The Woman in the White Kimono: A Novel Paperback – June 30, 2020

Sad yet sweet story, absolutely loved it! As a mom, I look up to Naoko’s okaasan “to pick the correct one is fate. To pick the wrong one is also fate. So you must choose your love, and be prepared to love your choice” I call that wisdom.

On the positive side, this is an excellent first novel by author Ana Johns. It is the kind of novel that you want to stay up and keep reading to find out what happens next. The story definitely holds your interest. As I am a frequent traveler to Japan, with a strong interest in Japanese literature, culture and history, I thought she did well in generally describing Japanese culture.On the negative side, I thought some of the episodes were unrealistic, but after all, this is a novel, so that can be expected, just like in Hollywood. My major criticism is that it became political, describing tragic events thattook place over 70 years ago, which were cruel but certainly not mainstream. I felt that the book paints the Japanese with an undeserved broad brush for the acts of a very few evildoers many years ago. We Americans certainly aren't perfect, as recent events have highlighted.That said, if you want very serious reading that is generally well-written , I do recommend this book.

Great book! Hard to put down

If this is Ms. Johns, first work of fiction, I can hardly wait to read her second. Once I started, I could hardly put the book down. A compelling story, with characters well-developed and believable, in a heart breaking unbelievable story. Well done,Ms. Johns, well done!

I enjoyed learning more about Japan's history and the fate of the thousands of mixed-race babies born there after WW2. Unfortunately, Japan has a long history of societal purity that devastated many Japanese women and their GI partners which is what the story illustrates so well.The book is very well written. Each chapter often alternates between first-person narrators, without much (at least for me) identification of whose perspective we're now following. Maybe it's just my poor memory, but it made the story difficult for me to follow at times.As novels do, it all came together in the end and I will say it was satisfying. I look forward to finding similar books that will add depth to my interest in Japanese culture, language, and lives. Maybe from this same writer, whose work I would love to read more of.

I am not finished but interesting read.

The first part of the book describes a daughter's caretaking of her "Pops" who has cancer. The segment is quite graphic and detailed, and goes on and on, showing only a slight relevance to the eventual story. To me the whole section is gratuitous, could have been omitted, unless someone enjoys reading details about an old man's dying of cancer. The necessary information, revealing a mysterious letter and a few photos, could have been given in a couple of paragraphs, or pages if to be lengthy. When the actual story starts to develop, it pulled me in. I don't know about the accuracy of Japanese or of the cultural background., but the development of the relationships of the Japanese woman, her American military lover, the culture, and the man's daughter kept me engrossed, so ultimately the book was worth reading.

I just finished this novel, and it will stay with me for a very long time. There are so many periods of history we never think about or encounter. There are so many stories to be told. I could not stop listening to this book, and I wished I had been reading it instead of listening to it. There are so many lyrical passages in the very sad story of the two main characters. There are parts of the story I need to research, and that is always (for me) the sign of a wonderful book pointing me in a direction. My only criticism is that we learn so little about Tory, the daughter. I wanted to know more about her. I hope if you read this book, you will find it as powerful as I did. We all read through our own lenses, of course, so not everyone will love this book as much as I did. I think the author did a fabulous job of including eastern spiritual values. I will be recommending this book to friends!