The Japanese Lover

Allende, Isabel. The Japanese Lover. New York: Atria. 2015. Print.

First Sentences:

When Irina Brazili began working at Lark House in 2010, she was twenty-three years old but already had few illusions about life.

Since the age of fifteen she had drifted from one job, one town, to another. She could not have imagined she would find a perfect niche for herself in that senior residence, or that over the next three years she would come to be as happy as in her childhood, before fate took a hand.

Description:

Sometimes a book I had no intention of pursuing grabs me and won't let go. It may have all the warning signs: "too romantic," "a woman's book," "no action." All these excuses soon didn't matter for this particular book as author Isabel Allede slowly, inexorably pulled me into her newest novel, The Japanese Lover. And I found it to be right up my alley: great characters, exquisite writing, and a story of persistent love over many decades. Yes, I am a romantic and occasionally am absorbed by an enduring love story such as this.

Covering over 70 years, The Japanese Lover tells the stories of two women: Irina, a young woman trying to hide from her mysterious past, and Alma who is old and living her dream with a secret lover she has known since her childhood. The two women meet in a home for the elderly where Alma lives and Irina works.

[Irina's] secret must be her ability to listen to the same story a thousand times over as if she were hearing it for the first time, all those tales the old folks keep repeating to accommodate the past and create an acceptable self-portrait, erasing remorse and extolling their real or imagined virtues. Nobody wants to end their life with a banal past.

Alma hires Irina to be her secretary to organize Alma's mementos and scrapbooks as well as her daily routines. Soon Irina is uncovering pieces of Alma's earlier years of wealth, travel, and relationships. She begins to pick up hints about a mysterious Japanese lover from Alma's past and possibly even her present. But Irina is reluctant to confront Alma as Irina has secrets of her own life and loves that she prefers to keep secret. 

Moving easily between the past and present for each of the women, Allende slowly unfolds two unique lives, each filled with abandonment, privilege, love, insecurity, and decisions about relationships that carry on into the present.

Maybe this sounds too soft, too cloying, too "something" for many readers. But I enjoyed it and read it quickly to find out what happened to these women and their loves. Maybe this story is not for everyone, but for me I was hopelessly involved from the first pages to the last. A lovely, complex tale of family, relationships, and strong love over the ages, with all its rewards and disappointments. 

Very few old folk are happy ... It's the most fragile and difficult stage of life, more so than childhood, because it grows worse day by day, and there is no future other than death.

Happy reading. 


Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Haruf, Kent. Our Souls at Night

Wonderful story of two elderly people who seek out a relationship of friendship and comfort with each other despite the disapproval of friends and family. (previously reviewed here)