BOOK REVIEW: THE JAPANESE LOVER

Title: The Japanese Lover by Rani Manicka
Pages: 336
Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks
Available: Paperback, Amazon, Kindle
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Japanese-Lover-Rani-Manicka/dp/1444700324
Rating: 5/5 


From the author of The Rice Mother, Rani Manicka tells the tale of a young woman, Parvathi and her reaction when Malaya was invaded by the Japanese. Parvathi, a Hindu woman watches how the Japanese army would commandeer her parents house for their own use and the tragedy it could bring them.


There is hope however when the general of their army takes an interest in her and his interest is the start of an affair where two people from very different backgrounds come into contact with each other. The general already has a wife back home in Japan, but he has fallen for Parvathi though he denies his true affection at the start as he originally wanted to use her body for his own ends. She hates that he is married, but it doesn't stop her getting to know him more.

The Japanese Lover bridges the gap between the two different people, of Hindu and Shinto. Parvathi grows to like his ways and his culture while he finds her beautiful and her cooking something to be desired. She learns about Japanese customs, such as the tea ceremony usually performed by a geisha among high class men. One of the more touching moments in the novel is her lover making Parvathi up as a geisha in order to make a tea ceremony in his honour.

Other books:

An Arranged Marriage
The General's Mistress

Interesting quotes:

'I am too dark to be beautiful', she answered, she had not forgotten the white faced geisha.
'Yes, in my country white is revered, but I have since learned that a flower is no less beautiful because it is standing in the shade.'

'In Japan there are no more geishas. They are wearing smocks over indigo-dyed peasant trousers and working in factories sewing parachutes.'

'You heard.' No mercy, no smile of encouragement. Nothing. Just a blank wall asking her to be his ianfu, his comfort woman. She had begun life in the white sari of a widow only last week.