Customer Reviews

Sayonara

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is not my Japan - I was stationed there a generation later. Michener's prose describes Japan as it was during the Korean war. I still remember the vendors selling roasted chestnuts or skewers of yakitori beside the street. Today we have, God forbid, MacDonalds and Starbucks on the streets of Hiroshima.
These are not my girls - most of the Japanese women I met, outside of the bar scene, were students in English classes. Their reasons for speaking with gaijin (foreigners) were varied. Some wanted to learn English for work. Some expected to travel. One had a sister who was married to an American. The girl who is now my wife of 25 years was a rebel who just did not want to conform to the strictures of Japanese society. I have to admit, I was first attracted because she was the cutest girl I had ever seen. She's still is, for me. Were there communication problems? Yes, at first. Now, probably no different from any other couple. Could Gruver's attraction to Hana Ogi have been purely physical? Maybe. Probably not.
Sayonara isn't history - but the "tea ceremony" I saw in Kyoto last week wasn't real either.
Enjoy this book - it's a window on a different time and a different place and a different people. It's a wonderful read if you can shift your perspecive and accept things as they were.

In a supposed small world intent on globalization, reading a novel

like James A. Michener's, "Sayonara", although set in 1950s Japan,

suggests that in spite of each human's desire for the basic

necessities of life, racial and cultural differences may forever

divide and inhibit an ultimate understanding of another person in

terms of their all important concept of self-identity.

In the novel, Major Lloyd Gruver speaks, in first person prose of his prominent position in a post WW2 world. Symbolic of the America

of that time period, he scintillates with all the sparkling promise

of the American dream. Educated at West Point like his

distinguished father, and touted as an ace Air Force pilot for

shooting down MIGS in the Korean War, he appears to have it all,

especially since he is engaged to the beautiful socially acceptable

daughter of a general. A cushy conventional existence looms in his

future, but the routine and boring familiarity of this supposed

perfect life perturbs him. He finds himself immobilized and

uncertain of moving towards what he thinks of as a repeat of his

parents' lives. He finds himself asking why embrace a mindset and lifestyle for which he has little passion?

From the moment he sets foot in Japan, Gruver, defends his shaky

brand of the American dream; he has little understanding for the

countless GIs romancing "indigenous personnel." When one of his

men, Airman Joe Kelly asks him to stand up for him at his marriage

to a Japanese girl, Gruver is appalled. Rather than the

stereotypical Oriental doll expected, Katsumi, Kelly's bride,

borders on dowdy, the big gold tooth in the front of her mouth

wreaks havoc on Gruver's idea of beauty. The comparison between

this girl and Eileen, his fiancée, epitomizes for him the differences

between the East and the West.

Ironically, when Gruver meets and falls in love with Hana-Ogi, his

impressions of the Japanese change, as do his thoughts for his own

future. Ultimately, Gruver is faced with a few of the big questions-

-can he forgo the life for which he was groomed for an existence

that at that time would have been thought racially and socially

unacceptable? Would the erotic sense of unconditional love that he

feels for this girl, circumvent the problems he would encounter

because of the sensibilities of the day?

Bottom line: Published in 1953, and supposedly (according to "Out

of an Obscure Place: Japanese War Brides and Cultural Pluralism in

the 1950s" by Caroline Chung Simpson) reflective of Michener's

mindset regarding the survival rate of such interracial marriages,

this novel presages the author's growing interest in Japanese war

brides and his own change of heart regarding their success. In 1955

he married Japanese American Mari Yoriko Sabusawa. His

novel, "Sayonara," then magnificently details his personal struggle

to understand a culture much different from his own as he tests his

own self-identity. Recommended to read over and over again.

Diana Faillace Von Behren

"reneofc@mindspring.com"

To me, Sayonara is an amazing story of a very unlikely couple. Maybe it is simply the woman in me that enjoys reading of a great love tale, but this novel truly hit me. In the beginning Lloyd is a man that would not think twice about dating a Japanese woman simply because of her race. But as time goes on, and the storyline progresses, his perspective begins to shift. He sees Hana-ogi not as a JAPANESE woman, but as a warm-hearted, loving human being. And although both of their careers forbid their relationship, neither one of them is willing to give up the bond they share. Their friends Joe Kelly and Katsumi are only another example of how love conquers, or rather, should conquer, all. Sayonara is not just a sappy love story. It is a tale of struggle and the overcoming of obstacles merely to be with the one you were meant to be with.

Let's get one thing straight: the Marlon Brando film, while largely remaining true to the book, failed to stay faithful to the most important scene in the latter: the ending. If Brando and the film's producers had maintained the ending, it would have been a much better, more believable movie, even with Brando's horrible, whiny Southern accent.

Back to the book: a surprisingly moving and (even more surprising) short novel from Michener, the king of historical epics. The characters are finely drawn, even the two primary Japanese women, Hana-ogi and Katsumi. Tightly written, without the lush hypersentimentality of the film. The bittersweet ending isn't surprising, but it still catches your throat and makes you wish things had been different then, both in the book and in real life. Ace Gruver is a more complex character than the standard issue romance novel hero, and his relationship with the enigmatic Hana-ogi is given delicate treatment. You could imagine this book being longer, giving more depth to the affair and the marriage between Katsumi and Joe Kelly, but it probably wouldn't have improved on the story. Michener excels in creating those lush, heavily researched, sweeping doorstoppers, but in this, one of his earlier novels, his gift as a storyteller really shines.

MRA

I have just began to read Michener's novels, but have enjoyed none more than Sayonara. It varies from his typical writing style... he writes with passionate human emotion to describe racism, love, and culture. This is an amazing and important novel for Americans. Although the story line is somewhat predictable, the language is simple and graceful. It glows with insight on contrasting Japanese ideas on land, country, and marriage. I couldn't get enough of this book. It was spectacular.

This is a beautiful tale of love and war. Though I am young, I have enjoyed the powerful way James Michener had written 'Sayonara'. I feel symphatetic towards the end for the dashing Major Llyod Gruver and his beautiful Hana-ogi. This has been a very enjoyable book and I recommend other people to read it.

This is a fine story. The book moves along at a steady pace and has plenty of interesting moments. A couple of these: when the hero hides in a cupboard from the Military Police and has a breakthrough in his thinking (freedom from the fear of the heavy boot steps in the middle of the night), and when he is reprimanded by his father and forced to realize that there are all sorts of people needed in this world to make it go 'round. The characters are diverse though the Japanese community seems weakly done. This book is recommended for those interested in the Korean war, Japan, love, or sad endings.

I enjoyed the book very much. Although the ending was very sad, the message was a very important one. The book was intriguing from the first page. It was not dull or boring at any moment. Major Gruver was a very accomplished and intelligent man. In the book it was interesting to see the changes he underwent; at first, this man would not even acknowledge a Japanese woman in public but after he opened up and gave these women a second look, he not only talked to them, but he fell in love. More people need to make that change in life because so many times people get overlooked and pushed aside because they are of a different race. In this book it was not only individuals who did not agree with the entangling of people from two totally different cultures, but the United States Air Force as a group did not agree with it either; they did not understand the strength that love has on mankind. Sayonara is a truly amazing love story who's message and lessons should be known world-wide.

I read this book in high school (in the 60's) and saw the movie several years after that (the endings are not the same), and must confess I'd forgotten just how racist and how chauvinistic even the sympathetic characters are. What's not in question is that things really WERE this way in 1953 when the book was published - what is in question is whether the average reader understood what Michener was trying to do in pointing it out. Given that racism (and chauvinism)are still problems in American society today, 45 years later, I'd say they didn't.

I picked up this book at a garage sale a few weeks ago because the title sparked my interest (one of my friends just left to teach English in Japan). I honestly didn't have any opinion of the book at first, although I have heard praise for Michener's novels. When reading this book, I was surprised that most of the American characters seemed to be racist. But my mother commented that this was what the world thought of Japan after the war.

I liked how the author portrayed Major Gruver. At first, he was showed ignorance towards anything and anyone Japanese, but after he met Hana-Ogi, his views changed. And it was particularly nice that he realized that what was important in a person was what was on the inside (e.g. Katsumi).

I thought this book was great :) but the ending was so sad.

(f.y.i. I am a 22 year old Asian female).