Helpful Score: 7
Gail Tsukiyama is one of my favorite authors. She writes small, elegant books that always manage to touch my heart and make me think about the beauty and meaning of life.
In Dreaming Water we meet Hana, a young woman dying of Werner's syndrome, a disease that causes a person to age at twice the normal rate. Hana lives with her mother Cate, a widow in her early sixties who looks as if she is Hana's child. Over the course of two days we learn about Cate and Hana's life, both present and past, and of their strength in dealing with an illness that changes everything.
Although the main subject of this book is Hana's illness we also come to learn about her parent's marriage, her mother the child of old world Italian immigrants and her father a Japanese American 'detained' at Heart Mountain, an internment camp where his family was sent for their 'safety' during WWII. We also learn of Hana's lifelong friendship with Laura whose own life is falling apart. She has come to visit Hana bringing her teenage daughters with her, to meet the Godmother they don't know.
While reading this book one is aware that there will be no happy ending. Despite the sadness that permeates the story there is also a spirituality to the book, in accepting one's fate and making a life that is the best that it can be. Overall is the story of a mother's love and devotion to her child, of facing immeasurable heartache with strength and determination.
Highly recommended.
In Dreaming Water we meet Hana, a young woman dying of Werner's syndrome, a disease that causes a person to age at twice the normal rate. Hana lives with her mother Cate, a widow in her early sixties who looks as if she is Hana's child. Over the course of two days we learn about Cate and Hana's life, both present and past, and of their strength in dealing with an illness that changes everything.
Although the main subject of this book is Hana's illness we also come to learn about her parent's marriage, her mother the child of old world Italian immigrants and her father a Japanese American 'detained' at Heart Mountain, an internment camp where his family was sent for their 'safety' during WWII. We also learn of Hana's lifelong friendship with Laura whose own life is falling apart. She has come to visit Hana bringing her teenage daughters with her, to meet the Godmother they don't know.
While reading this book one is aware that there will be no happy ending. Despite the sadness that permeates the story there is also a spirituality to the book, in accepting one's fate and making a life that is the best that it can be. Overall is the story of a mother's love and devotion to her child, of facing immeasurable heartache with strength and determination.
Highly recommended.
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