Shizuko's Daughter

by Kyoko Mori

Book Overview

"A cast of three-dimensional characters, keen imagery and attention to detail produce an emotionally and culturally rich tale tracing the evolution of despair into hope." - Publishers Weekly , starred... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0449704335
• Release Date: May 1994
• Publisher: Fawcett
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 0.5" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

Yuki's journey of self-discovery

A more lyrical novel then "Shizuko's Daughter" would be difficult to find--"Call of the Wild" by Jack London, "Cry, the Beloved Country" by Alan Paton come to mind. The point is that this is an exquisitely wrought story told in exquisite prose. A Japanese story with many cultural details brings to vivid life the painful journey of a young girl who loses her mother to suicide and her father to a lover. I wanted to blame Yuki's mother for committing suicide in the first chapter. However, suicidal people cannot reason logically. So, Yuki is left at twelve years old with an indifferent father, who is concerned with "saving face," a Japanese cultural icon of not bringing shame on a family by any untoward act. It is bad enough to have a suicide, anything more could ruin the father's standing in his job. Once Hanei and the father marry, Yuki becomes the step-child. Hanei throws out all the beautiful clothes Shizuko made for her daughter. A talented artist, Yuki then begins sketching all the dresses as mementos of her mother. At eighteen when Yuki leaves home for art school, which she earned every penny of tuition herself, she leaves behind all traces of her former life. An interesting technique Kyoko Mori uses to tell this story is variations of point of view. Each chapter title designates the storyteller's identity. The reader learns of Shizuko's desperate anguish over the death of her husband's love for her and an explanation of her suicide. Yuki tells us of her crush on an older girl she runs track with, of her troubling visits with her grandparents (her mother's parents), flashbacks of flowers and clothing, colors and plants, a whole array of natural beauty, frogs tossed out windows to save them from dissection, from blossoming love. As an English teacher of gifted students, I used this book in teaching journal writing, coping with step-families, suicide issues, point of view, and exploration of Japanese culture. The majority of students loved this book. One sophomore boy who had not come to terms with his father's accidental death experienced closure through this book and our lessons. (What an incredible experience that was for this teacher!) When a book makes real-life connections with readers, then that writer has done more than just bring characters to life--she has brought life to readers. However, be forewarned that the story is depressing until the end and that the last chapter can seem so unrelated. Just remember what the story is about and make that connection with the joy of the last chapter. "Shizuko's Daughter" is highly recommended. Note: I have never liked the cover artwork for this book. It diminishes the wonderful story inside.

A story of hope

Yuki Okuda was only twelve years old when her mother, Shizuko, comitted suicide. Such a shock left a big impact on the young Yuki's outlook on life. When she was only thirteen, a year later, her father married another woman, Hanei. (Yuki's father had been seeing Hanei from when her mother had been alive)Yuki and Hanei never managed to get along very well, and Hanei found Yuki as a spoiled brat. Yuki changed from the cheery, happy child she once was to a solemn, sober young woman who was always serious. Yuki thought that love brought pain and she never wanted to experience it again. This book tells of Yuki's life through different years in every chapter and also tell the story through other family member's eyes. You get to see Hanei's view in a chapter, Shizuko's view before she comitted suicide and many other characters who are vital in the story. Yuki undergoes a growth of strength and hope, and learns that sometimes to achieve joy you must first endure pain.

Not enough stars in the sky to give this book!

Beautiful, beautiful story! A many-layered book that weaves together multiple strands, symbolism, and powerful themes. May be marketed for young adults, but would be just as enjoyable for adults. A Cinderella story of sorts, Yuki is a strong heroine who overcomes her mother's suicide, her resulting fear of closeness, and the hate her stepmother shows her.

-Shizuko's Daughter is a great novel for young readers...

Shizuko's Daughter, I feel, is a great novel for young readers to mentally gain an experience of what it is like to grow up with a mother that is deceased and a father and a stepmother that doesn't care enough about her to save things that are precious memories of someone that truly does love them. I also thought that it was a great book/novel for our specific English 10 Honors class at East Lincoln High School in Denver NC. Our teacher, Mrs. Sigmon, taught this novel in a way that the entire class can understand, makes it fun to read and also she wants to see us do the absolute BEST that we can do. As of now we are doing a total group project on the novel, that is more in depth into this novel. This way we learn more than just about reading, but also about different ways of life in todays society. The structure of this book is great also. The way the seperate chapters are put as months and years and the names are the major clue about what the chapter is really about. Thank you to all the people that have took the time to read through my review of Shizuko's Daughter. A couple things may be off topic, but I feel thatthe things that I have said directly relate to the topic of review. Thank you again.

A beautifully written, bittersweet story

_Shizuko's Daughter_ is a wonderful book not only because it is beautifully written, but because it is told with an intensity and passion that will draw any reader in, make them weep, and leave them wanting the story to go on and on. This is a story of a unique, talented, and independent girl in 1970's Japan whose beloved mother kills herself when Yuki is 12. Yuki is left with her distant father and hateful new stepmother, cut off from her mother's family, to grow up virtually alone. Most inspiring is the way that Yuki, despite her pain and grief, finds strength in her memories of her mother to go on and find happiness again. At the end, you know Yuki will survive.