Customer Reviews

The Bride's Kimono

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been following the Rei Shimura series since Book #1 (THE SALARYMAN'S WIFE), and while I've found all of the books to be enjoyable, Sujata Massey has really taken a great leap forward with her fifth mystery, THE BRIDE'S KIMONO. I couldn't put this book down -- I finished it in one marathon 6-hour session!

Unlike the other books in the series, THE BRIDE'S KIMONO takes place in the U.S., Washington, D.C. to be specific. But if you love these books for their take on Japanese culture, don't worry -- there's still plenty of that here. Rei is hired by a museum in D.C. to travel from her home in Japan to give a lecture on kimono. Part of the job entails actually bringing several priceless kimono with her from Japan to the U.S. In order to get a cheap ticket, Rei joins a package tour of young Japanese "office ladies" who are heading to the U.S. to shop.

When one of the valuable kimono disappears, along with one of the Japanese tourists, Rei suspects the two incidents are related. Things are further complicated when her old boyfriend, Hugh, turns up! There are SO many complications and twists and turns in this wonderfully complex novel. Massey is a master storyteller, and hopefully, this fabulous book will win her lots of new fans. It will certainly delight those who are already acquainted with Rei.

One of the other reviewers writes that moving the setting to DC in this novel detracts from the series. I totally disagree. It is precisely this change of scenery that emphasizes the cultural duality of Sujata Massey's character, Rei Shimura and the beauty and complexity of Japan. Massey's fifth book in this series is absolutely the best. Just when you think she's reached the top, she raises the bar and gives her readers more. "The Bride's Kimono" is a complex, skillfully layered tale of murder, theft, relationships and cultural divides, topped off by complex characters and a great plot. This is definitely a must-read!

When the invitation came from the Washington DC Museum of Asian Arts to provide a talk on Edo era kimonos, American expatriate Rei Shimura accepts. Not only is this a chance to speak on her favorite topic, the Tokyo antiques-buyer will visit her parents in California. As Rei transports the exhibit with her, she meets Hana Matsura and several other Japanese female tourists on the plane.

In Washington not long after the pan Pacific Ocean flight lands, an invaluable uninsured kimono is stolen from Rei and than someone murders Hana, who had Rei's passport at the time. With her former boyfriend lawyer Hugh Glendinning turning up and the police suspecting her, Rei begins making her own inquiries to prove her innocence at the same time she wonders why she cares so much for both Hugh and her wealthy Japanese boyfriend Takeo Kayama.

Though an engaging insightful tale, the latest Rei mystery spends a lot of paragraphs on sidebars such as how to use a kimono and tidbits on shoguns and samurai. For those readers who enjoy engaging divagating asides this enhances the who-done-it. For those who prefer a concentrated amateur sleuth tale with a subplot on cross-cultural relationships, these cultural insights take away from the plot. Rei retains her spunk that the audience observed in THE FLOATING GIRL. Thus how much a reader relishes Sujata Massey's latest amateur sleuth novel depends on how much depth the audience desires for the subplots.

Harriet Klausner

Massey's stories of Rei Shimura attract legions of devoted fans, and it's easy to see why. Shimura is a charming and spunky young woman of bicultural heritage, an expert in Asian antiques, a fearless investigator of irregularities in the business, and a sexually liberated seeker of the right guy with whom to share her life. Here she is hired to act as a courier taking eight priceless kimono from a museum in Tokyo to a museum in Washington, D.C., where one of them quickly disappears. Soon afterward, Rei's passport turns up on the body of a murder victim.

Many cultural differences are highlighted here. Flying with a tour group of Japanese "shopping ladies," who plan to mall-shop for four days, Rei comments on the role of women in Japan and the limitations of their lives and relationships. Her museum lecture on the history of the antique kimono illuminates aspects of the Tokugawa reign and the conflicting roles of wife and lover in that period. When Rei reconnects with her own former lover Hugh Glendinning, for whom she still has feelings, her almost-fiance from Japan appears in D.C. as a surprise--and a significant complication. The intricacies of museum power structures here and in Japan are explained, while her rude treatment by Americans on the plane, at the front desks of hotels, and, especially, by the D.C. police allows her to scrutinize American culture.

Unfortunately, Rei's behavior sometimes defies common sense. With business class tickets both for herself and her hand-carried kimono, she agrees to move everything to coach because one rude American wants one seat. She "forgets" a priceless kimono in a restaurant and later leaves it and her passport unsecured in her hotel room. She signs documents she cannot read and gets no instructions from Tokyo when the D.C. museum refuses one kimono. If you are looking for something fun to read at the beach, this is different, and the action at the end is exciting, as long as you are willing to ignore clichés and stereotyped characters and to accept an unusual number of coincidences. Mary Whipple

I have loved Sujata Massey's previous installments in the Rei Shimura series, and was excited to rediscover it in "The Bride's Kimono." For the most part, I enjoyed the book. It is a fun mystery, I liked meeting Rei's parents in this story, and the information on kimono was fascinating. The one thing that bothered me as I read, however, were the very negative sentiments toward the US.

Pretty much every American character was portrayed negatively, and I got tired of the sentences berating American behavior and customs (everything from sharing desserts to the common use of first names was criticized). Ms. Massey, or her character Rei, seem only to appreciate American chocolate, coffee, and cheese. I think the reason this bothered me is that the heroine of this novel is supposed to be biracial (Asian-American), living 26 years of her life in the US. The negative attitude would have been more acceptable, IMO, if it were coming from someone who had never lived in the US.

With this fifth in the delightful Rei Shimura series, author Sujata Massey shows a new assurance, and new skills at weaving intricate plots in a deceptively simple manner.

Here, for the first time, the reader is given the wonderful treat of meeting Rei's parents--her hopelessly shopaholic American mother, and her Japanese-born psychiatrist father, who still holds on to some of his old-fashioned Asian ways. The parents are so much fun, they almost detract from the story at hand: Rei has been chosen to accompany a priceless collection of kimono from Japan to a prestigious museum in Washington, D.C. It's a job that not only pays well, but will ensure Rei's reputation in the rarified world of antiques in which she works.

But--Rei being Rei--she is no sooner on American soil than things go from bad to worse, from a murder to a shocking theft to her own horrible encounter with the Washington police--where they accuse her of being a prostitute!

As Rei tries to solve the murder, retrieve the stolen artifact, deal with her overprotective parents and complete her lectures at the museum, she also finds herself overcome by a love interest she thought she had forgotten. All of this makes for fascinating reading, especially the detailed explanation of the ritual adornment of the kimono, whose every fold and tie holds a deep meaning.

As with the other four books in this series, I could hardly put "The Bride's Kimono" down, and felt a keen sense of loss when I finished the last page. I sincerely hope that Ms. Massey continues this series for some time to come!

This is the latest of Sujata Massey's Rei Shimura adventures. This time, Mrs. Massey takes Rei from Tokyo to Washington DC and it is a winning move.

Nothing is really simple for Rei as she is asked to be a courier of priceless antique kimono from a Japanese museum to one in Washington, DC. She has to get the kimono to their desitination intact and ready for exhibition and this is no easy task. It doesn't get any easier when the receiving museum causes additional stresses by refusing to accept one kimono and this forces Rei to become it's minder and then when it disappears, it becomes her task to recover it. Along the way, Rei meets an old boy friend, discovers she has been robbed of passport and return ticket to Japan and must contend with the death of one of her traveling companions - in fact the woman she had as a seat mate from Japan to DC.

This is a great tale that includes the background workings of museums in both Japan and America. It is also another revealing study of Japanese customs and traditions.

We are given a chance to meet Rei's parents, and I for one, was quite impressed by both of them. Rei's mother reminds me of my own mother-in-law in some ways. So on this level I was able to get a little more enmeshed in the book. We also learn more about Rei only from her parent's perspective and that is helpful in rounding out the charecter. Mrs. Massey does a fine job in this respect.

Mrs. Massey's excellent descriptions of Washington are a big plus in this book. You get the feeling that you are walking along the streets in Georgetown or Adams Morgan along with Rei.

This book, like all the others, doesn't telegraph the criminal elements. There are a couple of decoys that you meet and wonder, what evil deed are they up to, but you discover you're wrong and this are just passing unpleasant charecters that add to the overall tone of the book. Mrs. Massey's books are ones that I don't automatically read the last chapter first. I start from page one and work my way through it, like Rei and everyone else. It was one that once I started, I was reluctant to put it down.

I recommend this book to all of Mrs. Massey's fans and to those who may just be discovering her writing. This is another excellent book by an exceptionally talented mystery writer. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did.

I think that Sujata Massey has more than surpassed herself with her latest book, "The Bride's Kimono". The mystery form is more than enhanced by the 'mysteries' of the past and present. Rei is dealing with the parallels between the courtesans of Old Japan and the modern day 'shopping ladies', which is coupled with the complications of her own love life in the present. With my own interests in archaeology & anthropology, I seem to be drawn to the more 'female-oriented' and less studied side of things: textiles, clothing, weaving, jewellery. To me, a Japanese courtesan is every bit as interesting as an emperor. I felt an kind of unexpected sympathy towards the courtesans of Old Japan and for the lives of women today stuggling through the modern world which is often: complex, multi-cultural, challenging and untimately mysterious.

This is my first Rei Shimura novel. I understand that there are several more novels with this same protagonist but I am not sure if I will be picking them up.

The Bride's Kimono starts out with a very good premise. A priceless kimono needs to be transported and the original person to accompany and give the presentation about it cancels last minute. The call for the replacement goes to Rei Shimura, an antiques dealer who half-Japanese, half-Caucasian.

It is after the beginning that the story starts to lose steam. It isn't that the writing is bad because the writing is actually quite accessible. It is a testament to the writing style with its easygoing flow that I was able to finish the novel.

But the characters are a bit on the weak side. Rei, in particular, seemed to get flakier as the novel progressed. Her personal story with the boyfriends was distracting. Her interaction with her mother and father felt like it belonged in a Harlequin Blaze novella rather than this type of novel.

Again, the writing is good in that sense that it flows well and I wasn't looking at the time while I was reading, but the characterizations kept me from getting engrossed.

A decent book but probably worth a look at the library first before committing to buying.

Kudos to Ms. Massey for her detailed research into the history of Kimonos. I found it fascinating and well done. If only she had been half as diligent in her research on Washington DC, it would have made for a much more compelling read. For example, there are no video surveillance cameras on the metro, the Asian Reading Room in the Library of Congress only provides Asian language books. Any book in english would have been in the main reading room and it would take quite awhile to obtain the book, etc.

She really seems to work mostly in stereotypes and doesn't seem to provide any real depth to any of her characters. There are so many implausible plot points, many of them that were left unanswered and also leaving us with no clue as to why there were there in the first place. I would elaborate on specific issues but do not want to give away any of the plot. Also, she likes to throw red herrings all over the place, simply for the sake of throwing us off the scent, and not for any real story moving reason. It just got annoying. Finally, when we were heading towards the denouement, it picked up a real rushed feeling and everything was resolved neatly, but not in a way that I found satisfying. The villian was fairly obvious early on despite all her bad red herrings.

I'm going to read another one of her books simply because what she did well in this book was worth giving another of her books another chance. ANd that was her ability to bring Japanese culture to exciting life.