Friday, July 3, 2015

Reprise Review: The Earthquake Doll / Candace Williams


Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Historical Fiction/ Coming of Age

Approximate word count: 50-55,000 words

Availability    
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

“Candace Williams lives with her husband and beloved rescued Iggys (Italian Greyhounds)in Texas. Her first novel, The Earthquake Doll, was inspired by her early experiences in post-war Japan while her father was serving in the Korean Conflict.”

Description:

“The gap between the old Japan and the new is never so wide as when it tears open a young girl’s heart… It's 1952 Japan, seven years since the war was lost to the Americans, seven years since Miyoko lost her father and the home of her birth. Now she must earn a living caring for the children of an American family at the nearby air base.

When tragedy strikes, sixteen-year-old Miyoko is ordered to obey her family's wishes or disgrace the memory of her father and bring hardship upon her family. Tradition says she must obey, but her secret heart whispers that the new laws can free her.

As the earth trembles and splits beneath her, Miyoko must jump forward—or back.”

Appraisal:

This story is told through Miyoko's eyes as she struggles with profound cultural changes that no doubt swept through Japanese society after World War II. The philosophical and physiological affect on Japanese women struggling between traditional values and the modern freedoms brought in from the west was exemplified through Miyoko's story.

The characters were well defined and the situations were believable. It was educational to see Japanese culture through Japanese eyes. We have all heard about how respected honor is to the Japanese people, but I doubt many understand the depths of the word as far as this society is concerned. I know I had to sit back to take it all in.

This is a wonderful story and I feel enlightened having read it. The lessons Miyoko learned are as complex as her history and are summed up in these two quotes. “Obedience without choice is not honorable. It is merely survival, without grace or joy.”  and “...to survive one must be able to bend without breaking.” The story is how she came to realize these truths. The plot moves at a good pace as Miyoko struggles with her dilemma of how to keep harmony with her family, friends, and most of all her own secret heart.  Outstanding job for a debut novel, Ms. Williams. 

FYI:

Ms. Williams has included a glossary of Japanese terms and family relations at the beginning of the book. I was a bit overwhelmed seeing these worrying I wouldn't be able to follow, but the author made it easy, it was a needless concern. My insecurities always jump to the forefront of my brain. I need to work on that.

Format/Typo Issues:

Nothing at all jumped out at me with editing or formatting.

Rating: ***** Five stars      

5 comments:

Laurie Boris said...

I'm glad to see The Earthquake Doll again. I read it based on your recommendation, and it's a marvelous story.

BooksAndPals said...

Thanks, Laurie. It's always good to hear others share the same opinion. :)

Candace Williams said...

Thanks for the reprise review! And thank you, Laurie, for your comment!

Now I'm wondering how I missed this post when it came out. I have "The Earthquake Doll" set up on Google Alerts, but they missed this one. Shame on their booties!

Oh, btw, I now have a book trailer. Ahem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-qb0-mRT6g&feature=youtu.be

BooksAndPals said...

Candace, I've found that Google Alerts misses a lot of stuff. A much better alternative, IMO, is Mention. It's only downside is that the free plan has a limit to the number of things they'll tell you about in a period (month, I think). Do a search at Indies Unlimited and someone did a good post/tutorial on it.

Candace Williams said...

Thanks! I'll look it up.