Already we're at the end of the book! I hope you've been enjoying Mothertalk and are planning on picking up a copy of our next book club book, Chorus of Mushrooms by Hiromi Goto, in time to start discussing it in April. It's available at our museum shop, or you can look for it online or at your favourite bookstore or library.
This week, we're looking at the final section of Mothertalk, "Landscape-of-the-Heart". Since the previous section took us more or less to the "present day" of Mary's life at the time that she was interviewed, this final section feels a bit like an epilogue to me - some final reflections after the story has been wrapped up. Mainly what we see is that Japan is still front and centre in Mary's heart and mind, as was the case for many of her generation. She goes from telling us stories from her father's youth as a samurai, to what became of her nephew in Japan, and mentions many visits she and her children have made over the years. Each of the Kiyookas seems to have their own, in different ways conflicted, relationship to being Japanese and being Canadian. In particular, Mary has always described her husband "Papa" as rather Westernized, and wanting to leave Japan behind, but in his old age, he reverts to speaking his Kochi dialect of Japanese rather than English, and even before that urges Mary to make sure that a monument in honour of her father is erected in Japan, despite refusing to take up his legacy many years earlier. What do you make of this change of heart? In what ways is it similar to or different from Mary's relationship to Japan, or their children's? How have all these different attitudes towards Japan influenced each other - for example, Mary wanting her children to visit Japan?
This week, we're looking at the final section of Mothertalk, "Landscape-of-the-Heart". Since the previous section took us more or less to the "present day" of Mary's life at the time that she was interviewed, this final section feels a bit like an epilogue to me - some final reflections after the story has been wrapped up. Mainly what we see is that Japan is still front and centre in Mary's heart and mind, as was the case for many of her generation. She goes from telling us stories from her father's youth as a samurai, to what became of her nephew in Japan, and mentions many visits she and her children have made over the years. Each of the Kiyookas seems to have their own, in different ways conflicted, relationship to being Japanese and being Canadian. In particular, Mary has always described her husband "Papa" as rather Westernized, and wanting to leave Japan behind, but in his old age, he reverts to speaking his Kochi dialect of Japanese rather than English, and even before that urges Mary to make sure that a monument in honour of her father is erected in Japan, despite refusing to take up his legacy many years earlier. What do you make of this change of heart? In what ways is it similar to or different from Mary's relationship to Japan, or their children's? How have all these different attitudes towards Japan influenced each other - for example, Mary wanting her children to visit Japan?
Other things I'm thinking about:
What do you think of Mary's friend who died in Tosa with the
word "Boston" on his lips? Do you think he was happy in the end?
Why do you think there is one last ghost story included in
this section, this one set in Canada? How is it related to the other stories in
the section, and to the other ghost stories in earlier parts of the book?
What other parts of this section did you find interesting
and why?
I'll make one more post about Mothertalk next week, to give us a chance to discuss the appendices
and assorted "other" sections of the book. And remember that April 2 is our in-person discussion at Nikkei Centre, 6688 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby,
BC, at 2pm in the tatami room. I hope some of you are able to join us for some
real-time discussion, as there's a lot of things to talk about in this book
that I wasn't able to touch on in my prompts! I look forward to seeing some of
you then.
-Carolyn
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