Rating: Summary: Murder and theft in the art world Review: Massy's work is incredible. She gives an insider's look at what it means to live as an outsider in Japan -- an alien culture to many Westerners. This book's setting is in the US which is a disappointment but has her heroine struggle with her identity as part Japanese and part American. The mystery is a good one, introducing the reader to a little known world of the art of the kimono. Sexy and fun.
Rating: Summary: Murder and theft in the art world Review: Massy's work is incredible. She gives an insider's look at what it means to live as an outsider in Japan -- an alien culture to many Westerners. This book's setting is in the US which is a disappointment but has her heroine struggle with her identity as part Japanese and part American. The mystery is a good one, introducing the reader to a little known world of the art of the kimono. Sexy and fun.
Rating: Summary: Always a winner! Review: One of the other reviewers writes that moving the setting to DC in this novel detracts from the series. I totally disagree. It is precisely this change of scenery that emphasizes the cultural duality of Sujata Massey's character, Rei Shimura and the beauty and complexity of Japan. Massey's fifth book in this series is absolutely the best. Just when you think she's reached the top, she raises the bar and gives her readers more. "The Bride's Kimono" is a complex, skillfully layered tale of murder, theft, relationships and cultural divides, topped off by complex characters and a great plot. This is definitely a must-read!
Rating: Summary: I loved this book, but then I love the whole series Review: Perhaps it's the "Japanese culture" angle that makes these books so intriguing, but it wouldn't be enough unless the books were also well-written.
This time the setting is in Washington DC. Rei Shimura, a biracial Japanese American - half Asian/half Caucasian) is invited to be a courier for some very valuable kimono that are being loaned out from a Japanese museum to an American museum. SHe will also be lecturing on them. She jumps at the chance, but ends up carrying a bridal kimono not on the original list. When she arrives in the US, the American museum won't accept it -- and it subsequently ends up being stolen. Rei is frantic to get it back, but quickly winds up being involved in a murder investigation. She has to find and recover the kimono (which she thinks is connected to the murder) while she is herself under investigation by the police as a suspect in the murder (and others suspect her of stealing the kimono.)
As a backdrop, Rei is involved with TWO boyfriends -- her current Japanese boyfriend and her former Scottish boyfriend. Which one will she end up with?
I couldn't put this book down.
Rating: Summary: Love Rei Shimura, but... Review: The author spends a lot of time and effort in this book portraying the U.S. and all of the American characters from hotel clerks to police to museum curators in a very negative light. I kept waiting for there to be a plot reason for the American jerk she encountered on the plane....Apparently the only positive aspects of this country from Ms. Massey's viewpoint are the food and the shopping. While I love Rei Shimura, her descriptions of Japan and insights into the Japanese culture, the author's anti-American(s) sentiment really puts a negative spin on this book and detracts from an otherwise interesting plot. Send Rei back to Japan where she can concentrate on something other than nasty people for goodness sake!
Rating: Summary: Another fine story by Sujata Massey Review: This is the latest of Sujata Massey's Rei Shimura adventures. This time, Mrs. Massey takes Rei from Tokyo to Washington DC and it is a winning move. Nothing is really simple for Rei as she is asked to be a courier of priceless antique kimono from a Japanese museum to one in Washington, DC. She has to get the kimono to their desitination intact and ready for exhibition and this is no easy task. It doesn't get any easier when the receiving museum causes additional stresses by refusing to accept one kimono and this forces Rei to become it's minder and then when it disappears, it becomes her task to recover it. Along the way, Rei meets an old boy friend, discovers she has been robbed of passport and return ticket to Japan and must contend with the death of one of her traveling companions - in fact the woman she had as a seat mate from Japan to DC. This is a great tale that includes the background workings of museums in both Japan and America. It is also another revealing study of Japanese customs and traditions. We are given a chance to meet Rei's parents, and I for one, was quite impressed by both of them. Rei's mother reminds me of my own mother-in-law in some ways. So on this level I was able to get a little more enmeshed in the book. We also learn more about Rei only from her parent's perspective and that is helpful in rounding out the charecter. Mrs. Massey does a fine job in this respect. Mrs. Massey's excellent descriptions of Washington are a big plus in this book. You get the feeling that you are walking along the streets in Georgetown or Adams Morgan along with Rei. This book, like all the others, doesn't telegraph the criminal elements. There are a couple of decoys that you meet and wonder, what evil deed are they up to, but you discover you're wrong and this are just passing unpleasant charecters that add to the overall tone of the book. Mrs. Massey's books are ones that I don't automatically read the last chapter first. I start from page one and work my way through it, like Rei and everyone else. It was one that once I started, I was reluctant to put it down. I recommend this book to all of Mrs. Massey's fans and to those who may just be discovering her writing. This is another excellent book by an exceptionally talented mystery writer. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did.
Rating: Summary: Stay in Japan, Rei Review: This series is in-part excellent because of the location....Japan. Switch to Washington, D.C., and you've got an ordinary mystery. Hope Ms. Massey is planning on getting Rei Shimura home in time for the next story!
Rating: Summary: engaging insightful tale Review: When the invitation came from the Washington DC Museum of Asian Arts to provide a talk on Edo era kimonos, American expatriate Rei Shimura accepts. Not only is this a chance to speak on her favorite topic, the Tokyo antiques-buyer will visit her parents in California. As Rei transports the exhibit with her, she meets Hana Matsura and several other Japanese female tourists on the plane. In Washington not long after the pan Pacific Ocean flight lands, an invaluable uninsured kimono is stolen from Rei and than someone murders Hana, who had Rei's passport at the time. With her former boyfriend lawyer Hugh Glendinning turning up and the police suspecting her, Rei begins making her own inquiries to prove her innocence at the same time she wonders why she cares so much for both Hugh and her wealthy Japanese boyfriend Takeo Kayama. Though an engaging insightful tale, the latest Rei mystery spends a lot of paragraphs on sidebars such as how to use a kimono and tidbits on shoguns and samurai. For those readers who enjoy engaging divagating asides this enhances the who-done-it. For those who prefer a concentrated amateur sleuth tale with a subplot on cross-cultural relationships, these cultural insights take away from the plot. Rei retains her spunk that the audience observed in THE FLOATING GIRL. Thus how much a reader relishes Sujata Massey's latest amateur sleuth novel depends on how much depth the audience desires for the subplots. Harriet Klausner
Rating: Summary: Much waited for--still waiting Review: While I eagerly devoured this new book in the Rei series, I was a little disappointed in the romance side of things. The character seemed to do many stupid things that were out of character. Girl, protect yourself! I did like the mystery aspect, as I was jumping between multiple theories, being led, and enjoyed the ending. The Japanese culture, always interesting as a setting and for flavor. So, if you are addicted to the series, buy it. You know you want to, why are you even reading reviews? If you aren't addicted yet, start with the Salaryman's Wife instead. Then you will be addicted, and can wait for the next installment with the rest of us. ;)
Rating: Summary: Massey Comes into Her Own Review: With this fifth in the delightful Rei Shimura series, author Sujata Massey shows a new assurance, and new skills at weaving intricate plots in a deceptively simple manner. Here, for the first time, the reader is given the wonderful treat of meeting Rei's parents--her hopelessly shopaholic American mother, and her Japanese-born psychiatrist father, who still holds on to some of his old-fashioned Asian ways. The parents are so much fun, they almost detract from the story at hand: Rei has been chosen to accompany a priceless collection of kimono from Japan to a prestigious museum in Washington, D.C. It's a job that not only pays well, but will ensure Rei's reputation in the rarified world of antiques in which she works. But--Rei being Rei--she is no sooner on American soil than things go from bad to worse, from a murder to a shocking theft to her own horrible encounter with the Washington police--where they accuse her of being a prostitute! As Rei tries to solve the murder, retrieve the stolen artifact, deal with her overprotective parents and complete her lectures at the museum, she also finds herself overcome by a love interest she thought she had forgotten. All of this makes for fascinating reading, especially the detailed explanation of the ritual adornment of the kimono, whose every fold and tie holds a deep meaning. As with the other four books in this series, I could hardly put "The Bride's Kimono" down, and felt a keen sense of loss when I finished the last page. I sincerely hope that Ms. Massey continues this series for some time to come!
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