On the first page when Kyoko describes the way her mother killed herself it is almost sounds like she is saying it with no emotion. The way she describes her mother putting the gas tube to her mouth then putting a bag over her head to make sure she killed herself. I would expect her to have a hard time telling the story. On the second page, the way she describes her father's reaction to her mother's death it sounds like she hates him for her death of her mother. Also, Kyoko still drinks the milk that her mother always wanted her to drink but she never wanted to. Which is surprising because she is still acting like her mother is there with her even though she is dead. She is angry with her father when he doesn't treat her differently because she is his daughter and because she is a little girl. Once again she shows anger to her father for his reaction to finding out the their aunt also killed herself. When her mother talks about killing herself Kyoko sounds very understanding and agrees with her mother that her and her brother would don't be happy with their father. She is pretty sure though that her mother would have never killed them. It is surprising to me that she understands her mother's feelings but is so resentful to her father. Then Kyoko blames herself for her mother dying because she didn't tell her mother that she didn't want to die but also didn't want to live without her. I can understand that because maybe the fact that her children would be okay was the reason why her mother decided it was time to kill herself. Later on she mentions that she can't be at peace or happy while she has to think about her father. I think this is very unhealthy and she will never be happy then until her father is dead. She then says that she could never remember her mother and father being happy together. This is sad because she blames her father for her mother's unhappiness and holds none responsibility to her mother. Then somebody says that Kyoko could blame manhood for fathers cheating on his wife. However, Kyoko doesn't agree with the statement. Also, he doesn't mean that he is a born cheater because he is male. When father tries to treat Kyoko like family her pushes him away and treats him like a stranger. I can understand her reaction to her father's actions if she does blame him for his mother's death. Kyoko is angered when she has to listen to her stepmother's problems like she couldn't sell her property for a good price before she returned home to Japan after the war. I agree with her that her stepmother was being very selfish saying that she didn't get enough money even though all those people died during the war. She explains that when she was young that her father threatened to kill her and her brother if they forced the stepmother to live her father. She should feel angered because a father is supposed to protect his kids and not threatened to kill them. At the end of the book Kyoko tries to carry on the legacy of her mother and that she can go now to anywhere in the world and not have to feel the same loss again. She believes her mother wanted to carry on life without obligations.
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The review of this Book prepared by rian dooley
