Dreaming Water

Rating:
Summary: Transcend, Transform
Review: In the hands of another writer, this could have easily been an exercise in depressing predictabiility. Instead, Gail Tsukiyama gifts her readers with an honest and balanced portrayal of a family that transforms the loss of dreams into a real life that holds meaning. Each character makes a decision to not allow circumstance to define or limit their spirit or their options, and while not easily or immediately, each is able to become more than they initially expected. As with "Women of the Silk", we see how each thread, each event, each relationship is connected and has a purpose that contributes to the total fabric. A particularly good reflection on love, family, friendship, emerging insights and importance of entering life and relationships without reservation.

Rating:
Summary: A Poignant and Heartbreaking Tale about Memorable People
Review: Previously to reading Dreaming Water, I read The Samurai's Garden and fell in love with Gail Tsukiyama's characters and storyline. I seriously doubted that I would ever find another book by this author which I would ever love or think about as much as this title. But now that I have finished reading Dreaming Water, her newest title, I must admit that I loved this book just a bit more. Perhaps it is the mother in me as to why this book had such an impact on me or because Tsuliyama has the rare ability to entice her her readers with her first words and doesn't let go until the last ones. As she did in The Samurai's Garden, in this novel, Tsukiyama introduces us to wonderful charcters who live unusual lives due to physical and emotional limitations which in part are forced upon them. Told in alternating voices, we come to know these characters, feel for them and grieve along with them. And all the while one keeps asking themselves, why do bad things happen to good people? Not an easy questions to answer. But in the hands of a gifted writer like Tsukiyama, this book which takes place over two days is written as delicately and beautiflly as the gardens and flowers she so often describes in her books.

Against prejudices fueled by WW II, in 1960,Cat and Max, establish a life in Nothern California in a small university town. Max, a Japanese Amercian, teaches while Cat takes care of their one precious daughter, Hana. It is this child, who is raised with the background of her mother's Italtian family and her father's Japanese heritage that is at the center of Dreaming Water. While Hana is a bright and lively child she is very small for her age which concerns her parents. Then at the age of 13 she is diagnosed with Werner's Disease, a disease which brings on the rapid onset of old age although the effects won't become obvious till she is in her 20's. Terrified for her future Cat and Max are determined to bring Hana up with as normal a life as possible. Now the years have passed quickly by and Max is dead and Hana at 38 resembles a woman of 80. Her mother, at 62, is Hana's solecaregiver and still grieves for her husband who has been dead for three years. Cat also mourns for the missed opportunites and life her daughter has missed out on because of this disease. She worries about how much time she has left with Hana and what she will do once Hana dies. And Hana also thinks about her missed opporutunities and adventures and worries about her mother's life without both her husband and someday her daughter.

Then Hana's childhood friend, Laura, on the verge of a divorce, comes to visit Hana with her two young children. Hana hasn't seen this friend in many years although they correspond frequently and she is the god-mother to her children. Josephine, the older of the two children, at 13 is sullen and angry at her mother and father over their impending divorce. Clearly she is not an endearing child to anybody but is intrigued by Han and her illness. For Hana, Josephine is just what she needs. Suddenly Hana has a goal and purpose to whatever time is left to her. And in the end Josephine and Hana give to each other a precious gift of understanding and friendship.

This is a tender, poignant and at times heartbreaking novel. As the author weaves this tale, her characters reflect on their past and their concern for the future. And as I read, I couldn't help but feel these characters burdens and ultimate joys with each other and their lives. Certainly the book speaks to the human spirit and to every parent and caregiver as Tsukiyama says, "Mothers and their children are in a category all their own. There's no bond so strong in the entire world. No love so instaneous anmd forgiving." To my mind there are few other books which portray this wonderful, and at times confusing relationship between a mother and daughter so memorably and gracefully as this book does.

Thank you, once again , Ms. Tuskiyama for affording your readers such a wonderful and insightful journey.

Rating:
Summary: Read it in this new age of discrimination!
Review: This Tsukiyama's new novel moved me deeply as her previous works. Hana is a Japanese-American woman, whose disease stopped her growing in her teens and caused rapid aging. Racial discrimination (her father had been interned in a camp in the WWII) and the disease prohibited her from enjoying youth and life. After her father died, she has been only living with her Italian-American mother, Cate. The story deals with their only two days and their recollections, but on the first day's night, Hana's friend, Laura came to see them with her daughters who were Hana's godchildren. Especially the elder child Josephine got nervous since her parents' separation, so Laura wanted her children to meet her best friend, Hana, and of course she wanted to meet Hana for herself.

The storytelling is perfect. So are the details. For example, on the first encounter, Josephine simply said to herself that small Hana reminded her of "a character in a George Lucas or Steven Spielberg movie." And then things began to change...

Thank you, Gail, for your heartwarming story, especially in this new age of discrimination. I want to read more about Josephine's changing.

Rating:
Summary: Even better than Samurai's Garden
Review: Though I loved Samurai's Garden, Dreaming Water has become my favorite Tsukiyama book.
Though the subject of a woman with Werner's Syndrome sounds like it would make one long, depressing book, it's assuredly not.
It's funny, warm and ultimately uplifting.

Rating:
Summary: not for me.
Review: Tsukiyama knows hwo to write beautifully, BUT her metaphors and poeticisms feel too contrived. This novel is for lonely, flighty housewives. If you enjoy daytime soaps and/or exoticized perversions of the Asian culture, you'll love Dreaming Water.

Rating:
Summary: Dreaming Water Review
Review: What really moved me in Dreaming Water were the closed and life-long relationships between Max and Cate and between Laura and Hana. It seemed like nothing could break these relationships. I thought that Cate had been a widow for a very long time because her visions of her husband were always as a tall, young and handsome Max and from her words, it sounded like they had been apart for a very long time. Not until I got to the part that said Max died at the age of 63, did I let out a sigh of relief. At least they had grown old together even though she would like to spend her whole life with him.
It's very unlikely nowadays to see a beautiful friendship like Laura and Hana's. Laura never thought of leaving her friendship with Hana as a part of her past. She kept in contact with Hana when she was away, and at the end she and her kids paid Hana an unexpected visit. She didn't mind talking to an old lady who was in fact her same age. She certainly didn't mind going out with a crippled old friend while she was still a strong and youthful woman. The two of them were like day and night but they were still able to seek understanding and comfort from each other.
Dreaming Water is not an outstanding novel, at least to my point of view, but it is a sweet story. It makes us think more about the spiritual side of life. We seem to be so busy with the necessities of life such as keeping our jobs, getting promotions, entertaining ourselves and taking care of our own families that we forget about other important things such as keeping a true friendship and maintaining a healthy and loving relationship with our partner or with our parents. Sometimes, the comfort of giving love and being loved is far more rewarding than other material things we are trying to get.