Customer Reviews

The Secret Lives of the Sushi Club

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

 

 

The title suggests a light chick-lit book, but this novel is way more than that. The Secret Lives of the Sushi Club is the story of four women whose deepest secrets make it into print, thanks to the betrayal of one they considered a friend. In the aftermath of instant celebrity and scandal, they take a rafting trip together down the Salmon River and discover even more secrets about each other. Great surprises I won't give away! This is a powerful story about the mistakes women often make when they're young and not so young, and the joys they share with each other. I loved the male characters too, especially Jina's boyfriend, Mike, who isn't the perfect man, but is so perfect for her you have to root for him. There's even an elk who thinks he's Elvis Presley! The description of the scenery along the Salmon River and the river rafting is wonderfully written. I can't wait to read more of Ms. Yorke's work.

A terrific story about the lengths people will go to for fame. When a struggling writer sells out her best friends to write a bestseller, four women's lives are suddenly thrown into chaos. Alice the writer gets more fame than she deserves and has to suffer the fury of her friends. Irene loses her husband. Mary's viriginity is the topic of radio shows. And Jina's son realizes his mother has lied to him all these years about what really happened to his father who died years ago on the Salmon River. All these changes lead the women on a river rafting adventure, where even more secrets unfold.
Indepth characterizations and great storytelling make this a great summer read!

With the deft touch of a modern day Socrates, and the gentle understanding of your oldest friend, Ms. Yorke asks us to consider whether we can be satisfied with an unexamined life. She introduces us to a wonderfully varied set of women friends, their endearing mates and their children, at a time when one of the friends appears to have betrayed all of them by revealing their pasts in a bestselling novel. Yet as each character reflects on the mistakes he or she has made and begins to face fears that have grown larger over time, each character learns to accept his or herself, forgive, and strive to attain and retain what's really important. The interactions between the adults and the boys are particularly wonderful, reflecting the hope, fear, love, pride, self-restraint, and occasional doubt we can't help but feel as we try to raise and release the young men who are so much a part of our souls.

The Secret Lives of the Sushi Club is also an exciting pageturner, leaving you wondering until very near the end if the misguided and guilt-ridden religious zealot will actually strike out at the infidels he likes.

In a red state/blue state nation, it's delightful to find an author of Ms. Yorke's calibre, who not only sees shades of gray, but can make a cogent argument for appreciating friends with different interests, religions, and political beliefs. She advocates a big tent, and knows where to draw the line.

I'd encourage men and women alike to buy this book and allow themselves the time to read it. You'll feel as if you've entered another world. Your new best friends are more than a little hard to leave behind. Just don't be surprised if they whisper a few suggestions in your ear, before you close the book.

The Secret Lives of the Sushi Club is a fabulous book that stayed with me long after I finished it. It is exceedingly well written and the characters leap off the page, inviting you into their flawed but all too human lives. Everyone can find something in this book that speaks to them, some part of it that you recognize from deep in your soul.

I bought this book yesterday. It looked like a fun read. Little did I know I'd stay up all night to finish! Amazing story, and even more amazing characters, from foul-talking movie stars to mousy legal aides to gun-toting prom queens to psychics to river runners to terrorists, each one of them written without cliche or stereotypes. I loved it!

I've read Summer of Glorious Madness and Song of the Seals by Christy Yorke, and found both deep, engrossing, and magical. The Secret Lives of the Sushi Club has many of those same qualities, but seems lighter somehow, maybe because it focuses on four main characters instead of one. Still, the author's unique voice is there, as are the beautiful descriptions and deep insights into people's desires and demons. To me, this qualifies as more of a "beach read"--not as demanding but just as enjoyable!

The back cover sold me. Four friends, one of them betraying the others with a revealing novel. But that's not really what this is about. The dynamic of the friendship is lost somewhere. I kept waiting for it to get better and it just got worse. I decided to stop reading it about two-thirds through and I'm not the least bit curious about how it ended. I don't know about her other novels, if I see one at the library I'll give it a try, but I'm not spending my $$ on one.

I can't believe all these positive reviews! It was readable, but hardly exciting, profound or wondrous. In fact, parts of it were laughable. An elk that thinks he's Elvis? Give me a break! A man who may be "part fish?" Yeah, right.

Then there's the ambiguity surrounding the character Jina. Why does she spell her name like that? Is it just exoticised Italian, or something more? I happen to know that Ji-na can be a Korean women's name, and there are hints that she might be Asian, but this needs to be made clear long, long before the book ever goes to print. And don't even get me started on the requisite Arab bad guy.

A nice "pitch" novel, full of elements designed to appeal to readers. In terms of achieving something as a novel, though, it's a mess.