This is a non-fiction book about the love between a british officer and a japanese women. It starts in 1904 when Arthur Hart-Synnot goes to Japan on military orders to learn the language. Japan and Britain have just joined an alliance. While in Tokyo Arthur meets Masa Suzuki and falls in love. Although they do live together, risky for Masa for that time period, they don't get married. Soon Aruthur is sent back to London and then on to other areas. They continue to write this entire time. Arthur is always hoping to get assigned to Japan again but the closest it comes is when he goes to Hong Kong. He doesn't stay there for very long before he is assigned somewhere else.
The back of the book says: "The rise and fall of a romance between two people and two nations."
This was a very interesting book. It wasn't what I expected. I expected to read the letters they wrote to each other and to get additional info but that wasn't the format. You get a lot of history about the area where they are each living in and world events. Most of this is on sided because the only letters to survive are those Arthur wrote Masa. Their "relationship" lasts from 1904 to the middle of WWII. I thought that although it was slow reading for me (as most non-fiction books are) that it was very intersting. I thought it was neat to read about the different wold events and what life was like for each, although again we don't get much about Masa's every-day life. I started out likeing Arthur and then hating him and then thinking he was ok. haha! All this revolves around how he treated Masa and the attitudes towards their children. There are pictures in the book as well which I kept flipping to because it was neat to read about the places and the people and then see their pictures.
non-fiction/new author/310pgs
1 comment:
This sounds soo good! :)
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