Customer Reviews

Shizuko's Daughter

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Shizuko's Daughter, I feel, is a great novel for young readers to mentally gain an experience of what it is like to grow up with a mother that is deceased and a father and a stepmother that doesn't care enough about her to save things that are precious memories of someone that truly does love them. I also thought that it was a great book/novel for our specific English 10 Honors class at East Lincoln High School in Denver NC. Our teacher, Mrs. Sigmon, taught this novel in a way that the entire class can understand, makes it fun to read and also she wants to see us do the absolute BEST that we can do. As of now we are doing a total group project on the novel, that is more in depth into this novel. This way we learn more than just about reading, but also about different ways of life in todays society. The structure of this book is great also. The way the seperate chapters are put as months and years and the names are the major clue about what the chapter is really about. Thank you to all the people that have took the time to read through my review of Shizuko's Daughter. A couple things may be off topic, but I feel thatthe things that I have said directly relate to the topic of review. Thank you again.

Beautiful, beautiful story! A many-layered book that weaves together multiple strands, symbolism, and powerful themes. May be marketed for young adults, but would be just as enjoyable for adults. A Cinderella story of sorts, Yuki is a strong heroine who overcomes her mother's suicide, her resulting fear of closeness, and the hate her stepmother shows her.

This book was beautifully, with too much agonizing detail. The book, I could have put down and not read, but I had to for school. The book was kind of confusing But the characters were well involved, and that was good, I don't think it was 5 star material

A more lyrical novel then "Shizuko's Daughter" would be difficult to find--"Call of the Wild" by Jack London, "Cry, the Beloved Country" by Alan Paton come to mind. The point is that this is an exquisitely wrought story told in exquisite prose. A Japanese story with many cultural details brings to vivid life the painful journey of a young girl who loses her mother to suicide and her father to a lover.

I wanted to blame Yuki's mother for committing suicide in the first chapter. However, suicidal people cannot reason logically. So, Yuki is left at twelve years old with an indifferent father, who is concerned with "saving face," a Japanese cultural icon of not bringing shame on a family by any untoward act. It is bad enough to have a suicide, anything more could ruin the father's standing in his job.

Once Hanei and the father marry, Yuki becomes the step-child. Hanei throws out all the beautiful clothes Shizuko made for her daughter. A talented artist, Yuki then begins sketching all the dresses as mementos of her mother. At eighteen when Yuki leaves home for art school, which she earned every penny of tuition herself, she leaves behind all traces of her former life.

An interesting technique Kyoko Mori uses to tell this story is variations of point of view. Each chapter title designates the storyteller's identity. The reader learns of Shizuko's desperate anguish over the death of her husband's love for her and an explanation of her suicide. Yuki tells us of her crush on an older girl she runs track with, of her troubling visits with her grandparents (her mother's parents), flashbacks of flowers and clothing, colors and plants, a whole array of natural beauty, frogs tossed out windows to save them from dissection, from blossoming love.

As an English teacher of gifted students, I used this book in teaching journal writing, coping with step-families, suicide issues, point of view, and exploration of Japanese culture. The majority of students loved this book. One sophomore boy who had not come to terms with his father's accidental death experienced closure through this book and our lessons. (What an incredible experience that was for this teacher!)

When a book makes real-life connections with readers, then that writer has done more than just bring characters to life--she has brought life to readers. However, be forewarned that the story is depressing until the end and that the last chapter can seem so unrelated. Just remember what the story is about and make that connection with the joy of the last chapter. "Shizuko's Daughter" is highly recommended.

Note: I have never liked the cover artwork for this book. It diminishes the wonderful story inside.

Yuki Okuda was only twelve years old when her mother, Shizuko, comitted suicide. Such a shock left a big impact on the young Yuki's outlook on life. When she was only thirteen, a year later, her father married another woman, Hanei. (Yuki's father had been seeing Hanei from when her mother had been alive)Yuki and Hanei never managed to get along very well, and Hanei found Yuki as a spoiled brat. Yuki changed from the cheery, happy child she once was to a solemn, sober young woman who was always serious. Yuki thought that love brought pain and she never wanted to experience it again. This book tells of Yuki's life through different years in every chapter and also tell the story through other family member's eyes. You get to see Hanei's view in a chapter, Shizuko's view before she comitted suicide and many other characters who are vital in the story. Yuki undergoes a growth of strength and hope, and learns that sometimes to achieve joy you must first endure pain.

_Shizuko's Daughter_ is a wonderful book not only because it is beautifully written, but because it is told with an intensity and passion that will draw any reader in, make them weep, and leave them wanting the story to go on and on. This is a story of a unique, talented, and independent girl in 1970's Japan whose beloved mother kills herself when Yuki is 12. Yuki is left with her distant father and hateful new stepmother, cut off from her mother's family, to grow up virtually alone. Most inspiring is the way that Yuki, despite her pain and grief, finds strength in her memories of her mother to go on and find happiness again. At the end, you know Yuki will survive.

A strong piece of silk, winding and unwinding to create a strong, and beautiful bond between a loving mother and her talented daughter. They go through everything together, from a father who is in love with another women, to a move, to every hardship and joy. They shared the happiness of seasons, of their talents, of color, of life. Suddenly, the bond snapped, the daughter, Yuki, was left alone, with only the memory of her mother and a father who couldn't care less.
Yuki's mother, had commit suicide, after asking Yuki
"How would you do if I died?"
"I would be very sad, but I would go on."
Leaving her talented daughter to plunge into a realm of grief and guilt.
Her father soon re-married, to the women whom he had always loved, ever since Yuki had turned 2. Her new step mother is everything that her mother wasn't. A model housekeeper and a traditional Japanese women. A women who destroyed every remnant of Yuki's memories of her mother, every item that held a memory. She didn't care for the art that Yuki lived in, she didn't care about her step daughter's feelings, hurts, or joys.
Yuki became tighter within herself, not caring, rough, blunt, even to her grandparents. She continued to paint and to run, her talents, the talents that she wished to develop. She turned down an offer to go to one of the best colleges, saving up her money to attend a small art college. This left her father puzzled and even, guilty or sad. There, she met a student studying photography, and she became friends, loosening up her thoughts and making her a human. Allowing her to live with her grandparents in happiness, allowing her to see her dreams, her joys, her mother again.
A beautiful story, one with many sides, for each character. Many details are used, to give you a full sense of the story. You can see the colorful clothing that her mother painstakingly sewed, the multi-colored, bright flowers they planted in the spring and fall. The strong taste and smell of the sake that Yuki had to drink. It makes you think, who was her father really? Why had her mother loved him so much? Did her step-mother have any cares herself?
A book with so many views and stories, works in a work. This book truly deserves a full 5-star score.

While the plot is indeed intresting and complex Mori jumps monthes at a time between chapters (I believe the longest jump is 18 monthes) and never finishes the thoughts of a chapter and leaves you hanging. Even the epilouge which usualy answers unanswered questions is this way. I would not recomend this book to anybody!

I thought this book was a very interesting look at how a young girl growing up in Japan in the 1970's had to jump through the cultural hoops of Japanese culture that refused to allow her to mourn her mother's passing in the way that she needed. It showed how the loss of her mother and the lack of emotional support she received from her father and stepmother affected what kind of person she would become in the future. It was slow in a couple of places but overall was good. However, it is classified as a juvenial book, but it is definitely not for kids. Most of the book is written from the point of view of Yuki, the child. But other chapters in the book are taken from the point of view of the adults in Yuki's life....the first chapter is taken from the point of view of Yuki's mother as she is preparing for her suicide and commits it. Also, this book takes place over several years, so it's not a book about a 12 year old as the bookcover states, but it takes Yuki from age 12 to around age 18 or 19 when she leaves home for college. While I think that this book is an okay read for adults or maybe even young adults, I think it's way over the heads of younger children....including the 12 year olds that the book is recommended for.

Shizuko Okuda took her own life to free herself from unhappiness. Yuki, twelve at the time, can't understand why she would do something as commit suicide. The suicide has left her feeling alone and wondering what caused her mother do this to herself.

A year after her death, her father remarries his mistress Hanae who has no interest in her stepdaughter. She is disappointed with herself for not being able to have a son for her husband and is envious of Yuki's abilities. She makes every attempt to criticize Yuki towards her and her father. Hideki has to put aside his daughter's needs to appease his wife. Yuki loses respect for him.

Yuki is forced to be an adolescent on her own. She finds it hard to accept change because of her mother's untimely death. It is the connection between her mother's family and friend Mr. Kimura that give her the love and support she lacks in her home. She slowly and gradually comes to terms with her mother's death and is able to move forward.

Suicide in some cultures is considered taboo. It is an embarassment to family as with Hideki. It is also romanticized because of the suffering that Shizuko endured. If Yuki's maternal family had not been there for her, she would have been further isolated from herself and society. She is a strong-willed girl who overcame odds.

Kyoko Mori mentally illustrates Yuki's life paralleling it with her personal life. This book is a highly recommended read for high school students and persons dealing with the loss of a parent.