Midory by Moonlight by Wendy Nelson Tokunaga
I loved, no LURVED! the plot, the storyline! I've been a big fan of Japan ever since I've read my first book by Federica de Cesco by the age of 8. But when I said gem, I meant it. This is an unpolished Jewel, a Diamond in the rough.
I loved everything about the story, I liked Midori and I fell a little bit in love with Shinji.
But I'm sorry to say that I was close to throw it away several times. I hated, no HATED the writing. I don't like the patronizing style, I really don't. If you've been reading this blog for a time you already know that the writing style I love best is the one from the 'I' -perspective.
One of my most favourite books last year was Wendy Nelson Tokunagas Love in Translation, what a tremendous difference in writing, writing style.
Anyway, even though I really hated the writing I was enough interested in the story, that I couldn't put it away. I really couldn't. And believe me, I tried! But the book kept showing up on the weirdest places and I really didn't have any choice but to finish it, and I'm glad I did..it gave me joy, and now I'm really really looking forward to Wendy N.Tokunagas next book, whenever that is. Because she is one h*** of a story-teller and her writing in the newest book is wonderful...so it can only get better! YaY!!
Sorry you do not like books written in third person point of view. :-) I too prefer the first person point of view. But one reason that I wrote "Midori by Moonlight" in third person is because when I started writing it in first person, everyone remarked at Midori's very good English. And of course part of the point of the book is her difficulty with the language so I figured that wouldn't work too well. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for blogging about my books. I appreciate it!
Now I'm a bit tongue-tied and blushing! And of course now I feel a bit bad about the hard words I used in my little review. I don't *hate* the third person point of view, it just makes it so much harder to get into books/stories...But I understand the reason behind it. In the beginning I had problems identifying with Midori, she seemed like a small child to me. (She grew stronger/older as the story progressed and the writing changed).
ReplyDeleteBut that makes sense too, English is my third language, Swedish is my second, so I know all about difficulties with languages and how people treat you differently without consciously thinking about it.
I really really loved reading your books, so thanks for writing them :)