The Blurb:
“Parvathi leaves her native Ceylon for Malaya and an arranged marriage to a wealthy businessman. But her father has cheated, supplying a different girl’s photograph, and Kasu Marimuthu, furious, threatens to send her home in disgrace. Gradually husband and wife reach an accommodation, and the naïve young girl learns to assume the air of sophisticated mistress of a luxurious estate. She even adopts his love child and treats Rubini as her own daughter – a generous act which is rewarded by a long-wished-for son.
But it is a life without passion, and Parvathi dreams of loving – and being loved – with complete abandon.
When the Japanese invade Malaya, in WW2, they requisition the estate. Marimuthu dies and Parvathi is forced to accept the protection of the Japanese general who has robbed her of her home. For the first time, she experiences sexual ecstasy. And gradually, her sworn enemy becomes the lover she has always yearned for . . .”
What I thought:
I am actually struggling with finding a way to review this book as, even after turning the last page, I’m still not entirely sure what it’s about. It felt, to me, like the book wanted to be a sprawling, epic book about a woman who was married off for money in Malaysia and set over nearly 100 years, but here it really falls short: there wasn’t enough depth there and I still feel, in a way, that I don’t know the characters well enough. I can’t quite decide whether it was mean to be a family saga, a book about finding true love, a book about spiritualism, a book about WW2, I just don’t know. I sort of feel that the story never really found its true identity.
The story starts in Ceylon in 1916, with the birth of Parvathi to a very poor and lazy father and a doting mother. Her father is told by an astrologer on the day of her birth that she will marry into great wealth and when a marriage broker appears 16 years later trying to find a wife for a hugely wealthy Malaysian businessman, Parvathi’s father gives him a picture of a beautiful girl who is not his daughter and her fate is sealed.
Crossing the sea by herself she is thrust straight into the marriage with this man who is more than 2 decades her senior and who is angry and humilitated at being decieved. He decides to send Parvathi straight back but for reasons that are never especially clear, he doesn’t. She remains in the house where she is happy but unloved. Several years into the marriage, her husbands love-child is brought to live with them after her mother (and her husbands lover) dies and then Parvathi herself gets pregnant and gives birth to a child; a son. These two children are the most rude, selfish, brattish, vile kids and both of them deserved a damn good slap in my opinion! GRRRR!!!
When WW2 breaks out and the Japanese descends on Malaysia, Parvathi is taken to be a lover for a Japanese General and there she finds true love.
It sounds simple enough, right? So it shouldn’t have confused me, but it did. I did enjoy The Japanese Lover but I just didn’t fall in love with it. I didn’t find enough forward momentum with it: I enjoyed it for the most part while reading it but had no real compulsion to pick it up again when I wasn’t reading it. I never really felt like there was anything to cling on to in terms of wanting to know what happened – I felt as though the book couldn’t decided wether to be plot driven (which I don’t think it really was) or character driven (again, there were none whom I felt I knew well enough for this).
I have yet to find another review on the internet for this book but I am looking forward to reading some as I am curious to see if this was just my take on it or wether others feel the same way.
Thank you to Waterstones for my review copy of this book.
Hmmm, I don’t think I’ll be picking this one up. There are too many I’m more interested in and just not enough time. HOW do you find so much time to read? I’m doing it while brushing my teeth, just before turn out the light, etc. I wish I could just sit for a few hours and read!!
Oh I do that too! I read during commercial breaks, while drying my hair, at traffic lights (it has been known!
) I don’t think I’m going to get through nearly as many books as I did last year thought unfortunately but any chance I get basically!
PS. I noticed you have Martel’s Beatrice and Virgil coming out in June. (So cool to see the UK covers here!) We have it out here already but I still haven’t read it (not because I don’t want to!). It’s had such mixed reviews and I’d love to know what you think of it when you do get it!
I cannot WAIT for this book! The publishers are sending me a copy this week hopefully and I’m so looking forward to diving in! I loved Life of Pi.
Sounds like this left you a bit cold.
It can be quite frustrating when you’re expecting to love a book and then get lost in the middle a bit.
Next!
It did a bit, which is a shame cos I really wanted to love it
It sounds like it could have been something really interesting, but sometimes you do finish a book and feel ambivalent. However, I’m still interested in reading it just because it has the words ‘Ceylon’ and ‘Japanese’ in it, so thanks for highlighting this title.
Looking back I wonder weather I have been a little harsh with my review, afterall I did enjoy it. I am still left a little empty after it but I did like it.
The Japanese Lover gives her the name of Sakura too!
I like the sound of this, despite your reservations (and curious as to whether I’d agree). I might pick up a copy, if it’s in paperback?
I have to say, regardless of whether the author was able to make the disparate pieces of this hold together, the whole “comfort-woman-turned-true-love” thing grosses me out. I mean, really, we’re supposed to believe that any woman would fall for the man who steals her home and violates her. Don’t think so!
I love the cover, I think I would read it for that alone. But I think I will skip it. No need for confusing books!
[...] The Japanese Lover by Rani Manicka [...]
This book was magical to me, so much wisdom and it focus on the souls of human beyond gender, race, position, enemy or friend. I think Maya is the “spiritual master” who shows the duality of our materialistic being and narrow mindedness. It think Rani Manicka is a healer or she is very close to one.
Exactly! This is the first comment I read where the deeper meaning of the book is understood and I had the same experience while reading this spiritual book!
If I can’t get into the characters then that is always a deal breaker for me. Sucks this didn’t do anything for you!
Wow! Your review really says exactly what I thought… It’s so strange, I think we know Kasu Marimuthu much better than Hattori, but the book is named after Hattori… And even though I’m saying we know Kasu Marimuthu better I still think we don’t really get to know him… Having read the title of the book you’d think it’s all about Hattori, but he’s only a small part of the story and we never really know who he is, conversations between Parvathi and him are seldomly described… It is a good book, but just not one that you really get into… The rice mother was far better, I loved the book, I read it more than once, we really got to know the characters there and all that… When you say that you did enjoy the Japanese lover but just didn’t fall in love with it… That’s exactly how I felt! =)
It’s a shame isn’t it, I did want to love it but I never felt involved enough. Good to know I’m not alone in my thoughts.
I simply loved the book – usually don’t read such stuff but was really surprised to have enjoyed it. Wish I could tell Rani Manicka myself about how I really enjoyed The Japanese Lover.
Really glad you liked it, Selvi. I’m sure the author has a website or some way of contacting her if you wanted to
I have just read this novel and my feelings are similar to that of the reviewer.
The book tries to bring together several strands of history but fails to integrate them into a single story. The account of the love affair with the Japanese general is provided about half way through the book. And we are told that Parvathi is devastated by his departure. Years later she learns of his death from his Japanese wife. Yet all these years of the aftermath are recounted in only the briefest way. The figure of Maya is also problematic: she seems privy to a huge hoard of spiritual knowledge and capable of making pronouncements about the future.
This seems to be a book that should have either been bigger and better worked out, or should have been pared down to novella size.
This book was magical to me, so much wisdom and it focus on the souls of human beyond gender, race, position, enemy or friend. I think Maya is the “spiritual master” who shows the duality of our materialistic being and narrow mindedness. It think Rani Manicka is a healer or she is very close to one.
Rieke, that’s great – I’m so glad you enjoyed the book
I thoroughly agree with your review of this book. After reading the first 2 books by Rani Manicka, I could not wait to pick this up and lose myself in her writings again. However, while I did enjoy ‘The Japanese Lover’, and to some extent couldn’t put it down, I did find it some what ‘lacking’ when compared with ‘Touching Earth’.. Saying that, I eagerly await her next offering..
I was annoyed and disappointed with this book – but I couldn’t resist reading it. I feel like she tried too much with this book – history, sci-fi, erotic that she failed to do well in any.
The dialogues are too unrealistic, unbelievable and at some point, ridiculous. Characters too unrealistics. Settings and plot were the saving grace. She couldn’t pull it through with this one.
I loved the first and second part of Rice Mother – but was very disappointed with the last part so I should have known better.
That’s sort of how I felt, Carol – I wasn’t sure what the book was trying to be.
i hv read both the rice mother n the japanese lover, of course i prefer the former, the japanese lover wasn’t as wow as the rice mother, other books that 1 shld read by Indian authors r a suitable boy by Vikram Seth and the song of dusk.
Thanks for your recommendations, Suthalani. I haven’t heard of Song of Dust so I shall check that one out.
is there a 2nd rice mother ? any other bopoks by rani manicker ? where can i purchase it in JB ?
My dear. It is song of dusk, not dust,