The Secrets of Mariko

by Elisabeth Bumiller

Another nonfiction book among the masses of novels I normally read. It's also a book I had to read for my Japanese Civilization class. As the tag line on the book says, it's "A year in the life of a Japanese woman and her family." The author basically held interviews and watched the family do their thing for an entire year then wrote a book about it. The good part of this book was that Bumiller didn't stop the interviews at just family members. She went to other people in the neighborhood, celebrities, politicians, and even a high ranking person in the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia (who have much more power than any American mafia). These parts were the most fascinating. I learned about how the political system truly works, not how they say it does. There was the complex and completely absurd education system, and how generally it seems Japanese are fine with giving up personal happiness if they feel it will benefit the group. They are an interesting people.

I didn't like the writing style of the author at all, and this greatly hurt the book. She's really a journalist, and her style shows it. If you don't like reading the short articles in the newspaper, you will want to kill yourself after reading 300 pages of that style. She explains people and things even though she has already done so (like Mr. Tanazaki, the unofficial mayor of Ichomachi, or how she has to explain what karaoke is. Twice!). For that, I really couldn't stand the book. And I was constantly angry at the Japanese, because they want to be happy, but refuse to change their lives to become happy! As interesting as parts were, the book was slow paced and I wanted to burn on multiple occasions.

2 stars (it gets 2 for the small amount of info I cared about).

Next: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami