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kcollett75's review
A daughter of the samurai: how a daughter of feudal Japan, living hundreds of years in one generation, became a modern American. The most striking thing is that she is describing her childhood from the inside, as the Samurai daughter being brought up into the traditional woman's role and ALSO having the education almost of a son (both roles stiff with honor and hedged with tradition)--but from the perspective of the American acculturated woman that she became--and that this is the _same person_.
critter's review against another edition
5.0
I am reviewing an audiobook version of this book. The narrator did an excellent job. This book was an interesting look at the life of Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto. While I agree with other reviewers that Etsu seemed to be unaware of some of her privileges in life, her writing shows highlights ways that gender, race, class, and nationality affected people. This memoir was beautifully written, and I enjoyed the insight into Etsu's life and experiences.
I would like to thank Dreamscape media for providing me with an audiobook recording.
I would like to thank Dreamscape media for providing me with an audiobook recording.
altlovesbooks's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
4.0
"Perhaps it would be better not to look back with such pride to a glorious past; but instead, to look forward to a glorious future. One means quiet satisfaction; the other, ambitious work."
Etsu grew up the daughter of a samurai at a point in time when samurai are no longer needed. Regardless, she grew up learning those ideals, and took them with her into adulthood and America. She had a remarkably pragmatic and insightful way of looking at the world around her, and it was really interesting to me to read her thoughts on her American way of life when compared with her Japanese upbringing.
She was educated (beyond what women in that period were), kind, and generous with those around her. I learned many things about Japanese history and folklore through the stories she'd tell her family and friends, and I loved her insight into things I wouldn't have considered. For instance, she told a story about how an American friend of hers had pretty rosary beads displayed next to an intricately carved Japanese backscratcher. The woman had no idea it was something so mundane, she saw it as an object of beauty and not a tool. Etsu likened its oddity to someone displaying the Holy Bible next to a toothbrush. I appreciated that honesty, and Etsu and the friend laughed about it together.
The really only strike I can give this book is that its rather mundane. There's no struggles or trials to overcome here, just a nice Japanese woman living a nice life and having good things happen to her as a result. Depending on what you're reading for, it might come off slow and boring to some.
Etsu grew up the daughter of a samurai at a point in time when samurai are no longer needed. Regardless, she grew up learning those ideals, and took them with her into adulthood and America. She had a remarkably pragmatic and insightful way of looking at the world around her, and it was really interesting to me to read her thoughts on her American way of life when compared with her Japanese upbringing.
She was educated (beyond what women in that period were), kind, and generous with those around her. I learned many things about Japanese history and folklore through the stories she'd tell her family and friends, and I loved her insight into things I wouldn't have considered. For instance, she told a story about how an American friend of hers had pretty rosary beads displayed next to an intricately carved Japanese backscratcher. The woman had no idea it was something so mundane, she saw it as an object of beauty and not a tool. Etsu likened its oddity to someone displaying the Holy Bible next to a toothbrush. I appreciated that honesty, and Etsu and the friend laughed about it together.
The really only strike I can give this book is that its rather mundane. There's no struggles or trials to overcome here, just a nice Japanese woman living a nice life and having good things happen to her as a result. Depending on what you're reading for, it might come off slow and boring to some.
luzbella's review
4.0
A life in late 1800s in Japan is vividly written. I was very impressed with the wording even written in 1925. I learn a quite lot of the life in Japan in late 1800s as well as in the East Coast in US.
biancarogers's review
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
The Lost Lights of Kilda is a beautifully written love story set between WWII and prior to the time of evacuation of the infamous island of St. Kilda. Gifford’s vivid description of St Kilda will transport you instantly to the cliffs and ocean side of the island. From a historical perspective, Gifford does a phenomenal job of blending daily island life for its inhabitants to what life could have been for someone evacuating the island.
I typically do not lean towards romance novels but the two storylines flow effortlessly and keep you guessing until the very end where this love story ends. The Lost Lights of Kilda is a heartwarming story to lift the spirits and is definitely a must read for historical fiction lovers.
“For this much I have learned, the only things that stand are love and forgiveness, they are an island of hope glimpsed and not glimpsed among the pounding waves and the storms, but there still, always there, the lights guiding us home.”
Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for access to the audiobook production of The Lost Lights of Kilda in exchange for a honest review.
wenda's review
4.0
Elegantly written autobiography, I read every sentence carefully. Sugimoto is a storyteller like many in her family appear to be, she happens to have written them down. Her life has been quiet and unremarkable in some ways, she was raised to be married of and have children and this she does. Yet her rich but traditional, provincial sumarai upbringing clashes with the modernisms of the big cities in the early twentieth century and living in the USA for long years. This makes her life's story of navigating the divides between cultures in various meanings of the word an important and telling one.
miamickut's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars. Interesting look at Japan and America in late 19th century.
booktrish's review
Posted wrong edition of the book & couldn't figure out how to delete it.
stefhyena's review
4.0
This was a very interesting book and extremely readable for all that it was written so long ago. The author has a sensitive understanding of some of the complexities of identity- place and time as well as gender, class and nationality all working together in contradictory ways. She navigates Japanese and American cultures with sympathy and affection for both.
She in some ways seems unaware of her own privilege, for example in both countries she seems to take servants for granted (that was the time I realise), there is a gentle sort of feminist leaning in the book. At times we are tantalised with details that are not properly explained but mostly the book shines with a casual sort of intimacy, an unpretentious clarity and the ability to find the exceptional in family interactions.
It helps me both understand and to some degree criticise the whiteness of other novels which attempt to portray samurais. It was beautiful that although Etsu's father is a samurai, in the book we see him more as a loving father and husband than anything to do with war (except at the edges of the text). This is why I love women's memoirs and feel the need for women's perspectives on all places and times of history.
A lovely book full of cherry blossoms, paper screens and uncluttered elegance.
She in some ways seems unaware of her own privilege, for example in both countries she seems to take servants for granted (that was the time I realise), there is a gentle sort of feminist leaning in the book. At times we are tantalised with details that are not properly explained but mostly the book shines with a casual sort of intimacy, an unpretentious clarity and the ability to find the exceptional in family interactions.
It helps me both understand and to some degree criticise the whiteness of other novels which attempt to portray samurais. It was beautiful that although Etsu's father is a samurai, in the book we see him more as a loving father and husband than anything to do with war (except at the edges of the text). This is why I love women's memoirs and feel the need for women's perspectives on all places and times of history.
A lovely book full of cherry blossoms, paper screens and uncluttered elegance.