Losing Kei

by Suzanne Kamata

Book Overview

A young mother fights impossible odds to be reunited with her child in this acutely insightful first novel about an intercultural marriage gone terribly wrong.

Jill Parker is an American painter living in Japan. Far from the trendy gaijin neighborhoods of downtown Tokyo, she's settled in a remote seaside village where she makes ends meet as a bar hostess. Her world appears to open when she meets Yusuke, a savvy and sensitive art gallery...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0972898492
• ISBN13: 9780972898492
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Leapfrog Press
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.2" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A Novel Menagerie's Perspective on LOSING KEI

My Mind Found a Story In Losing Kei I loved this book. What I'd like to focus on in my review are the parts of the story that I most enjoyed. Jill, described as looking like Andie McDowell, is our heroine. She is totally crushed by her first love, Phillip just after graduating college. She had planned to accompany him to Africa and live a life as a photographer and artist there with him. She imagined a life as his wife. Instead, he unexpectantly breaks her heart and she ends up moving to Japan. Well into her life's story in Japan, Phillip connects with Jill via a letter that he sent to Jill's mother in the United States. By this time, Jill is married to Yusuke and has given birth to Kei, but is in a very unhappy marriage. Jill's Mom forwards the letter to her in Japan. Phillip's letter was written with such diplomacy and is almost overplaying the "friend card," if you know what I mean. In any event, the letter (amongst other things) got Jill thinking about her life and the lack of quality and happiness within it. It is soon thereafter that Jill, with Kei, leaves her husband. The book explains, in detail, the terms of Yusuke's power and wealth. Due to this, and his emotional fear of his mother (no better way to describe it, in my opinion), he swiftly regains physical possession of Kei and refuses to release any rights to Jill. Apparently, in Japan, there is no such thing as joint custody... it belongs to one parent only. With Yusuke's Japanese nationality and his social status, he has no trouble winning custody. Jill's lawyer simply tells her, "it's not against the law to kidnap your own child in Japan." What? That's craziness! From that point in the story, I loved the tale of Jill's visit with Phillip in Indonesia. I have been in a similar circumstance... on a dream-world escape with the love of my life with no regard for outcome. Like Jill, my only thoughts were wrapped in the encasing of the rapture of a once full and true love. The visual picture that Kamata creates in this story is so vivid, so colorful, and so bare. I have lived this story, with different surroundings. This part of the novel tugged at my heart. Don't misunderstand my review... this book is not about reclaiming a lost love or an old dream. Conversely, it is about capturing the dream that makes you happy. This book is about love and truth. This book is about the love that we have for our child(ren). This story takes the reader with Jill from her graduation from college, through her move to Japan, exploring her job and her passion for art. We learn about the people she comes close to, including the women she works with and the family that she eventually becomes a part of. Again, my review is highlighting one of the many parts of the novel that I so enjoyed. I enjoyed the character, Eric. This wanderlust, and who I'm guessing is either a Pieces or Gemini, is a sexy surfer-man who is free, raw, and an untamed man that, unlike Jill, I wouldn't have been just friends

Wonderful book

As a long term (nearly 30 years) resident of Japan, who is also married to a Japanese man and has two children, I was delighted to read a book about Japan that shows an accurate side of Japanese life. Don't get me wrong, the custody battle and Jill's relationships with her husband and mother-in-law only describe one family's life, and should not be generalized to include all Japanese families. But there is no doubt in my mind that Suzanne Kamata really KNOWS Japan and writes as an insider, and not as someone who knows a little bit about Japan and novelized their experience. I am really looking forward to reading her future novels.

Highly Accurate Depiction of Family Life in Japan

In "Losing Kei," Suzanne Kamata presents a highly accurate depiction of family life in Japan, especially in the protagonist's marriage and interactions with her mother-in-law. Those who have lived in or visited Japan will appreciate this especially, and those who haven't will find a wealth of illuminating details, all written in Kamata's elegant and poignant prose style.

An look into Japanese culture

There's an old quote that says "A mother who is really a mother is never free". This, as any mother knows couldn't be more true and unfortunately Jill Parker finds this out the hard way in this wonderful book by Suzanne Kamata. Jill is reeling from a bad relationship, and instead of traveling to Africa, the site of her now ex-boyfriend, she decides to take a fellowship to Japan for a fresh start. She falls in love with the culture, and soon with one of its residents, Yusuke Yamashiro. They have a whirlwind romance, and decide to elope to avoid conflict with his parents. After all she is an American and probably not someone they would approve of him marrying seeing as he is the sole heir to the Yamashiro estate. Not long into the marriage, Jill finds out that she is pregnant. Even though she is thrilled at the thought of bringing a new life into this world, she is becoming less tolerant of her role in the Yamashiro household. She wants nothing more than to be able to move into a house of their own, but when a tragedy strikes the family it is soon evident that she will never be free. When young Kei is born she focuses all of her energy on him, after all he is absolutely perfect and the only thing she needs to get her through her lonely days. With a domineering yet needy mother-in-law, and a workaholic husband, he is the only thing in her life that brings her ultimate joy. But soon it is not enough and she decides that her marriage to Yusuke must come to an end. If she was aware of the laws of Japan when it comes to custody of children, she may not have chosen to do this. After doing some research I have found out some interesting facts: -Joint custody is illegal in Japan -Japanese courts do not recognize foreign custody orders J-apanese court orders for custody are not enforceable -Natural parents do not have priority in future custody changes -Discrimination against non-Japanese in granting child custody -Fathers of Children Born Out of Wedlock Have No Custodial Rights -No system to register a foreign parent's contact information -Mothers granted child custody in 80% of court decisions -Child abuse and other psychological factors are ignored in family court decisions -Adoptions are permitted without approval of the non-custodial natural parent and without approval of a court -Government officials refuse to help a parent find a child being hidden by the other parent Unfortunately I was not totally shocked by some of these statements, I just know that I sympathized to my very core with Jill, knowing what kind of fight she was in for to try and get visitation, much less custody of a son born in her husbands native land. This book is one I would recommend to anyone. It was thoroughly engaging, and gave you a glimpse of how different cultures handle something that is very common here in the US. Well done! Questions for the author: Are you a mother? Yes. I'm the mother of eight-year-old twins - a girl, and a boy. I dedicated the b

Beautiful

If you are at all interested in cultures other than our Western one, pick up this engrossing, intense and beautifully written novel. Fascinating glimpse into another world.