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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another winner!, August 19, 2007
This review is from: Moon over Tokyo (Paperback)
Allie O'Connor is an unlikely girl to be living abroad, especially in a country so different to her own ~ Japan. Everything about Allie's life is a dichotomy she is a journalist but wants to be a novelist, she is a resident of Tokyo but doesn't speak the language, she loves different cultures but keeps away from cultural events. To top it all off she is six foot tall but in her words, "Inside me a short person was crying to be let out."
Allie's "security blanket" is about to leave, her wild Australian friend, Gina is heading back to Australia and she needs a new friend now and doesn't hesitate to demand one from God. She just wasn't counting on him bringing along a man, let alone her nemesis from high school, Erik Larsen ~ tall, handsome, sophisticated...and a Republican!
Siri Mitchell excels in bringing different cultures alive in her novels hand in hand with wonderful characterisation. Moon Over Tokyo is delightful, brimming with the beauty and contrasts that make Tokyo both fascinating and frustrating for visitors. Allie and Gina's relationship is fun and thought provoking as Allie, a believer, is bound by her fears and Gina, a "heathen" Aussie confidently takes on the world. Eric adds a whole new dimension to Allie's world and yet she refuses to grasp the gift of friendship and love she has before her. I appreciated so much that Allie continued to struggle with her fears of a relationship even when love was exposed - her genuine hesitation was as real as it gets and make this novel stand out from many a traditional romance.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing, July 28, 2007
This review is from: Moon over Tokyo (Paperback)
Moon Over Tokyo was a disappointment. Having loved most of Ms. Mitchell's previous books (3 out of 4), I thought this one would be a sure thing (like Kissing Adrien and France- but now with Japan). It was a slower read and though, I liked the characters and romance/chemistry between Allie and Eric, I never really got into it. It read more like a guide book for travelling and living in Japan. At times there was way too detailed of information for a work of fiction (ie. how to get from Allie's apartment to the subway-detailed directions, step by step instructions of how to get around the mall, where to find food, how to navigate a grocery store, etc).
I like reading stories that are fast-paced enough to keep my interest and this usually entails a good balance between exposition and dialogue. Here, there was so much boring, pointless exposition that it was aggravating trying to read through it all. The "informational" guide/travel book sections weren't interesting or noteworthy. It's just too much information that really seems irrelevant for a Christian romance, let alone a work of fiction (maybe it's meant to be a travel-logue...) Towards the end, I was skimming through to find some dialogue to speed up the pace of the story. Not a good sign. At the beginning, I had an inkling that I wouldn't like this story as much- there were multiple instances of paragraphs that read like a stream of consciousness, listing- ex. "I did ... I went...I saw...I also went..."
I really loved and enjoyed reading Kissing Adrien, Chateau of Echoes, and Cubicle Next Door. But perhaps my attention was more secured since the former two focused on French factoids- a country and language I am more interested in. But even then there wasn't this extent of minute details about places to see, where to eat, and step by step directions. If you don't mind that and are interested in learning lots of random guidebook-ish facts about Japan (or are planning a visit there...), then you'd probably enjoy Moon Over Tokyo. Maybe if you've travelled or lived in Japan yourself, this would all be a nice trip down memory lane... I hope Ms. Mitchell has better, more full-bodied and fleshed-out (not guide-books) stories in the works. I'd hate to miss out on such a great author to mediocre plots.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another great book!!, July 19, 2007
This review is from: Moon over Tokyo (Paperback)
Siri Mitchell has done it again! This book is my favorite of hers since "Kissing Adrien". I read this book in one day. I could not put it down!
Siri has the ability to really make exotic places inticing. Even through the eyes of Allie who doesn't realize it at first. Her main character is likable and complex. I pictured all of the characters and what they were doing easily because of Siri's great writing. This book is one where it's not love at first sight, Allie has to dig deep and figure out who she is first
Allie thinks she is one way and presents herself that way, but it's not until God answers a prayer, and her new friend shows her things are not always what they seem. She has to reexamin her life and who she is. Eric is not your normal guy either. In this book opposites attract and it's great!
Siri has done it again- easily she is one of my favorite authors.
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