Halloween Reads
Sara asked this question about Fifty Words for Rain:
I'm unclear on the author's background with Japan, how she did her research, and what her qualifications are to write such a book? It feels as if this could be a story set anywhere.... and I'm curious why the author chose to set this book in Japan. Anyone?
Sara Responding to Pearl Hart: Hi Pearl. I'm happy to answer your question about why I am so concerned about the qualifications of a POC author, though I h…moreResponding to Pearl Hart: Hi Pearl. I'm happy to answer your question about why I am so concerned about the qualifications of a POC author, though I hadn't really thought of it that way. Whether or not she is a POC is irrelevant to the fact that she's made mistakes in her depictions of Japan, which others have noted as well. As to why I am concerned, it comes from a true love of Japan. As an undergraduate I majored in Japanese Language and Literature and did a junior year abroad in Kyoto. As soon as I graduated from college, I returned to Japan because I realized it was impossible to get to know the country with less than a year of experience living there. I lived there for 13 years (also not long enough) and learned the language enough to become a translator. I also married into a Japanese family and have two half Japanese children. So, you can see that my interests are not trivial. I'm not sure what it is you mean when you say "Japanese readers can do that for themselves." Is there a translated version of this book into Japanese? I think many older Japanese would be horrified by this portrayal of their country and younger Japanese might find humor in it. Pearl, I'm not saying the author got it 100% wrong and I can see that many enjoyed the book as a romance and tragedy porn. Did it portray the "otherness" of a hafu Japanese child in Japan? Perhaps it did in spirit, though not much in detail. The author is young and imaginative. I hope she is humble enough to take the criticism offered by myself and others and do better next time. Also, I'm very curious to hear of these "Japanese sensitivity readers" you speak of. Were you perhaps one of them? Finally, my opinion is just one opinion. I will always speak up about inaccuracies in books. It's a librarian thing, I guess. But I would hope that there would be a diversity of opinions here and readers can choose for themselves which they believe are valid. I am sorry that I used the word "qualifications" because we're all qualified to write fiction. It is just so very sad, though, when one finds mistakes in a book that could have been quite good.(less)
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Fifty Words for Rain
by Asha Lemmie (Goodreads Author)
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