Book Info
Name of Book : The Kimono Tattoo
Author : Rebecca Copeland
Publisher : Brother Mockingbird
Publication Date : 26 April 2022
Narrator : Theresa Bakken
Listening Time : 12 Hours 22 Minutes
Format : Audiobook
Why did I choose the book ?
The Kimono Tattoo by Rebecca Copeland was available on Netgalley in exchange of an honest review. The blurb was interesting enough to request it.
Where to get the book ?
The Kimono Tattoo by Rebecca Copeland is available on Amazon :
Author Introduction
Rebecca Copeland is a writer of fiction and literary criticism and a translator of Japanese literature. Her stories travel between Japan and the American South and touch on questions of identity, belonging, and self-discovery. The Kimono Tattoo, her debut novel, takes readers on a journey into Kyoto’s intricate world of kimono design, and into a mystery that interweaves family dynamics, loss, and reconciliation.
Her academic writings have focused almost exclusively on modern Japanese women writers, their battles against conservative literary expectations, and their wonderful, at times subversive creativity. She has translated the works of writer Uno Chiyo and novelist Kirino Natsuo. Her translation of Kirino’s The Goddess Chronicle won the PEN Translates Award, English PEN in 2013 and The Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature, 2014-2015.
Copeland was born the fourth daughter to missionary parents in a Japan still recovering from the aftermath of war. Shortly after her birth, the family relocated to Wake Forest, North Carolina, where she spent glorious childhood days running carefree through the quiet town and listening to her older sisters relay their stories about Japan. As a junior in college, Copeland had the opportunity to spend a year in Japan, where she studied traditional dance, learned to wear a kimono, and traveled, making ridiculous mistakes in the Japanese language. Afterwards she earned a PhD in Japanese literature at Columbia University, and she is now a professor at Washington University in St. Louis.
Blurb
Fictional dangers become real to American translator, Ruth Bennett, in this high-octane multicultural thriller.
Recently returned to her childhood home in Kyoto, after losing her job in the United States-and her marriage-Ruth was hoping her new job would offer a quiet diversion, perhaps even boost her flagging confidence. But she soon finds the storyline in the mysterious novel she's translating is leaking into her everyday life. Fictional characters turn out to be real, and the past catches up with the present in a menacing way. Using her skills as a translator and her intimate knowledge of both kimono and Kyoto, Ruth is forced to confront a vicious killer along with her own painful family secrets.
My Opinion
The Kimono Tattoo by Rebecca Copeland is an interesting mystery thriller set in Japan. The plot , definitely, starts with a bang, and flows smoothly all the way to the middle. But, after that I felt that the plot was unnecessarily being stretched. There were some mind blowing thrills in the plot, but eventually everything was too slow for me towards the end. Also, I got totally confused with the characters and their Japanese names. May be the book was not for me.
I would like to give the book 3 stars. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an opportunity to read and review the audiobook.
Ratings
- Recommendation --------------- ⭐⭐⭐
- Cover ----------------------------- ⭐⭐⭐
- Climax --------------------------- ⭐⭐⭐
- Narration ------------------------- ⭐⭐⭐
- Plot -------------------------------- ⭐⭐⭐
- Characters ------------------------ ⭐⭐⭐
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