A Touching Book from a Favorite Author

Isabel Allende has long been a favorite author of mine. Lyrically written, this book explores forbidden love aging, loyalty, family ties, resilience, and displacement.
I would like to give it more than 5 stars!!! ( )

I grew up in San Francisco and so the story put me back in the mood for that rich and colorful place of my young adulthood. The theme, for me, was the grace and courage one needs in aging, and the intensity of our love doesn't fade away with the years. As a young woman of 70 years, I felt she was talking to me. ( )

3.5

I'm not entirely sure how this came to be on my TBR list. Was it recommended to me? Mentioned in another book? On a Best Of list? I have no clue. It's not book I would normally have picked up but it remained on my TBR list. Then it tied in a poll I did in my stories and finally won by a coin toss... So I guess it was meant to be.

Alma Belasco is an affluent and independent resident at a nursing home in San Francisco. There she meets Irina Bazili, a young care worker at the home who is running from her past. The two become close and with the help of Seth, Alma's grandson, we begin to learn about Alma's life. From being shipped to her Aunt and Uncle in the US at the beginning of WWII to meeting Ichimei Fukuda, the gardener's son, and the boy who would become her secret lifelong love.

The Japanese Lover follows not only Alma but also Ichimei to the Japanese internment camp that he and his family were forced into after Pearl Harbor. It follows Irina from her tiny village in Moldova to a house in Dallas. It manages to alternate between present day (2015) and the past very smoothly and tells the story of Alma and Irina.

It is a simple and beautiful story and was very easy to read. While not exactly up my (usually dark and creepy) alley, I can wholeheartedly appreciate it for what it is... A melodrama.

The novel is a delicate, intimate story of love (in many forms) and is written in third person which is a style that can often feel quite impersonal. While Allende manages to sidestep that hazard, the book is overflowing with exposition but short of any action which would have had my pulse racing.

Anyway, while not my usual taste, I was able to get lost in the story enough that I finished in a couple of days. The characters were genuine, unique, and complete in their own rights. The story was compelling and there were some beautiful passages. I'd be more than willing to read something else by Allende so that might tell you something. ( )

Bellissimo, un altro libro della Allende che mi ha conquistato, pagina dopo pagina.
La storia di Alma Belasco e delle persone che entrano man mano a far parte della sua vita; gli zii Isaac e Lilian che la accolgono come una figlia, l’amato cugino Nathaniel, Ichumei Fukuda il grande amore e la passione di tutta la sua vita, il figlio Larry, il nipote Seth, Samuel il fratello, il grande amico Lenny, l’amica Kirsten e Irina l’assistente di Lark House.
Tanti personaggi diversi ed un unico denominatore comune, l’amore, coniugato in tutti i suoi colori e le sue sfumature per dare luci e ombre a un’esistenza non comune, dove amore, attaccamento, passione, amicizia, tenerezza, rispetto e comprensione ne saranno i fili conduttori.
Una storia che scioglierà tutti i suoi nodi solo alla fine, in quanto quello che si vede, o si vuol vedere, non è sempre l'effettiva realtà perché la vita intreccia, sì, le esistenze, ma soltanto alla fine ne mostra tutto il suo disegno.
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Historical fiction, starting in contemporary times and flashing back in history, covering the lifespan of protagonist Alma Mendel from her birth in 1932 to her parents sending her to America from Poland in the wake of WWII to forming bonds with Nathaniel, her cousin, and Ichimei, the son of her Uncle’s Japanese gardener. Alma, now in her eighties, is living at Lark House, a seniors’ center in the San Francisco Bay Area. She gradually reveals the secrets of her eventful life to one of her caregivers, Irina, and her grandson, Seth. Irina’s life story forms a substantial subplot. Seth is attracted to Irina but puzzled by the way she keeps people at a distance. Allende weaves these stories together in a non-linear fashion, and we eventually learn both Alma’s and Irina’s backstories.

I found this book quietly absorbing. I was impressed by the author’s ability to express the gist of a character in only a few well-crafted sentences. She includes brief sketches of a variety of eccentric characters residing at Lark House, which add color to the narrative. She also provides a vivid sense of time and place, which was particularly evident in the descriptions of the Japanese internment camp in the Utah desert, where Ichimei and his family were confined during WWII. This book is filled with different types of love, and how history and society influence who and how we love. It is a slowly-developing patchwork of scenes that show the shape of love over many decades. It explores the impact of social privilege and racial prejudice. Themes include love, relationships, separation, memory, aging, mortality, and loss.

One of my main takeaways from this novel was the feeling that there is very little space in our culture for older people, though we are living much longer than in the past. Alma is shown as a still-vibrant woman, despite her age. She is somewhat aloof and harbors many secrets, which are gradually revealed. I wish we had learned more about Ichimei as an adult, but I think the author intentionally keeps him in the background. Recommended to those that enjoy poignant stories about the many forms of love or coming to terms with the past.
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