Rating: 
Summary: A Different Time, A Different Place
Review:
This is not my Japan - I was stationed there a generation later. Michener's prose describes Japan as it was during the Korean war. I still remember the vendors selling roasted chestnuts or skewers of yakitori beside the street. Today we have, God forbid, MacDonalds and Starbucks on the streets of Hiroshima.
These are not my girls - most of the Japanese women I met, outside of the bar scene, were students in English classes. Their reasons for speaking with gaijin (foreigners) were varied. Some wanted to learn English for work. Some expected to travel. One had a sister who was married to an American. The girl who is now my wife of 25 years was a rebel who just did not want to conform to the strictures of Japanese society. I have to admit, I was first attracted because she was the cutest girl I had ever seen. She's still is, for me. Were there communication problems? Yes, at first. Now, probably no different from any other couple. Could Gruver's attraction to Hana Ogi have been purely physical? Maybe. Probably not.
Sayonara isn't history - but the "tea ceremony" I saw in Kyoto last week wasn't real either.
Enjoy this book - it's a window on a different time and a different place and a different people. It's a wonderful read if you can shift your perspecive and accept things as they were.
Rating: 
Summary: True love knows no race, country or culture...
Review: An American soldier in Occupied Japan finds himself in an illicit romance with a local girl, much to the dismay of his American fiance, who seems to find their relationship one of obligation and nothing more. This soldier finds himself at odds with his country, his countrymen, his superior officers and the Japanese culture. His mutual love for his beautiful treasure overrules his sense and sensibility. He is what we call "in love" and thinks it is just grand.This is a quick, easy read that keeps dear reader glued to the pages suffering along with the characters in both heartache and love, as these two courageous individuals battle social acceptance among cultures.
Rating:
Summary: I was very shocked...
Review: at how great this novel turned out to be and I really like being surprised in reading. I had a box of unread mass market paperbacks lying around for over a year. I was bored yesterday and picked up several to choose from. I started on the first couple of pages of "Sayonara" and I simply couldn't put it down. I thought the themes were very contemporary and the writing style seemed modern. I was surprised to see the publish date in the 1950s! I was drawn into a beautiful foreign world seen through the eyes of a staunch military man. His metamorphasis into a human being was beautiful. Stereotypes are common among nearly everyone, even if they are unfair. We can learn, like Gruver, to see past the image we are told to see. Even all American women are not carbon copies.
Rating:
Summary: I can relate.
Review: I am stationed in europe (you know the whole bosnia thing) but I was in korea for 3 years and am married to a korean. Even though this was 50 years ago and even though it was a white man and a japanes woman I can truely relate. I went through (and am still going through) many of the problems they faced in the book. the most important part of the book though is it helps one to understand the difference between american women and asian women. i have been asked why I went out with koreans and why I married one and it is hard to explain because the only way I could explain it came out in our 'liberal and equal' society came out sounding as if it is because asians are more docile or controle able. But that is definitely not the case and reading this book helped me to not only understand the people around me but my relation ship as well. this is a great read for the casual reader and those looking to understand.
Rating:
Summary: Sayonara Review
Review: I enjoyed the book very much. Although the ending was very sad, the message was a very important one. The book was intriguing from the first page. It was not dull or boring at any moment. Major Gruver was a very accomplished and intelligent man. In the book it was interesting to see the changes he underwent; at first, this man would not even acknowledge a Japanese woman in public but after he opened up and gave these women a second look, he not only talked to them, but he fell in love. More people need to make that change in life because so many times people get overlooked and pushed aside because they are of a different race. In this book it was not only individuals who did not agree with the entangling of people from two totally different cultures, but the United States Air Force as a group did not agree with it either; they did not understand the strength that love has on mankind. Sayonara is a truly amazing love story who's message and lessons should be known world-wide.
Rating:
Summary: Sayonara Review
Review: I enjoyed the book very much. Although the ending was very sad, the message was a very important one. The book was intriguing from the first page. It was not dull or boring at any moment. Major Gruver was a very accomplished and intelligent man. In the book it was interesting to see the changes he underwent; at first, this man would not even acknowledge a Japanese woman in public but after he opened up and gave these women a second look, he not only talked to them, but he fell in love. More people need to make that change in life because so many times people get overlooked and pushed aside because they are of a different race. In this book it was not only individuals who did not agree with the entangling of people from two totally different cultures, but the United States Air Force as a group did not agree with it either; they did not understand the strength that love has on mankind. Sayonara is a truly amazing love story who's message and lessons should be known world-wide.
Rating:
Summary: A Different Time, A Different Place
Review: I had many problems with Michener's love story, and biggest one is that everything that the racists in the novel said about the protagonist Lloyd Gruver is true. Think about it. Isn't Gruver and Hana-ogi's relationship incredibly shallow considering they couldn't communicate (he spoke no Japanese, she no English). Is Hana-ogi's character a complete blank, a mere cipher? She truly has no personality to speak of (unlike Gruver's American girlfriend Eileen)! How then did Lloyd "fall in love?" He didn't. He fell in lust with Hana-ogi, and ran away from American women precisely because they were headstrong, just like what the racists in the novel said. The characters of Joe Kelly and Katsumi are even worse: a dumb American who marries an even dumber Japanese woman (consider her eye operation). This is supposed to be the "ideal" relationship in Lloyd's mind? He gives the example how after Katsumi would scrub Joe's back after a hard day's work, and how an American woman would never do that, and because of this, Lloyd thinks Japanese women are better. This is a ridiculous idea which can only be made by an extremely insecure man. Essentially, what Lloyd Gruver wants is an exotic and brainless woman who'll worship him and scrub his back; the last thing he wants a woman who challenges him intellectually (like Eileen does). Likewise, the racists in the novel say Joe Kelly only married Katsumi because he couldn't find a woman back in America, and you can't help but nod your head, especially considering how Kelly and Katsumi wound up. In the end, Sayonara is a Western man's fantasy of an exotic interracial relationship and nothing more. A white American would go to a foreign land and somehow, without speaking the language or shelling out the dough (which is how most Western men get foreign women in the real world), the most beautiful woman in that land would swoon and worship him. Meanwhile, the white man would be criticized by racists for involving himself with a non-white woman, and he would defend his and the woman's honor, thereby making himself a martyr and receiving all the warm and cuddly feelings that go along with that title. But what about the relationship itself? And how are the Japanese characters treated? They aren't, and they need not be since it's unimportant who Hana-ogi or Katsumi are since WHAT they are (non-white, the exotic other) is a LOT more important than WHO they are (their personalities) in the novel's plot. In the end, Michener's Sayonara is a very shallow book about Japan and a even shallower relationship.
Rating: 
Summary: Very problematic
Review: I had many problems with Michener's love story, and biggest one is that everything that the racists in the novel said about the protagonist Lloyd Gruver is true. Think about it. Isn't Gruver and Hana-ogi's relationship incredibly shallow considering they couldn't communicate (he spoke no Japanese, she no English). Is Hana-ogi's character a complete blank, a mere cipher? She truly has no personality to speak of (unlike Gruver's American girlfriend Eileen)! How then did Lloyd "fall in love?" He didn't. He fell in lust with Hana-ogi, and ran away from American women precisely because they were headstrong, just like what the racists in the novel said. The characters of Joe Kelly and Katsumi are even worse: a dumb American who marries an even dumber Japanese woman (consider her eye operation). This is supposed to be the "ideal" relationship in Lloyd's mind? He gives the example how after Katsumi would scrub Joe's back after a hard day's work, and how an American woman would never do that, and because of this, Lloyd thinks Japanese women are better. This is a ridiculous idea which can only be made by an extremely insecure man. Essentially, what Lloyd Gruver wants is an exotic and brainless woman who'll worship him and scrub his back; the last thing he wants a woman who challenges him intellectually (like Eileen does). Likewise, the racists in the novel say Joe Kelly only married Katsumi because he couldn't find a woman back in America, and you can't help but nod your head, especially considering how Kelly and Katsumi wound up. In the end, Sayonara is a Western man's fantasy of an exotic interracial relationship and nothing more. A white American would go to a foreign land and somehow, without speaking the language or shelling out the dough (which is how most Western men get foreign women in the real world), the most beautiful woman in that land would swoon and worship him. Meanwhile, the white man would be criticized by racists for involving himself with a non-white woman, and he would defend his and the woman's honor, thereby making himself a martyr and receiving all the warm and cuddly feelings that go along with that title. But what about the relationship itself? And how are the Japanese characters treated? They aren't, and they need not be since it's unimportant who Hana-ogi or Katsumi are since WHAT they are (non-white, the exotic other) is a LOT more important than WHO they are (their personalities) in the novel's plot. In the end, Michener's Sayonara is a very shallow book about Japan and a even shallower relationship.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and heartbreaking
Review: I have just began to read Michener's novels, but have enjoyed none more than Sayonara. It varies from his typical writing style... he writes with passionate human emotion to describe racism, love, and culture. This is an amazing and important novel for Americans. Although the story line is somewhat predictable, the language is simple and graceful. It glows with insight on contrasting Japanese ideas on land, country, and marriage. I couldn't get enough of this book. It was spectacular.
Rating:
Summary: I definitely enjoyed it
Review: I honestly thought this book is one of the best books I have ever read, at least for a school assignment. Truthfully, it is probably in the top ten of my favorite books now. I never thought a book that even remotely had to do with war would interest me. Apparently I was wrong since Sayonara has affected me in the way that I am interested in reading more books about topics like this love story and also more books by James Michener since I have enjoyed his style of writing. It flows well and is easy to read and I enjoy books written with that style.
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