add that I have mostly stopped reviewing authors who solicit me through Amazon/Goodreads because usually they fall victim to my policy of not posting reviews if I would give a book less than 3 stars.
I'm happy to say Here Comes the Sun was much better than 3 stars. But I must admit that the reasons I went ahead and accepted the review request were probably the reasons I enjoyed the book so much: they hooked directly into my personal life experiences as a caucasian US citizen who married a Japanese chonan (eldest son), lived in Tokyo for a time, practices yoga, and dealt with various cultural and racial issues about having children within that marriage.
So yeah, I enjoyed it. I think Lowitz does a pretty good job of tying together all the parts of her life to the memoir's overall themes of acceptance, mothering, unintentional hurts we bestow on each other, and the release of painful emotional burdens. The narrative arc of experiencing infertility in a cross-cultural marriage in a society that places a premium on tracking bloodlines coupled with her various yoga and yoga-retreat experiences illuminates the kinds of themes anyone who is a parent or who has wanted to be a parent can appreciate.
Lowitz constantly struggles with her expectations and what fate throws her way. While I was a bit non-plussed by some of the more "spiritual" scenes in the book (she consults a psychic, experiences many things at various yogic retreats, has a brain-damaged man tell her things that impossibly relate to a necklace she gets from her aunt, etc) Lowitz's focus always comes back 'round to how both her yoga and Judaic roots filter spirituality in her mothering quest.
I certainly enjoyed the parts where she talks about her marriage, students at her Tokyo yoga studio, and the long, slow process of adoption in Tokyo more than the passages exploring yoga/meditation philosophy, but that's a personal preference and not a reflection of Lowitz's writing, which is entirely competent.
Very interesting memoir I would recommend to anyone interested in ex-pat experience in Tokyo, intercultural marriage, adoption or what the more philosophical side of "mothering" means.
Let me also add that I have mostly stopped reviewing authors who solicit me through Amazon/Goodreads because usually they fall victim to my policy of not posting reviews if I would give a book less than 3 stars.
I'm happy to say Here Comes the Sun was much better than 3 stars. But I must admit that the reasons I went ahead and accepted the review request were probably the reasons I enjoyed the book so much: they hooked directly into my personal life experiences as a caucasian US citizen who married a Japanese chonan (eldest son), lived in Tokyo for a time, practices yoga, and dealt with various cultural and racial issues about having children within that marriage.
So yeah, I enjoyed it. I think Lowitz does a pretty good job of tying together all the parts of her life to the memoir's overall themes of acceptance, mothering, unintentional hurts we bestow on each other, and the release of painful emotional burdens. The narrative arc of experiencing infertility in a cross-cultural marriage in a society that places a premium on tracking bloodlines coupled with her various yoga and yoga-retreat experiences illuminates the kinds of themes anyone who is a parent or who has wanted to be a parent can appreciate.
Lowitz constantly struggles with her expectations and what fate throws her way. While I was a bit non-plussed by some of the more "spiritual" scenes in the book (she consults a psychic, experiences many things at various yogic retreats, has a brain-damaged man tell her things that impossibly relate to a necklace she gets from her aunt, etc) Lowitz's focus always comes back 'round to how both her yoga and Judaic roots filter spirituality in her mothering quest.
I certainly enjoyed the parts where she talks about her marriage, students at her Tokyo yoga studio, and the long, slow process of adoption in Tokyo more than the passages exploring yoga/meditation philosophy, but that's a personal preference and not a reflection of Lowitz's writing, which is entirely competent.
Very interesting memoir I would recommend to anyone interested in ex-pat experience in Tokyo, intercultural marriage, adoption or what the more philosophical side of "mothering" means.
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