Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Playing at marriage, February 3, 2004
This review is from: Twinkle Twinkle (Hardcover)
This book is deceptively simple. The narrative voice alternates between Shoko, the wife, and Mutsuki, the husband. Shoko and Mutsuki have a marriage of convenience so they can quiet the demands of their parents and present a "normal" front to the outside world. Actually, Shoko is a depressed alcholic and Mutsuki is homosexual. Shoko is on good terms with his lover, Kon, and their friends, so the marriage seems to be working, but not without complications. This book had me crying, not because their problems are so dire, but because the author does so well at conveying their pain. The story was so involving that I want to help Shoko find a pschiatrist that will take her serious. Mutsuki is such a nice guy that as "marriages of convenience" go, he is a real catch.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
normal-bizarre love triangle, October 29, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Twinkle Twinkle (Hardcover)
I just saw Ms. Kaori Ekuni interviewed and reading at an Author's Festival in Toronto Canada, and was mesmerized by her book and message. She is a pretty woman who is not as shy as her voice makes her out. Not only is Ms. Ekuni a charming woman who knows how to say what she thinks succinctly, she is saying very important things. Like, "there is not such thing as a normal romance," and "falling in love is foolhardy". I hope people aren't turned off by the inclusion of gay characters who choose to live normalized married lives, because the fact of the matter is that it happens, and it bothers fewer people that way. Don't expect thrilling action or melodrama in this book. Twinkle Twinkle is about manners, and about how everyone has their psychological mis-balance, like Shoko, the girl; or feels the need to hide something natural to them, like Mutsuki, the boy. Twinkle Twinkle tells it like it is, and then breaks down what has always been a mystery to readers - love.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love is never simple, but..., January 25, 2009
This review is from: Twinkle Twinkle (Hardcover)
This is a story of a marriage of convenience. Mutsuki is a handsome young doctor, successful in his career and deeply in love with his boyfriend, Kon. Shoko is appropriately pretty, but incredibly neurotic, insecure and moody but manages to cope, in a way, through regular doses of alcohol. Neither has the slightest interest in marriage and one has no skill at relationships of any sort, but both have parents that constantly pressured them to find a mate (of the opposite sex). From the parents' perspective, this is an ideal match. They know nothing of their child-in-laws' little secrets so they look at the match as if they're getting the best of the bargain. For the couple, it's not quite that simple. Shoko is so consumed by her inner turmoil that she can barely notice her husband's saintly patience. Mutsuki is learning that the only thing that is predictable about his wife is her utter unpredictability and even his nearly unlimited patience is becoming profoundly taxed.
Through the incredibly skillful pen of author Kaori Ekuni, what results is a sweet and beautiful story of love, friendship, borderline personality disorder and the difficulties of living life gay with an intolerant family and job. Ekuni refuses to sit in judgement of her characters and simply stands back and lets them tell their story; the chapters are alternating first person narratives by Shoko and Mutsuki. The result is a short, wonderful book that you hope will never end.
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