Dreaming Water (Paperback)

Against prejudices fueled by WW II, in 1960,Cat and Max, establish a life in Nothern California in a small university town. Max, a Japanese Amercian, teaches while Cat takes care of their one precious daughter, Hana. It is this child, who is raised with the background of her mother's Italtian family and her father's Japanese heritage that is at the center of Dreaming Water. While Hana is a bright and lively child she is very small for her age which concerns her parents. Then at the age of 13 she is diagnosed with Werner's Disease, a disease which brings on the rapid onset of old age although the effects won't become obvious till she is in her 20's. Terrified for her future Cat and Max are determined to bring Hana up with as normal a life as possible. Now the years have passed quickly by and Max is dead and Hana at 38 resembles a woman of 80. Her mother, at 62, is Hana's solecaregiver and still grieves for her husband who has been dead for three years. Cat also mourns for the missed opportunites and life her daughter has missed out on because of this disease. She worries about how much time she has left with Hana and what she will do once Hana dies. And Hana also thinks about her missed opporutunities and adventures and worries about her mother's life without both her husband and someday her daughter.

Then Hana's childhood friend, Laura, on the verge of a divorce, comes to visit Hana with her two young children. Hana hasn't seen this friend in many years although they correspond frequently and she is the god-mother to her children. Josephine, the older of the two children, at 13 is sullen and angry at her mother and father over their impending divorce. Clearly she is not an endearing child to anybody but is intrigued by Han and her illness. For Hana, Josephine is just what she needs. Suddenly Hana has a goal and purpose to whatever time is left to her. And in the end Josephine and Hana give to each other a precious gift of understanding and friendship.

This is a tender, poignant and at times heartbreaking novel. As the author weaves this tale, her characters reflect on their past and their concern for the future. And as I read, I couldn't help but feel these characters burdens and ultimate joys with each other and their lives. Certainly the book speaks to the human spirit and to every parent and caregiver as Tsukiyama says, "Mothers and their children are in a category all their own. There's no bond so strong in the entire world. No love so instaneous anmd forgiving." To my mind there are few other books which portray this wonderful, and at times confusing relationship between a mother and daughter so memorably and gracefully as this book does.

Thank you, once again , Ms. Tuskiyama for affording your readers such a wonderful and insightful journey.

The value of life and the shortness of it all: one of the themes that are touched upon in DREAMING WATER. Gail Tsukiyama's style of writing creates a very beautiful story about a woman who is dying of Werner's disease, a disease that ages a person at twice the normal speed. Hana Maruyama was born like any normal healthy child, but by an early age her parents, Max and Cate, noticed that her growth patterns were not normal. There was something terribly wrong with her, and after much testing with doctors, by the time she is 13, they have diagnosed Hana with having Werner's disease.

Knowing that Hana's life would be short and that her parents would most likely outlive her, they treat every day as something precious, and every passing year as something very special. And with each passing year, Hana's symptoms worsen. She seems to be fine for many years, until she develops cataracts while in college, and from then on, her life becomes a roller coaster. She is no longer in control of her body. Every day Hana wonders what new symptom would she experience, as her body ages faster than it should. By age 38, Hana appears the age of an eighty-year-old woman.

The book spans a period of two days, but within those two days, the reader sees into the thoughts of both Cate and Hana and learns about their lives. We learn about Hana's father Max, who was a second generation Japanese American, interned as a boy with his family in the camps during WW II. Max, who had died only a few years ago, lives through the thoughts of both Cate and Hana, and we learn about his years spent at Heart Mountain internment camp in Wyoming, and how he dreamt of water and how much he longed for it. Living in the parched dry lands of the camp, Max lived a life of imprisonment and shame. He brought this shame with him after the war was over and the Japanese Americans were released. Max rarely talked about the camps with Hana or his wife. It was from Max's father that Hana learned about her father's family and their time spent in Wyoming.

We learn about Hana's grandparents, and their love for their granddaughter. Max and Cate's marriage was not approved of by either set of parents. Cate's parents disapproved of their daughter marrying a Japanese American, and Max's parents had hoped their son would marry "a nice Japanese girl". Max in turn told them, "But I'm marrying a nice Italian American girl".

But the birth of Hana, a few years after their wedding, helps unite both families together. Both grandparents are ecstatic, and finally acknowledge the marriage that they had originally disapproved.

One of the themes of DREAMING WATER is racial prejudice, but the true story is about Hana. She knows she only has a few years left, and so the story takes us into two days of Hana's life, her memories, and the people she loves. The book is very short and concise, yet Tsukiyama was able to fit an entire story about the Maruyama family and their love for their daughter Hana. It is a very moving story, and I consider this book one of the best books I've read in 2002.