Customer Reviews

Midori by Moonlight

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a great tale for chick lit fans and general readers alike! Midori is a plucky heroine, trying to find herself in the USA after being jilted by her fiance. She has no green card, no money, and is afraid to tell her parents about the failed engagement. So..she must find a job (illegally), a home, and a life. Of course, her identity is most important as well. Loved everything about it!

Loved the text! Highly recommend it!

A delightful story, humorous and chock full of delicious descriptions of Midori's pastries. It provides real insight to the tribulations of moving to a new culture and it's a quick read -- an ideal way to spend a weekend of reading.

Tokunaga depicts her heroine with sympathy, depth, and humor, as she makes a new life in San Francisco after being jilted by her soon-to-be husband. Midori is as charming a main character as I've seen in a while--you'll be rooting for her from page one!

Though Midori by Moonlight was published in 2007, I only just discovered this book a few months ago, and I'm delighted that I did.

Midori by Moonlight is categorized as `chick-lit', which is a term "used to denote a genre of women's fiction written for and marketed primarily to single, working women in their 20's and 30's in the post-feminist era." And while it does fit those parameters, this extremely well-crafted novel is so much more, and can be enjoyed by so many other readers besides by those to whom `chick lit' is generally marketed.

The author, Wendy Nelson Tokunaga, (an American who has spent much time in Japan, and is married to the Japanese-born musician, Manabu Tokunaga) weaves many noteworthy aspects of both the Japanese culture and the American into the plot, such as the personal restrictions inherent in Japanese society, the American penchant for regarding foreign societies in general terms of either "wonderful and unique" or "backward", and a number of other aspects of both cultures that we would all do well to examine for their drawbacks. But she does all this with such a finesse and lack of moralizing, that readers might never become aware that this element of keen observation is subtly added to the straight-forward plot in the same way as one of the carefully chosen ingredients is flavored into the main character's delicious home-made cakes.

As I observed in my review of Sarah Addison Allen's Garden Spells, I wonder if it takes another writer to fully understand that the more simply-written and the more easily read a work appears to be, the more difficult it actually was to create. Midori by Moonlight also clearly fits into that category. All in all, great fun but very intelligent read.

Review by Patricia Volonakis Davis, author of Harlot's Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss, and Greece

I've heard a lot that chick lit is "finished" - the storylines are the same, the characters are non-descript, and no one really has any interest in it anymore. Whether Midori by Moonlight is an exception to that rule or proof that it's patently untrue, I'm not sure; but I can definitely say that this slim chick lit novel is the most fun I've had in recent memory while reading a book.

Midori is a feisty heroine whom the reader can't help but root for. She struggles with her English - while her knowledge of the language is passable, it's the idioms she has trouble with. Her misuse of colloquial phrases is an endless source of amusement in the novel. Midori is also determined and a very strong character, though she doesn't realize it. It takes courage to leave everything you know behind and forge a new life in a foreign country, and even more courage to stay there when all the circumstance change. Everything and everyone is telling Midori to return to Japan, but she refuses; her strength shines through.

I also loved the multicultural aspects of this novel. It was interesting to learn more about Japanese culture, especially with regard to how they look at young women. It seemed to be similar to Indian culture in that respect. While I think culture is important, I admired Midori for standing up to convention and forging her own path.

I loved Midori by Moonlight. Midori isn't your usual heroine; she's unsure of herself and lives in the moment. She doesn't think she's brave or courageous. She just knows she can't return to Japan and has to make her American experience work. If you pick up this novel, plan on devouring it in one sitting. It's a great book that I can't recommend highly enough, even for those who don't usually enjoy chick lit.

I have to say, this is the kind of book that I rarely pick up because it looks like a light chick lit book. (Nothing wrong with that! Just not my usual thing.) I am an online book club member where, through our local library, I sample first chapters of books. I started reading Midori by Moonlight online, and since my library didn't have a copy, I bought this book. I was hooked from the beginning and didn't want it to end.

The characters are very well developed, and I was fascinated by the pastry albums that Midori keeps, information about San Francisco and the Japanese community there, and other cultural tidbits. I like the ending of the book, and I would LOVE to see a sequel or find more books of this type. It is light reading, but these characters are real and will pull you in.

I have a soft spot for chick lit but most of the books are so samey and predictable that I wind up not reading much of it. I spotted "Midori by Moonlight" on the new books table at a local store, and because of my interest in Japanese culture and the hometown (San Francisco) setting, I couldn't resist picking it up. I'm glad I did -- I read the entire thing in one sitting because I couldn't put it down! It's light but explores some serious themes, too, such as the importance of conformity in Japanese culture. If you live in SF, the perfect place to read the book would be while enjoying a delicate dessert at Miette in the Ferry Building, one of the inspirations for the pastry shops Midori loves so much. This book is guaranteed to make you smile and brighten your day!

Midori Saito is an innocent yet powerful heroine. Tokunaga presents her new-to-America, just-hilted protagonist as a woman who never quite fit in in her native Japan, and leapt at the chance to go with the gaijin of her dreams to San Francisco. Once there, however, she winds up living in an apartment with her ex-fiance's friend, Shinji, lusting after a gay chef, and working as a bar hostess. She avidly follows the soap opera Farrington Falls, only sometimes realizing that there are aspects of her life that could be described as soap operatic (not necessarily through her own doing, but for a relatively simple woman, she winds up in some unusual situations).

Midori's most charming trait is her relentless efforts to learn English and constant questioning of idiomatic phrases. Her use of them shows that she truly wants to fit in, and slowly, she does. There's a slightly outlandish story line about Japanese criminals that didn't totally ring true for me, but that's okay, because Midori is sweet but not gullible. She shows signs of fierceness, even though she doesn't always live up to them, and the tension between her traditional family, eager to marry her off, and her desire to make a real life for herself, on her own terms, exploring who she is and her new city, is powerful.

One of the ways Midori distinguishes herself is with her sweet tooth. She treats the desserts she buys and lovingly savors with the utmost of attention, capturing each one in her pastry album, and concocting her own creations. "Why would anyone wnat to sniff cocaine when there's marzipan in the world?" she wonders at one point, and her attention to detail, from making special cakes for Shinji's girlfriend, to making sure each one is perfect, is delightful to read about. Her desserts represent her independence; she is not making them out of obligation to a husband, but because she simply loves the act, and thankfully she manages to make money from her tasty snacks.

This is a wonderful first novel, and even though it's about culture clash and immigration to a large extent, the wonder Midori feels when she first arrives in San Francisco is akin to the wonder we all feel upon moving to a new city. Seeing Midori succeed, contrasted with her best friend stuck back in Japan at a job she hates or what happens with some of her fellow bar hostesses, makes this a happy ending you'll savor as much as the sweetest dessert.

This book was not for me. I did not find the heroine to be believable at any point in the story, and it all felt very contrived.

This book was so much fun I devoured it as if it were one of Midori's cakes. Yum! Midori escapes the confining societal mores of Japan by following her gaijin fiancé to America only to be dumped by "Bad Man" Kevin before the wedding. She refuses to return to Japan. What's a desperate cupcake-maker with broken English and no green card to do? Soap operas, a mysterious girl, Midori's desserts, and a little help from the moon eventually lead to happiness in the U.S. Sweet and funny, with enough real vanilla to give it depth, Midori by Moonlight delivers the goods with a twist of revenge. Loved the Japanese culture, the natural dialogue, the comedy, "I'm sure you are concerned about the difference between a canister and an upright vacuum." Five stars for those who like a fun and fast read. For those who are conservative, beware of a few spicy tuna rolls.