So what a good book to end the semester with! I really enjoyed reading this book because I really felt like the characters grew so much, especially Akiko. I found myself constantly wanting to read the sections about her because they were so horrible, but yet so intriguing. I was disgusted when she was with John while he was beating her. But at the end of the novel we see that she gets the strength to actually buy a plane ticket to New York the day before John gets back from there. She leaves nothing of herself behind and she’s ready to start a new life with her baby. Speaking of her baby, i think its so strange how she knew when the whole process was going on within herself. When Akiko was in the hospital i felt like it showed how afraid she was of john because she said that she felt secure and protected.
Jane on the other hand was always the stronger woman in this book but we also see her become a documentarian at the end. She is doing what she loves best and living her life. When her and Akiko meet up, Akiko even says that she pictured Jane a lot differently. SHe thought that she’d more “tough.” I found it interesting how Ozeki has Jane lose her baby and then have Akiko get pregnant really all around the same time.
Overall, I really liked how Ozeki left this book at the end. It showed both these women striving to become something or do something with themselves. Akiko got out of the awful, abusive relationshop and Jane became a documentarian after working on the set of My Year of Meats. The last sentence that Ozeki left us as readers with is “My year of meants. Not so easy. But done. ” I felt like that was powerful and showed that her life wasn’t easy, just like Akiko’s wasn’t or anyone elses life, but they made it through and are in a better place with themselves now.
Nikki Said:
on April 20, 2008 at 10:52 am
I have to say that I thought the story of Akiko was so much more interesting and compelling than Jane’s. You are absolutly right, this was a great book to end the semester with. I thought the book was excellent. Going along with the whole thing about how Akiko could feel her baby or could feel the process of her baby devoloping inside her, I also thought it was strange, but I just thought it was something that ties a woman and her child together. Now that Akiko left John, her baby will be the focus of her life and I think that is why she can feel it because they are already connected so stongly. I don’t know but I agree with you. I liked how in the end, both women come out strong.