Review 585: Go

Go by Kazuki Kaneshiro
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

This was not an enjoyable book for me. I disliked the main character, Sugihara through much of the book. But I kept reading as I haven’t read many Japanese books, and none where the main character is considered Korean. It’s a different life to explore.

Why I didn’t like Sugihara is mainly due to all the fighting. I’m much more for peace than fistfights. And fighting scenes are not what I want to read. When the book shifted to the girl Sugihara dates it became more pleasant for me, less fighting. But the ending, I did not like.

The book highlights prejudice and assumptions. Sugihara was born and raised in Japan. His father, however, was born in Korea. He left and settled in Japan. Both of Sugihara’s parents retain North Korean passports. There was a choice but his father was somewhat idealistic and chose the north, so his son was raised in the North Korean schools.

When Sugihara was about to enter high school his father wanted to visit Hawaii, which was impossible to do with a North Korean passport so he just switched to South Korean and was able to visit. This was a revelation for Sugihara, as he realized you can just switch your nationality and it means nothing. You are who you are regardless of which passport you hold.

What Sugihara has difficulty in accepting is the harassments for Korean people in Japan. How is he different than a Japanese as he was born and raised there? Why does Japan treat him like a foreigner? Interesting questions.

Since this book became a success in Japan when it came out over 20 years ago, one may hope there has been some changes. Although racism is hard to overcome in any country. Glad I read this despite my somewhat lack of enjoyment, still got something out of the book.

Review 547: Beyond the White House

Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope by Jimmy Carter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

With the recent passing of former President Jimmy Carter I figured it was a good time to read one of the books I’ve had sitting on my shelf for awhile unread. This book was a good introduction to the work Carter and his wife Rosaylnn has been doing through the past several decades, and it is remarkable work.

The first chapter is a bit of an eye opener at the state of the Carter’s affairs after leaving the President’s office. They had to remove themselves from his farming business during his term and what had been a lucrative business free of debt was now over $1million dollars in debt. So he was broke. Plus needed to raise funds for a Presidential library, and left the office as an unpopular person. He decided to not use his experience for an monetary gain, but instead to be benevolent or work in some non-profit way. This became the impetus for starting The Carter Center.

The Carter Center has several aims and goals, which basically come down to improving people’s lives, particularly in impoverished areas. The book covers some of the work they have been involved in since the founding of the center. It’s quite impressive.

The list is long: such as being mediators in war zone areas, preventing or stopping wars, overseeing and helping democracy in areas previously run by dictators, trying to eradicate the overlooked diseases in poor nations, not to mention human rights, women’s equality and much more. Due to the amount of work and the many different countries Carter has worked in, the book feels more like a summary instead of a detailed account.

Or course, this work was not done by Jimmy Carter alone. There were many people that helped, interns at the Center, doctors that lead the charge in helping with the diseases, and partnering with Emory University. But his name and position has helped tremendously in some areas and places, allowing him access where others would be denied, or it would take much longer to get to a point of talking with other leaders.

An informative book about a remarkable man. Too bad more ex-Presidents would take his lead as an example of what that clout can do. Thankfully Carter had a long life and was able to make a lasting change in many people’s lives.

Review 546: A Gesture Life

A Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Franklin Hota known as Doc Hota around the quaint town of Bedley Run is our main character. This novel is mainly a character study. A Korean-Japanese immigrant to the United States, now living in a small town in New York. He sets up a shop of selling medical supplies, which is how he became known as Doc. He always tells people he’s not a doctor, but they insist on the moniker.

He adopted a daughter, Sunny, and named his business after her, but the relationship had never been a good one. As the book continues Franklin reveals more of his life during the war, where he served as a medic in the Japanese forces. His unit didn’t see much action, but they did have comfort women.

The book is not fast paced. There are a few people he becomes friends in town, particularly a neighbor he had a relationship with for a few years, but overall he seems to be a lonely person. Some of this stems from his childhood, where his parents sent him to live with an adopted family to become Japanese.

I never got a clear view of his relationship to his daughter while she was growing up. There were few snippets of that time, and she seemed to be removed emotionally from him. But without more to go on, it was hard to get a good sense.

There is movement of the daily life and things that happen, but overall no real plot. The story is propelled by the revelations of his time during the war and what actually happened.

The language and writing style was well done. I had this book sitting on my bookshelves for well over twenty years, not sure why I waited so long.

I started reading my print book. Around 40% through the book I wanted to read it faster, and sometimes I have more time to read via audio. I found the audiobook at my local library and finished the last 60% in a two days, where the first part took about a week.