The Japanese Lover

I'm not sure if I really enjoyed Isabel Allende's The Japanese Lover more than I might have because it's the first audio book I've listened to in years. In my previous life, I spent lots of hours in the car alone and I always had an audio book going. Usually the audio books I listened to were lighter than the books I was reading in print. But sometimes I'd listen to a book club book or a book I needed to read for my work as a fifth grade teacher.

The Japanese Lover is a BIG book. Not in terms of length, but it terms of all the themes covered in the book. Included in this novel is a story about Poland during World War II, a refuge child sent to California. A little girl growing up with her extended family. A young woman running away from her old life. Japanese internment. Sex slaves. Child pornography. Recreating life after a life altering injury. Taking on a new identity to run from an ugly past. Falling in love. Art. Gardening. AIDS. And aging. I don't think I've forgotten anything. If I have, apologies.

Alma is a young child when she leaves her parents and Poland to go live with her mother's sister and her family in San Francisco. She is in her 70s when she moves to Lark House, a home with stepped up care from independent living to assisted living to end-of-life care. Living in a community where there are mostly older adults, that was something I could relate to. She hires Irina, a careworker in the home, to be her personal assistant. Each woman has secrets, but as they grow closer, their secrets come out. This is in part due to Alma's grandson, Seth, who is writing a family history, digging into Alma's past.

The characters are well developed and each of the subplots feels complete. I never felt as though the author was rushing through one story to get to another. I'd highly recommend this one, and will probably suggest it to my book club as a possible title for discussion.

I was reminded by how much I enjoy listening to audio books. I need to find one that my husband and I can enjoy together. Or I need to find more alone time in the car!