What a strong woman Shoko is. This read is so heartbreakingly depressing, yet uplifting at the same time. Another instance of when I get too involved in a story and start feeling the same things the author does, she went through years of pain and torture in many different abusive relationships barely skating by to life on the other end. It spoke more of her life as a rebel teenager and life in her group versus yakuza life. I was hoping to read more about her father's gangster life and what that was like, but since he went to jail when she was 6 and stepped down from the yakuza after that, she didn't experience yakuza life directly as much as I assumed from the book jacket. Translated from Japanese there are a few things that sound a little funny or formal at points, but if you didn't know it was originally Japanese you probably wouldn't notice. It's good to see that she has a daughter she cherishes and is doing well even after all she went through.