Dreaming Water

Rating:
Summary: Transcend, Transform
Review: Dreaming Water by Gail Tsukiyama

The value of life and the shortness of it all: one of the themes that are touched upon in DREAMING WATER. Gail Tsukiyama's style of writing creates a very beautiful story about a woman who is dying of Werner's disease, a disease that ages a person at twice the normal speed. Hana Maruyama was born like any normal healthy child, but by an early age her parents, Max and Cate, noticed that her growth patterns were not normal. There was something terribly wrong with her, and after much testing with doctors, by the time she is 13, they have diagnosed Hana with having Werner's disease.

Knowing that Hana's life would be short and that her parents would most likely outlive her, they treat every day as something precious, and every passing year as something very special. And with each passing year, Hana's symptoms worsen. She seems to be fine for many years, until she develops cataracts while in college, and from then on, her life becomes a roller coaster. She is no longer in control of her body. Every day Hana wonders what new symptom would she experience, as her body ages faster than it should. By age 38, Hana appears the age of an eighty-year-old woman.

The book spans a period of two days, but within those two days, the reader sees into the thoughts of both Cate and Hana and learns about their lives. We learn about Hana's father Max, who was a second generation Japanese American, interned as a boy with his family in the camps during WW II. Max, who had died only a few years ago, lives through the thoughts of both Cate and Hana, and we learn about his years spent at Heart Mountain internment camp in Wyoming, and how he dreamt of water and how much he longed for it. Living in the parched dry lands of the camp, Max lived a life of imprisonment and shame. He brought this shame with him after the war was over and the Japanese Americans were released. Max rarely talked about the camps with Hana or his wife. It was from Max's father that Hana learned about her father's family and their time spent in Wyoming.

We learn about Hana's grandparents, and their love for their granddaughter. Max and Cate's marriage was not approved of by either set of parents. Cate's parents disapproved of their daughter marrying a Japanese American, and Max's parents had hoped their son would marry "a nice Japanese girl". Max in turn told them, "But I'm marrying a nice Italian American girl".

But the birth of Hana, a few years after their wedding, helps unite both families together. Both grandparents are ecstatic, and finally acknowledge the marriage that they had originally disapproved.

One of the themes of DREAMING WATER is racial prejudice, but the true story is about Hana. She knows she only has a few years left, and so the story takes us into two days of Hana's life, her memories, and the people she loves. The book is very short and concise, yet Tsukiyama was able to fit an entire story about the Maruyama family and their love for their daughter Hana. It is a very moving story, and I consider this book one of the best books I've read in 2002.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best of 2002
Review: Dreaming Water by Gail Tsukiyama

The value of life and the shortness of it all: one of the themes that are touched upon in DREAMING WATER. Gail Tsukiyama's style of writing creates a very beautiful story about a woman who is dying of Werner's disease, a disease that ages a person at twice the normal speed. Hana Maruyama was born like any normal healthy child, but by an early age her parents, Max and Cate, noticed that her growth patterns were not normal. There was something terribly wrong with her, and after much testing with doctors, by the time she is 13, they have diagnosed Hana with having Werner's disease.

Knowing that Hana's life would be short and that her parents would most likely outlive her, they treat every day as something precious, and every passing year as something very special. And with each passing year, Hana's symptoms worsen. She seems to be fine for many years, until she develops cataracts while in college, and from then on, her life becomes a roller coaster. She is no longer in control of her body. Every day Hana wonders what new symptom would she experience, as her body ages faster than it should. By age 38, Hana appears the age of an eighty-year-old woman.

The book spans a period of two days, but within those two days, the reader sees into the thoughts of both Cate and Hana and learns about their lives. We learn about Hana's father Max, who was a second generation Japanese American, interned as a boy with his family in the camps during WW II. Max, who had died only a few years ago, lives through the thoughts of both Cate and Hana, and we learn about his years spent at Heart Mountain internment camp in Wyoming, and how he dreamt of water and how much he longed for it. Living in the parched dry lands of the camp, Max lived a life of imprisonment and shame. He brought this shame with him after the war was over and the Japanese Americans were released. Max rarely talked about the camps with Hana or his wife. It was from Max's father that Hana learned about her father's family and their time spent in Wyoming.

We learn about Hana's grandparents, and their love for their granddaughter. Max and Cate's marriage was not approved of by either set of parents. Cate's parents disapproved of their daughter marrying a Japanese American, and Max's parents had hoped their son would marry "a nice Japanese girl". Max in turn told them, "But I'm marrying a nice Italian American girl".

But the birth of Hana, a few years after their wedding, helps unite both families together. Both grandparents are ecstatic, and finally acknowledge the marriage that they had originally disapproved.

One of the themes of DREAMING WATER is racial prejudice, but the true story is about Hana. She knows she only has a few years left, and so the story takes us into two days of Hana's life, her memories, and the people she loves. The book is very short and concise, yet Tsukiyama was able to fit an entire story about the Maruyama family and their love for their daughter Hana. It is a very moving story, and I consider this book one of the best books I've read in 2002.

Rating:
Summary: Stunning
Review: Dreaming Water is the most moving book I have read in years. I bought the book in the airport in Lubbock, Texas....from there I flew to Lake Charles, Louisiana....got home and finished the book before I went to sleep. I laughed and cried from beginning to end of this book. I was so moved by the mother and her absolute love for her daughter...she was so strong! The book caused me to wonder how I would behave in similar circumstances...I think I would fall short.
This book is a must read if you read only a handful of books a year.

Rating:
Summary: Stunning
Review: Dreaming Water is the most moving book I have read in years. I bought the book in the airport in Lubbock, Texas....from there I flew to Lake Charles, Louisiana....got home and finished the book before I went to sleep. I laughed and cried from beginning to end of this book. I was so moved by the mother and her absolute love for her daughter...she was so strong! The book caused me to wonder how I would behave in similar circumstances...I think I would fall short.
This book is a must read if you read only a handful of books a year.

Rating:
Summary: Dreaming Water Review
Review: Gail Tsukiyama has the gift to invoke emotions that are out of this world...she in an amazing writer as well as an amazing woman. In any event she has the grace and heart to write about things most people shun, and that is beautiful all on it's own. I look forward to reading more works by Tsukiyama-san and encourage her to remain writing with usch diligence. :)

Rating:
Summary: Age is not always a bdeterminant
Review: Gail Tsukiyama has the gift to invoke emotions that are out of this world...she in an amazing writer as well as an amazing woman. In any event she has the grace and heart to write about things most people shun, and that is beautiful all on it's own. I look forward to reading more works by Tsukiyama-san and encourage her to remain writing with usch diligence. :)

Rating:
Summary: Something different
Review: I couldn't put this book down, yet it always left me feeling very sad. I just couldn't believe there could ever be a happy ending, yet I couldn't stop reading it. If the subject matter hadn't been so depressing, I would have enjoyed it more. I want to see what else this author has written. I did like her style.

Rating:
Summary: Sad, but readable tone
Review: I loved Women of the Silk and Samauri's Garden was okay. I was kind of disappointed in this book. I'm glad I got it from the library. It is a quick read, because each "chapter" is about a page, and they start it halfway down one page and finish it at the top of the next page. Some are so short, they indented where they shouldn't have to make the chapter stretch out. The book is 288 pages, but if it was published like any other normal book it MIGHT be 100 pages. This book should have been published as a story. That said, it isn't a bad way to spend a couple hours.

Rating:
Summary: Sad, but readable tone
Review: I loved Women of the Silk and Samauri's Garden was okay. I was kind of disappointed in this book. I'm glad I got it from the library. It is a quick read, because each "chapter" is about a page, and they start it halfway down one page and finish it at the top of the next page. Some are so short, they indented where they shouldn't have to make the chapter stretch out. The book is 288 pages, but if it was published like any other normal book it MIGHT be 100 pages. This book should have been published as a story. That said, it isn't a bad way to spend a couple hours.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing happens!
Review: If you are a reader who enjoys PLOT in a book, don't pick this one up. Sure it's good! Sure it has its beautiful moments. THe story certainly pulls you in & you get to know the characters..... but frankly, it is a little boring!!! I wondered aloud some of the time why I was even reading it. I would keep thinking, "SOMETHING will happen this next chapter." BUt pretty much nothing ever does. Expecting a big ending, then, as a nice climactic finish? Don't get your hopes up.