Silent Honor

Rating:
Summary: The first English-language book I've ever been dissapointed
Review: I didn't know anything about the author when I was tempted to purchase this book. I just thought that this novel would be a good example of Americans' perspective towards Japan, which is always good to know. Although this book once was (and still is?) one of the bestsellers in the US, and the book's universal message regarding peace and love was good to read, this was the first English book that I have ever got so disappointed. To me Japanese, situations and Japanese characters felt too unnatural. On the one hand the Japanese characters were depicted so overly "Japanese" that they often bowed just unnecessarily, and on the other hand their attitudes and behaviors were unbelievably so westernized. The real Japanese living in Japan almost in their lifetime could not easily act like that simply as a result of staying in the US for just a couple of months. I know I myself is a good example. I stayed in the US for 6 months before. I wish I could evaluate this novel as a nice try. A plethora of "tiny" failures just disabled me to do so.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but unrealistic.
Review: I enjoyed reading this book for the historical lesson -- I was deeply saddened by the treatment of the Japanese in America. BUT, I was a little put-off by the way the characthers "changed their skin" so drastically after coming to America. I find it hard to believe that a young Japanese girl raised in Japan would fall in love with and get pregnant by an American. I feel that the whole family shed its morals and values much too easily and quickly. I have always thought that these are things that are instilled in a person and that environment cAN not take them away. Perhaps the American-born Japanese children would behave in the way depicted, but Hiroko should have clung to her values.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Short Read!
Review: I found this a wonderful love story between a young lady from Japan and a young man from America. They have to face prejudisim from others but they managed to survive...read more to find out.
I wasn't dissapointed with this book because she was able to grap the readers attention. Danielle Steel is the best author I've read in a long time! I liked her other novels too, The Ring, The Promise and A Perfect Stranger.
Happy Readings!

Rating:
Summary: Her Second Best Book!
Review: I got hooked on Danielle Steel when I read "The Promise." (A MUST read, by the way.) For a while, her books started to be a little to much the same. But since I was already hooked on Danielle Steel, I kept reading each book as they became available. "Silent Honor" was a great read and a refreshing change from some of her previous books. This book will take you through all of your emotions. It was a sweet love story. In response to other reviews...remember Danielle Steel writes FICTION.

Rating:
Summary: Typical
Review: I have read many DS books over the years. When I was younger she was all I read. But like many who have reviewed her one begins to see her stories are basically all the same. I only read 3 or 4 chapters of this book ( as I did with Accident, Special Delivery) before I put it down in total noninterest. The thing is...the story may be OK but the way DS writes distracts from it, in my opinion. So often she repeats the thoughts or lines of the characters ( in this book if I read " she lowered her eyes in embarrassment") one more time I would gag. Its like she is just writing to get another book pumped out and published and needs to fill the pages. I feel she has become a money making machine and she just pumps them out to continue that. On occasion I have read her books and it was obvious she just wrote the book because she had a commitment to the publishers so she hurried one out. i.e Granny Dan. I also found it hard to believe in this book that the heroines father Takeo was so "modern" in his thinking and wanted his daughter to do all the things a "boy" could do. He was raised in Japan back in the 20's and that way of thinking just did not exist in male thinking. DS may be a commercial success but her books have gone down hill since the early days when she wrote better. The style of her writing and her repeating thoughts a nd lines so much make it impossible for me to finish her books anymore.

Rating:
Summary: Clearly not one of D.S's best. A disapointing iritation!
Review: I have read many of D.S's books that were absolutely E X C E L L E N T. This one was not one of those books. I havn't even reached pg 100 yet and am already discouraged by the totally unbeleivable acts of Hiroko. She is a Japanese girl raised in the strictest of Japanese traditions for 19 years. She then comes to America and on her first day loves hamburgers, is putting her "just met" small cousin to bed, and miraculously learns how to make mashed potatoes in the blink of an eye. Then in two weeks time throws her beliefs to the wind and is suddenly bold enough to look a man in the face. I found it equally unbelievable that on her very first day in the U.S. the cousins she just met so easily abandon her to go be with their friends. I have married into the asian culture. They don't trade their rice for "mashed potatoes" so easily. Nor do they cast aside traditions and acts of respect, nor do they tolerate the idea of such things. These traditions are bred deeply into their hearts and souls, it is who they are. All of this makes this book totally unbeleiveble and weak in the plot area. If you really want to read a 10+ D.S. book Read any of these: Thurston House, The ring, or Zoya. You will certainly see the difference. I am truely disappointed in the book especially since I have paid more for this bore of a book that I did for my other wonderful D.S. books

Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed it,I never knew about what they did to Japanese Am
Review: I liked the book, I was surprised about how the united staes treated american born japanese people. It was sad she had to come to america and find love but also to lose so many people she loved. I'm glad it ended ok, i wish she could of found her parents alive. overall a very good book.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting story
Review: I liked this book because I found it very interesting. I was able to read about a culture that I didn't know, and get a better understanding. It was a sad, horrible time for Japanese Americans, something that I think many of us forget- this story makes us remember.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting story
Review: I liked this book because I found it very interesting. I was able to read about a culture that I didn't know, and get a better understanding. It was a sad, horrible time for Japanese Americans, something that I think many of us forget- this story makes us remember.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and informative...but a little stereotypical
Review: I liked this book. I think there shuld be more books written about this subject. It is painfully overlooked. Being of Japanese decent, I have many relatives who survived just the kind of experiences mentioned in this book. I think the parts about the camps are very realistic and spectacularly written, but I shake my head at the boy/girl relationship this book is based on. I really don't think a sturdy, well-bread girl like Hiroko would just jump into a relationship so fast, much less with a white man. It gose against everything she was raised to believe. I think this book gives a very stereotypical view of the Japanese women and their morals. Steele really tried, but I think more study into traditional Japanese culture is necessary.