Shizuko's Daughter

A low key, yet enjoyable book which reflects what I believe to be Japanese culture--that is: respect for elders and ancestors, always considering how your actions reflect on your family. We also learn about differences between Japanese society and American, e.g. that children are assigned to the father after a divorce, and the mother loses contact, that employers will consider family problems at home as a reflection of an employee's ability to do their job at work.
As a bright and energetic young child, Yuki received a lot of love, teachings, and positive affirmations from mother. Now teenaged Yuki resents her new stepmother because she feels her father's relationship with that woman contributed to her mother's suicide. Yuki has a lot of show more inner strength to be able to follow her inner truth despite the lack of support she receives.
Includes description of Japan's geography, so we can understand the distances between different places in the story, and a well-explained glossary of Japanese words use. show less

'In spite of this, please believe that I love you… You will no doubt get over this and be a brilliant woman. Don’t let me stop or delay you.'

In the aftermath of her mother’s suicide, twelve year old Yuki can’t believe this. Not through packing away all the favorite blues and greens of her mother’s closet before the funeral. Not through her father’s suspiciously prompt remarriage to his secretary. And in the years that follow, even as she appears as the accomplished track star and class president to her peers and as the silent contrarian to her vindictive stepmother and emotionally-absent father—she struggles with the pain of trying to understand.

Shizuko’s Daughter was and is still one of my go-to coming-of-age novels. In show more short chapters offering windows into Yuki’s growth (mostly through Yuki’s eyes, but also from the perspectives of her father, stepmother, and loving grandmother), it unfolds a rich emotional journey I find I can keep going back to. Yuki is a very remarkably strong and resilient young woman, and refreshingly frank even as the world around her tries to make her resigned.

The novel has been described as semi-autobiographical: unsurprisingly it shows its strengths as such in how the characters react in such vivid cultural specificity of 21st century Japan while confronting universal human pains and joys. More surprisingly, it avoids the pitfalls as such in its balance- for example, even as Mori condemns Yuki’s stepmother actions, she shows an almost sympathetic fairness in the dissection of how such a bitter person comes to be.

I love Kyoko Mori’s use of language throughout. Her straightforward prose becomes almost poetic in how it uses descriptions of nature to unfold the complex internal experiences of the characters. At the convergence of memory, intention, and belief, there really underlies the oneness in our physical and emotional experience.

To live well, we make peace with transience and rise amongst the cruelties. And so it is fitting the most experienced character, Yuki’s grandmother closes out the novel with sublime bittersweet hopefulness— 'She laughed and cried copious tears, until her chest and shoulders ached from joy.' show less

I'm marking this a "really liked it" as I think it will stay with me for quite a while. I had to put it down a few times as the subject matter got a bit heavy.

Yuki Okuda is a bright, artistic and athletic 12 year old girl. Her mother, Shizuko, spend much time together drawing, painting, reading, enjoying the beauty of Nature and music. Yuki's father spends most of his time away from home working or otherwise busy. This world comes to an abrupt end when Yuki comes home from piano lessons to find her mother dead on the kitchen floor. Shizuko has committed suicide and left Yuki a note about it.

From this point on, the book tells of Yuki's dealing with this shattering of her life. She withdraws and becomes blunt to the point of rudeness show more with people. Her father continues to be distant and adds to it by taking a new wife only a year after Shizuko's death. The relationship between the new wife and Yuki never gets off the ground. Added to that is Yuki is no longer alloowed to spend time with her maternal grandparents, because it would be awkward with the new wife.

Yuki finds it hard to understand why her mother would leave her like she did. The stigma of suicide, a stepmother who can only criticize Yuki and who promptly disposes of anything related to Yuki's mother by storing it in the attic or throwing it away, the lack of contact with the only grandparents and aunts and uncles she has known is a lot for a child to work through.

The chapters were written at various times, so each is like a short story yet they tie together well. Starting at twelve years old and working on through college age, the book give an interesting look at Japanese culture and behaviour in this type of situation. A culture who is centered on not behaving in any that would give scandal or gossip for people to talk about, and the secrets that are concealed behind that façade.

Though it is a young adult book, it can easily be read by adults, both groups getting a goodread from it. show less

Last year I found an old book report with watercolor paintings I made after reading this book in high school, but I didn't remember much about it so when I saw it for sale I picked it up for a reread.

An excellent book that is sad but not too upsetting. There is a lot of talk about suicide, family, and culture. The book takes place in Japan and the story is very much embedded in that setting. I love the writing and the way memory blends with the present to create a rich and vivid picture of the protagonists grief and emotions.

After her mother kills herself, Yuki must find a way to go on.
This book is absolutely heart-wrenching. It is a literary version of one of those movies women have to remember to bring tissues to watch.
Well-written, the language is very poetic, however some of the characters are a bit one-dimensional. The reader gets a full picture of Yuki, her aunt and her grandparents, but her father and step-mother are just shadows. There is no indication of why they are so cold.
This is a pretty safe book for most high school libraries, although the suicide at the beginning is pretty detailed. It is not a happy book though. Not happy at all.

Shizuko's Daughter tells the story of Yuki, a young Japanese girl who's life is greatly affected by her mother's suicide. The author does an excellent job of enlightening the reader about the Japanese culture through the natural narrative flow of the story. She does not blatantly state, "It is this way in Japan because..." The story is heart-breaking, yet beautiful.

For a YA novel I really enjoyed the story. I read this book for a reading challenge. It is a great book for young girls to read about being strong when things seem to go wrong around you. It is a story of growth.