"Shizuko's daughter" is basically about how a twelve years old Japanese girl, Yuki, growing up alone after her mother had died and her father had married the other woman. She lives with her aunt, Aya, and learn how to live with herself. Her whole life has been changing and changing as she gets older. She always wanted to be like her mother, Shizuko, brave and smart. In fact, she is a smart girl and very brave, maybe better than her own mother in some days. I think this is a very good book that I will highly recommended. It's very interesting.

Kyoko Mori's writing is colorful and descriptive allowing the reader to fully understand the beauty that Shizuko lived for. Most of the story is told through the eyes of Yuki, the protaganist but small sections of the story are told by her father and step-mother showing the complex and strong characters throughout.


Yuki's mother Shizuko committed suicide for reasons that are never fully explained. A marriage devoid of love and the hope of giving her daughter a better chance in the world was not a sufficient reason for Yuki, her daughter who throughout the book askes "Why? What made you leave me alone?". The death of her mother singled her out from her class-mates and her father's home was no longer a home for her to return to. This left Yuki utterly alone and gave her the feeling of loneliness that she tried to cover with art, track, and other talents her mother was so proud of. At the end of the story a friendship starts with a college classmate suggesting more then just friendship and hinting at something beyond.

A strong piece of silk, winding and unwinding to create a strong, and beautiful bond between a loving mother and her talented daughter. They go through everything together, from a father who is in love with another women, to a move, to every hardship and joy. They shared the happiness of seasons, of their talents, of color, of life. Suddenly, the bond snapped, the daughter, Yuki, was left alone, with only the memory of her mother and a father who couldn't care less.
Yuki's mother, had commit suicide, after asking Yuki
"How would you do if I died?"
"I would be very sad, but I would go on."
Leaving her talented daughter to plunge into a realm of grief and guilt.
Her father soon re-married, to the women whom he had always loved, ever since Yuki had turned 2. Her new step mother is everything that her mother wasn't. A model housekeeper and a traditional Japanese women. A women who destroyed every remnant of Yuki's memories of her mother, every item that held a memory. She didn't care for the art that Yuki lived in, she didn't care about her step daughter's feelings, hurts, or joys.
Yuki became tighter within herself, not caring, rough, blunt, even to her grandparents. She continued to paint and to run, her talents, the talents that she wished to develop. She turned down an offer to go to one of the best colleges, saving up her money to attend a small art college. This left her father puzzled and even, guilty or sad. There, she met a student studying photography, and she became friends, loosening up her thoughts and making her a human. Allowing her to live with her grandparents in happiness, allowing her to see her dreams, her joys, her mother again.
A beautiful story, one with many sides, for each character. Many details are used, to give you a full sense of the story. You can see the colorful clothing that her mother painstakingly sewed, the multi-colored, bright flowers they planted in the spring and fall. The strong taste and smell of the sake that Yuki had to drink. It makes you think, who was her father really? Why had her mother loved him so much? Did her step-mother have any cares herself?
A book with so many views and stories, works in a work. This book truly deserves a full 5-star score.

As someone who used to live in Japan, I was eager to read this. I hoped to find a book that my daughter could read to give her a glimpse of the life I used to know. However, I would not recommend this to any teen. The book is disturbing, because with the exception of a young, divorced, athiest, all of the adults are portrayed as either naive, frumpy, foolish, or hypocritical. The author is especially harsh on the Christian characters, both adults and teens, but also portrays others with religious beliefs negatively. Only the atheist comes out shining. The overall mood of the book is very negative. I was glad when I finished it. I gave it 2 stars instead of 1, because it does have some literary merit, unlike a lot of the stuff teens read these days.

Megumi is a high school tenth-grader living in Japan in 1975. Megumi's life is a rather hard, cold, and lonely one. Her mother has left to go live with her grandfather using the excuse that he needs someone to take care of him, but Megumi knows that this is a lie.The only reason that her mother left was because she and her father coudln't stand each other, but getting a divorce would shame the family and the family's name. Megumi is very confused in the beginning of the book, if her mother loved her then why did she leave without her? Megumi's father and grandmother aren't exactly perfect guardians to top it off. Megumi's father is almost never home either out on business or visiting his girlfriend in Hiroshima who owns a bar and doesn't have a very honorable name. Megumi's grandmother is a cranky old woman who always complains about Megumi. Megumi meets a young, inspiring veterinarian by the name of Dr. Mituzani. Dr. Mituzani has had a hard past as well, but shows a strength that Megumi admires. Megumi helps take care of the birds at Dr. Mituzani's office, and finds much joy in watching sick or wounded birds heal. Many eventful changes occur in Megumi's life; Megumi stops believing in God, she loses her close friendship with her former best friend, and she learns that when her mother left her she missed Megumi as much as she said she did, and she truly did love Megumi.

The protaganist of this story, Megumi tells of her frustration at her mother's "running-away", her religious ideas, her friendships, and strained relations with her father and grandmother.
Megumi's mother runs away from an unhappy marriage to her father leaving Megumi alone. Her father calls on his mother to keep house for him. Megumi sees her grandmother as a grouchy old women and has no one to turn to. It is at this moment she meets the veterinarian Dr. Mizutani who offers her consolation and the understanding she needs.
With the help of Dr. Mizutani and her old friend Toru Megumi is able to stand up to her father asking for what she knows is right. To see her mother again.

Written in the beautifully descriptive style that only Kyoko Mori can accomplish, this story tells you the cultural difficulties of life without a mother in Japan, 1970.

before review what can i writ

I hate to write this, but I must because I feel so misled by the reviews. This was one of the worst books I've ever read. I absolutely couldn't finish it, though I wanted to, hoping there would be some redeeming moments. In the end, I quit because, with all the fine books out there, I didn't want to waste my time. This book is about a character dealing with the demise of her marriage. But I had no grasp of this character, or any or the other characters, for that matter. So I didn't care. The characters were sketchy, unreal. The author seemed to be writing from emotion. If you liked Slow Dance at Cedars you'll like this.

I understand the reviewer who found this book awful and unreadable, though I wouldn't go that far. But the character Mori is describing a person who is quiet, unemotional, slow-paced (and who is probably herself), and so the book itself reads quietly, slowly, and unemotionally. Not my idea of a real good read.

I love this book. Ever since i picked it up (as soon as it came out) I've been in love with it, and think it would make a great plot for a movie, just as long as nothing is changed (or too considerably!) ! The writing is simple and emotional. I love the way Mori describes everything, even though sometimes, there are some metaphors I don't understand or seem weird or out of place, but I like that for some reason. A great book, espeically for any Kyoko Mori fan. I've been one since I picked up "One Bird" (a YA novel of hers). I love the way the dialogue flows and I love her thoughts [in the novel].
However maybe, the beauty of this book might be ruined by Hollywood.
Well, whether or not, it became a movie - it should be enjoyed from whichever perspective you choose. I certainly can't wait for her next book to come out, provided she writes one !

I've never read a book where my feelings toward the story and the author kept rising and dipping, over and over. On the one hand, Mori is a beautiful writer. Her words are lyrical, and she tells a good, even suspenseful story. At times I didn't want to put the book down.

Alternately, there were at least 3 times--and I'm only halfway through the book--where I just wanted to slam the book down, thinking, OK, enough is enough. Her bitterness toward her father, stepmother, and even the Japanese culture manifests itself in--simply put--whining. It isn't that I'm not sympathetic--indeed, I can relate to alot of the issues she talks about; it's the reason I wanted to read her story--but, like the other reviewer wrote, enough is enough. She refuses to let go or at least try to understand or come to terms with her pain. It's family-bashing and Japan-bashing with no grey in between. At many points the book reminds me of an unconstructive, dragged-out heart-to-heart with a friend who goes over every angry detail for the upteenth time.

The only reason I tried to plow through this was my hope to see that "breakthrough." Now that I've read the other reviewer's comment that it doesn't ever come, I think my time will be better spent reading other books.

Water, life-giving source of comfort and sustenance, is among the most maternal of symbols on the island nation of Japan. In her new memoir, Kyoko Mori explores the loss of her mother, her childhood and ultimately, her native heritage, as a result of the behavior of an abusive father and stepmother. "The Dream of Water" is a search for the soul and essence of the mother she once found lying on the floor with a plastic bag over her head and a natural gas tube in her mouth.An American citizen, the Japanese-born Mori has lived in the US since her late teens and teaches creative (English) writing at St. Norbert¹s College in Wisconsin. "The Dream of Water" tells the story of her first trip back to Japan since leaving 13 years before. None of us can go home again, and Mori is no different; but the book shows we can reach better a understanding of our past using the knowledge and experience of years.As Mori visited with what remained of her family and friends, she saw them now through the eyes of a self-confident adult from a radically different culture. Even this self-confident adult, however, had trouble with a father who decided to leave for a nap thirty minutes into her first meeting with him in years.The deliberate ambiguousness of Japanese language and culture is the basis of much current misunderstanding and apparent callousness when Japanese and Americans communicate. Although Mori had developed a strong dose of American assertiveness, the Japanese language she learned as a child lacked the words to civilly inquire why: why did you drive my mother to suicide? why did you cut me off from her family? why do you continue to criticize my looks, my work, my worth?We learn from this book that child abuse is not limited to America, nor is physical abuse necessarily worse than emotional abuse. This brilliant girl's pain has had a lasting effect on the woman. Though well written, it¹s not a fun book. It is often bleak and sad.Mori's first book, the fictional "Shizuko's Daughter" (Ballantine, 1993), dealt with the life of a twelve year old Japanese girl following the suicide of her mother and abuse at the hands of a distant father and an evil stepmother. It¹s easy to see the common influence for both books in her early experiences.With luck, the "The Dream of Water" will also serve to wash away the author¹s pain and help her produce more good writing on a different topic. -- End --

Kyoko Mori is an excellent writer. If you like Asian/ Japanese cultures and are interested in reading about it, this is the book for you. It's a sad tale/story about how Mori had to leave her life in Japan all because of her father and her "EVIL" stepmother. She returns to a sense of alienation. She somewhat regrets leaving but also thought it was for the best. This book relates to history of WWII, Japanese culture, lives of people back then.

I am 24years old Japanese. This book was pretty interesting to me when I saw it at the bookstore by accident because I moved to california from Japan a couple of years ago.
While I was reading the book, I was kinda confused because almost everything what she wrote about Japanese culture seemed like old stuff to me. I don't want people who read this book to believe everything. In my opinion, she exaggerated the fact too much(I'm not saying about her family, but Japanese culture).
She hasn't live in Japan for twenty years, so she doesn't know well what's going on in Japan NOW. People and Culture have changed a lot. She wrote the old facts about Japanese culture as if those are going on right now. She just lived in old Japan.

I read Ms. Mori's book at the recommendation of a friend, and am glad I did. Although I do not agree with her opinions all the time (her negative reactions sometimes cloud rational judgement), her observations and experiences are described frankly, in straightforward language. The negativity with which she writes is necessary in describing the abusive, dysfunctional childhood she experienced, and her resulting rebellion against her birth culture and language, but the book reads like a personal journal. I sometimes felt I was reading something I shouldn't, and as if this were a form of therapy for Ms. Mori to confront her demons. It would be wrong to subscribe to sweeping generalizations of Japan or the Midwest based on Ms. Mori's descriptions. On the other hand, she provides us with insight to a side of those two areas that we might not be otherwise aware of. Likewise, the events are so personal that it often matters not that she is from Japan and both bicultural and bilingual, since what she experiences growing up and later professionally could have happened just as easily to any monocultural, monolingual person. The difference is that she is interpreting her life from two culturally polarized perspectives.

The author Kyoko Mori compares the two cultures of Japan and the United States critically picking out the good -- and bad in each.

Her thoughts are clear and her writing includes detailed descriptions that support her opinions and the points she brings up throughout the book.


I don't know what neighborhood that Kyoko grew up in but all of the points she makes about women's rights in Japan seem so outdated. To all Americans and non-Japanese people reading this book, please don't believe everything it says as the current ideals of Japan. Some of it is so old.