The Scent of Sake Paperback – February 17, 2009

By good chance, I happened on Joyce Lebra's "The Scent of Sake". She has given us the gift of insight into the soul of a family and its culture. The setting in 19th Century Japan is beautifully evoked as we follow the life and growing awareness of the story's heroine, Rie.The author weaves this tale of intersecting desires, enterprise, and cultural expectations with great subtlety and engaging side plots--worthy of a Jane Austen. Rie's story is timeless in the sense of the obstacles she meets and manages to overcome. But Lebra is beyond the mere entertainment of Romance in her telling: she manages the story with such skill that it is touching butalways realistic, exotically descriptive without the ennui of detail. Most of all, Scent of Sake is fun to read--a cross-cultural treat for the mind and heart.

I enjoyed the Scent of Sake. It was a novel that held my attention. It was a captivating story. I admired the main character in the story.

This wasn't a good read. The story lacked any kind of tension or conflict and was more like a list of events that just happened. No real plot and too much reliance on fortunate coincidences or an overheard bit of gossip. To be honest, it was boring. The author goes into a lot of detail about the domestic life of the characters but nothing really interesting happens.

The research that went into this book was amazing, but the book itself wasn't a thrilling read. I started off loving everything I was learning, and feeling very close to the main character, but ended up frustrated and a little bored by her towards the end. Not an awful read, but certainly not as good as I'd hoped.

I read this book for book club. I wasn't that excited about it, but was very pleasantly surprised.I thought the book would be informative, but I wasn't prepared for it to be engrossing. The story of a sake family through many years taught me a lot about an industry and time that I knew little about. What I loved the most was watching how a strong woman in a very patriarchal sake society was able to succeed wildly (even if her descendants aren't proud of her amazing legacy). It's even better when you realize how true to life the book is.Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down.

Interesting, compelling, and insightful read. A road less traveled (and therefore more telling) of Japanese history. Nicely written with well-drawn characters.

Professor Joyce Lebra has written an historical novel that combinesboth a sensibility of Japanese traditional memoirs and American manners.Ms. Lebra is one of those cross-cultural scholars who is equallycomfortable in America and Japan. Having received her education at theUniversity of Minnesota and Harvard/Radcliffe, she was the firstAmerican woman Ph.D in the discipline of Japanese History. . She haswon many awards and has a large corpus of scholarly writings.Her affinity with Japanese culture is a result of living as a child inHonolulu and living in Japan for a total of ten years.The Scent of Sake is her first historical romance. It is no coincidencethat her study of an 19th century female Japanese sake merchant echoesthe approach of the famous 10th century Jdapanese female writer,Murasaki Shikibu. Professor Lebra is well aware of the history ofJapanese literature and culture. During the Heian Period (973-1025C.E.), women writers described the psychological conditions of women andtheir roles in society. These biographies introduced females who weresavvy about their condition and who planned ways to promote their ownpower or identities.In later times, the novels about women were tragic: they often committedsuicide alone or with their lover. The stories were filled with amelancholy about the futility of happiness and the swift passage of timeinto old age and loneliness.Rie, the heroine of this romance receives the sour advice from hermother upon the occasion of an arranged marriage that is bound to beunhappy: "Personal feelings have so little to do with marriage .. Andyou must try to be a good wife, Rie. Be compliant. Your feelings mustnot intrude." The mother then adds the declarative comment that trumpsany attempt to have an individual life: "Women often find it necessaryto `kill the self.' Otherwise life becomes too difficult."Joyce Lebra has dramatically revealed how Rie has ignored this advice.Rie's challenges are many: she devises a way to control themanufacturing of sake without becoming the official owner or manager ofthe operations. During the pre-modern period of Japanese history, womenwere not allowed to enter the brewery. Their gender would defile thepurity of the sake. Yet she gradually took over from her incompetentand drunken husband. Through series of adoptions she was able to buildup a family-like gathering of loyal apprentices. In Japanese, the termfor this arrangement was gokenin or fictive relative. Rie was able toout maneuver a husband who was not only a philanderer but also committedseveral acts of treachery to her body and to her sake business.We can assume that Professor Lebrai also aware of the Japanesevariations on the Western Harlequin novel. In the original version, thenovels were about love and romance: unrequited lives that were finallyresolved through commitments and soulful relationships. The Japanese"Harlequin" novels introduced a different tone. They reflect andrespond to strong feminist influences. The women were more independent.They often injured their lover. This was accomplished subtlety andwithout rancor. The women became stronger and found their identity intheir own career or character. The novel reminds us of the feministsaying that "Women need a man like fish need a bicycle."The last chapter in Lebra's novel depicts the family celebration ofRie's 88th birthday. The children and grandchildren are there. Thehusband has long since disappeared. Standing in a room above thebrewery, she "inhaled [its] yeasty aroma and smiled." She was one withthe scent of the production of the sake.This book was created from the direct observation and study of sakebreweries in Japan over many years. The romance has been inspired andquilted from many local brewery histories. Although the names have beenchanged, the incidents described are so recognizable to some that Lebrahas "been warned" that she has divulged too many secrets.The strength of the novel is not just in its historical authenticity,but also in the skillful and knowledgeable way that Lebra leads usthrough Rie's strategies for survival and success. This Japanesemother, wife, and entrepreneur can be a psychological model of how allof us can behave and survive in a world of abusive and negativecircumstances. For some, the story will inspire them to study Japanesehistory in greater detail. They will find many stories similar toLebra's--both in and beyond the women in sake production. Japanesecivilization is rich in the way women and men have found strategies tofind success, and even contentment despite harrowing conditions.By Richard Kagan, Professor Emeritus

interesting differences in Japanese society

I enjoyed learning about a part of Japanese culture I had previously known little about. A Scent of Sake tells the story of a sake brewing family and the important role its production played in Japanese culture and economy. The main character is the daughter of the brew master; the author giving an excellent depiction of life and protocol in such a family. It was very interesting to learn of the expectations and restrictions placed on women in such a male oriented culture. Scent of Sake is an ideal book for anyone interested in historical fiction and oriental culture.