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Forgiveness: A Gift from My Grandparents
When the Second World War broke out, Ralph MacLean chose to escape his troubled life on the Magdalen Islands in eastern Canada and volunteer to serve his country overseas. Meanwhile, in Vancouver, Mitsue Sakamoto saw her family and her stable community torn apart after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Like many young Canadian soldiers who fought in the defense of Hong Kong in December 1941, Ralph was captured by the Japanese Army. He would spend the war in prison camps, enduring pestilence, beatings and starvation, as well as a journey by hell ship to Japan to perform slave labour, while around him his friends and countrymen perished. Back in Canada, Mitsue and her family were expelled from their home by the government and forced to spend years eking out an existence in rural Alberta, working other people's land for a dollar a day.
By the end of the war, Ralph emerged broken but a survivor. Mitsue, worn down by years of back-breaking labour, had to start all over again in Medicine Hat, Alberta. A generation later, at a high school dance, Ralph's daughter and Mitsue's son fell in love.
Although the war toyed with Ralph's and Mitsue's lives and threatened to erase their humanity, these two brave individuals somehow surmounted enormous transgressions and learned to forgive. Without this forgiveness, their grandson Mark Sakamoto would never have come to be.
Like many young Canadian soldiers who fought in the defense of Hong Kong in December 1941, Ralph was captured by the Japanese Army. He would spend the war in prison camps, enduring pestilence, beatings and starvation, as well as a journey by hell ship to Japan to perform slave labour, while around him his friends and countrymen perished. Back in Canada, Mitsue and her family were expelled from their home by the government and forced to spend years eking out an existence in rural Alberta, working other people's land for a dollar a day.
By the end of the war, Ralph emerged broken but a survivor. Mitsue, worn down by years of back-breaking labour, had to start all over again in Medicine Hat, Alberta. A generation later, at a high school dance, Ralph's daughter and Mitsue's son fell in love.
Although the war toyed with Ralph's and Mitsue's lives and threatened to erase their humanity, these two brave individuals somehow surmounted enormous transgressions and learned to forgive. Without this forgiveness, their grandson Mark Sakamoto would never have come to be.
256 pages, Paperback
First published June 3, 2014
165 people are currently reading
3738 people want to read
About the author
Mark Sakamoto
5 books65 followersMARK SAKAMOTO, a lawyer by training, has enjoyed a rich and varied career. He began his professional career in live music, working with several international acts. He has worked at a national law firm, a national broadcaster and has served as a senior political advisor to a national party leader. He is an entrepreneur and investor in digital health, digital media and real estate. He sits on the Board of the Ontario Media Development Corporation. Sakamoto lives in Toronto with his wife and two children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 601 reviews
March 10, 2022
“My grandparents bore witness to the worst in humanity. Yet they also managed to illuminate the finest in humanity. Their hearts were my home. I saw none of the ugliness they had. I felt none of their bitterness”.
A beautiful & tragic true story ..
The strength of this book is FORGIVENESS!!
“Life happens one decision at a time. You have no idea where each will take you. Maybe it is fake. Maybe it is God‘s will. Maybe everything does happen for a reason. All I know is that you have to find a reason in it. The reason is usually the future. I was inching closer to forgiveness”.
Many thanks to Kathleen and other Canadian friends who inspire me to read Canadian literature.
A beautiful & tragic true story ..
The strength of this book is FORGIVENESS!!
“Life happens one decision at a time. You have no idea where each will take you. Maybe it is fake. Maybe it is God‘s will. Maybe everything does happen for a reason. All I know is that you have to find a reason in it. The reason is usually the future. I was inching closer to forgiveness”.
Many thanks to Kathleen and other Canadian friends who inspire me to read Canadian literature.
December 27, 2018
Whoever edited this book deserves a demotion or a dismissal. The prose style is mostly fine and often quite wonderful but it is also quite inconsistent with some very abrupt and oddly-placed sentences. And it reads a bit rough in places. I did enjoy Sakamoto's attention to detail in the WWII-era stories. I cared for those people and felt for them. There were many injustices all around but I felt there were far too many leaps and gaps in the narrative. The vignettes were fine but their arrangement could have been much better to weave a better, more coherent narrative. The editor failed on that front. Similarly, I didn't much care about the people in the latter portion of the book. The connections between the people and timelines was almost incidental. There is a distinct absence of threads between characters and timelines. Other characters we come to know and care for early on are all but abandoned. We needed more stories here.
However, where this book really got under my skin was in its shoddy editing. I'm an editor and a typo here or there is bad enough (such as the "Unties States") but over and over again Sakamoto gets historical facts wrong, badly wrong, which a good editor should have caught and fixed. For example, he talks about taking a boat from Pictou, PEI. Impossible, Pictou is in Nova Scotia. He talks about Japan restricting the number of passports issued to Canada. That's not how passports work. I think he's talking about visas. In a scene in post-war BC, he talks of nationalistic hysteria by people wrapping themselves up in the "Canadian flag" which is impossible, the Canadian flag did not exist until 1965. And, he gets facts wrong - basic, common facts - of the one of the two atomic bombings of Japan. He states Nagasaki got hit at 3 o'clock in the morning when, in fact, it was hit second just after 8 o'clock in the morning. How in hell can you get that so wrong? How could that not be corrected? It's an important point of historical accuracy.
While some readers may not care over these details, it left me wondering what else did Sakamoto get wrong about the book? Was he careless? Was he writing creative fiction or alternate history? I thought this was supposed to be a true story. I started to doubt everything he wrote and that is absolutely the wrong thing a writer of a historic memoir wants to instill in the reader. In the end, I was vastly disappointed. This should have been so much better and fuller.
I read this as part of the CBC Canada Reads 2018 longlist. Dec 27 update: Astonishingly, this won, yes WON, Canada Reads 2018. Ugh.
However, where this book really got under my skin was in its shoddy editing. I'm an editor and a typo here or there is bad enough (such as the "Unties States") but over and over again Sakamoto gets historical facts wrong, badly wrong, which a good editor should have caught and fixed. For example, he talks about taking a boat from Pictou, PEI. Impossible, Pictou is in Nova Scotia. He talks about Japan restricting the number of passports issued to Canada. That's not how passports work. I think he's talking about visas. In a scene in post-war BC, he talks of nationalistic hysteria by people wrapping themselves up in the "Canadian flag" which is impossible, the Canadian flag did not exist until 1965. And, he gets facts wrong - basic, common facts - of the one of the two atomic bombings of Japan. He states Nagasaki got hit at 3 o'clock in the morning when, in fact, it was hit second just after 8 o'clock in the morning. How in hell can you get that so wrong? How could that not be corrected? It's an important point of historical accuracy.
While some readers may not care over these details, it left me wondering what else did Sakamoto get wrong about the book? Was he careless? Was he writing creative fiction or alternate history? I thought this was supposed to be a true story. I started to doubt everything he wrote and that is absolutely the wrong thing a writer of a historic memoir wants to instill in the reader. In the end, I was vastly disappointed. This should have been so much better and fuller.
I read this as part of the CBC Canada Reads 2018 longlist. Dec 27 update: Astonishingly, this won, yes WON, Canada Reads 2018. Ugh.
April 12, 2019
Forgiveness, by Mark Sakamoto, is a true story that needed to be told. Based on the lives of his grandparents, surrounding WWII, this book details both sides of the war. It taught me about Canada's unforgivable treatment of Japanese Canadians that I had no idea about as well as the all too often account of being captured by the Japanese as a POW.
I found the writing of this debut novel to be simplistic.
A very sad yet very important story!
I found the writing of this debut novel to be simplistic.
A very sad yet very important story!
January 14, 2018
https://ayearofbooksblog.com/2018/01/...
One of the many wonderful things about Canada Reads is that it encourages Canadian’s to read books… books that you might not normally come across, books that make us think, books that we can debate and books that change us! As my followers know, I love Canada Reads! Attending the 2017 Canada Reads finale was one of my book highlights of the year.
The theme for the 2018 Canada Reads is: One Book to Open Your Eyes and the Canada Reads 2018 long list of 15 books has been announced. On January 30th the final 5 books and defendants will be announced and I hope to get tickets for this year’s finale to the event which will be held from March 26th to 29th at the CBC building in Toronto.
As I eagerly await the announcement of the final 5, I checked out a copy of Forgiveness from the library. Once I started reading it, I could NOT put it down and finished it the same day, going to bed with the story still swirling in my head.
Mark Sakamoto lovingly describes how the horrific experiences of his grandparents eventually bring the two families together. His maternal grandmother was a young girl in British Columbia living in a community with other Japanese families, working hard, bringing up their families with education and kindness. As the war raged and Canadian intolerance grew for the Japanese families, they were driven out of their homes and sent across the mountains to Alberta, working like slaves and starting a new life living in a drafty chicken coop. Through these desperate times, the family worked together, grieved together and celebrated love together.
The author’s maternal grandfather grew up on the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. He was a member of a large family with a volatile father and a loving mother. Once war broke out, he eagerly signed up, modifying his birthdate to go overseas. He was stationed in Hong Kong and was a valiant soldier in a futile effort to stave off the Japanese soldiers. He spent most of the war in a prisoner of war (POW) camp, losing half his body weight and witnessing horror and abuse that is hard to imagine. He persevered and survived against the odds, returning to Canada to marry and move West with his wife’s family.
Both sets of grand parents struggled to improve the lives of their families. Sakamoto’s parents met and the two families built relationships, supporting the couple as they brought two children, Mark and his bother, into the world. Life was not easy, Mark’s father worked long hours, his parents split and his mother struggled with addiction but Mark was blessed with a strong work ethic, loving grandparents and shared his experiences in this memoir.
Mark Sakamoto is a lawyer living in Toronto with his wife and two children. He has shared this epic story of his grandparents and the generations of family that followed. It truly is a story that opens your eyes.
His grandmother’s experience is similar to Joy Kogawa’s Obasan and is a story that should be discussed in senior highschool history classes. Where Obasan tells the story of Kogawa’s family being removed from their homes and sent East (along with 23,000 other Japanese Canadians) during World War II, Forgiveness blends this history with the experiences of his grandfather fighting the Japanese in Hong Kong. The stories of marks maternal and paternal grandparents are horrific but Mark is the result of these stories and has shared this experience in this powerful memoir.
I hope that this book is discussed for Canada Reads 2018 but whether or not it makes the short list, it is a book that Canadians do need to read and meets the theme of One Book to Open Your Eyes!
One of the many wonderful things about Canada Reads is that it encourages Canadian’s to read books… books that you might not normally come across, books that make us think, books that we can debate and books that change us! As my followers know, I love Canada Reads! Attending the 2017 Canada Reads finale was one of my book highlights of the year.
The theme for the 2018 Canada Reads is: One Book to Open Your Eyes and the Canada Reads 2018 long list of 15 books has been announced. On January 30th the final 5 books and defendants will be announced and I hope to get tickets for this year’s finale to the event which will be held from March 26th to 29th at the CBC building in Toronto.
As I eagerly await the announcement of the final 5, I checked out a copy of Forgiveness from the library. Once I started reading it, I could NOT put it down and finished it the same day, going to bed with the story still swirling in my head.
Mark Sakamoto lovingly describes how the horrific experiences of his grandparents eventually bring the two families together. His maternal grandmother was a young girl in British Columbia living in a community with other Japanese families, working hard, bringing up their families with education and kindness. As the war raged and Canadian intolerance grew for the Japanese families, they were driven out of their homes and sent across the mountains to Alberta, working like slaves and starting a new life living in a drafty chicken coop. Through these desperate times, the family worked together, grieved together and celebrated love together.
The author’s maternal grandfather grew up on the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. He was a member of a large family with a volatile father and a loving mother. Once war broke out, he eagerly signed up, modifying his birthdate to go overseas. He was stationed in Hong Kong and was a valiant soldier in a futile effort to stave off the Japanese soldiers. He spent most of the war in a prisoner of war (POW) camp, losing half his body weight and witnessing horror and abuse that is hard to imagine. He persevered and survived against the odds, returning to Canada to marry and move West with his wife’s family.
Both sets of grand parents struggled to improve the lives of their families. Sakamoto’s parents met and the two families built relationships, supporting the couple as they brought two children, Mark and his bother, into the world. Life was not easy, Mark’s father worked long hours, his parents split and his mother struggled with addiction but Mark was blessed with a strong work ethic, loving grandparents and shared his experiences in this memoir.
Mark Sakamoto is a lawyer living in Toronto with his wife and two children. He has shared this epic story of his grandparents and the generations of family that followed. It truly is a story that opens your eyes.
His grandmother’s experience is similar to Joy Kogawa’s Obasan and is a story that should be discussed in senior highschool history classes. Where Obasan tells the story of Kogawa’s family being removed from their homes and sent East (along with 23,000 other Japanese Canadians) during World War II, Forgiveness blends this history with the experiences of his grandfather fighting the Japanese in Hong Kong. The stories of marks maternal and paternal grandparents are horrific but Mark is the result of these stories and has shared this experience in this powerful memoir.
I hope that this book is discussed for Canada Reads 2018 but whether or not it makes the short list, it is a book that Canadians do need to read and meets the theme of One Book to Open Your Eyes!
April 22, 2018
FORGIVENESS: A Gift from My Grandparents by Mark Sakamoto is the heart-rending true story of two people on either side of the war and a moving tribute to the nature of forgiveness. This book is the winner of the Canada Reads Prize in the year 2018!
Mark 11:25 "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. "
"A relatable journey of real-life ups and downs-humble reminders throughout, to be more kind and forgiving of others and to ourselves, that letting go is to be grateful for life's challenges as tests of courage and willingness to forge through fear and disappointment. This book shares many examples of powerful life lessons that inspire us to embrace change as a gift from learning, and [remind us] that making peace with our past is possible if we hold on to what we we've learned from our experiences and let go of what we cannot change."
-Quote by Shania Twain
"This is an astonishing book, part memoir, part saga of two Canadian families, Japanese and Canadian, that were at war with each other and found peace and forgiveness together. It is a funny, heartbreaking story of a family scarred by history's pain and their own self-destructiveness, yet redeemed by stoic endurance and the capacity for forgiveness. You're going to remember this book."
- Michael Ignatieff
This well written true story is so amazing that I cannot write a review that does it justice. So I will quote the book blurb from the flap inside the front cover. -
When the Second World War broke out, Ralph MacLean chose to escape his troubled life on the Magdalen Islands in eastern Canada and volunteer to serve his country overseas. Meanwhile, in Vancouver, Mitsue Sakamoto saw her family and her stable community torn apart after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.
Like many young Canadian soldiers, Ralph was captured by the Japanese army. He would spend the war in prison camps, enduring pestilence, beatings, and starvation , as well as a journey by HELL ship to Japan to perform slave labour, while around him his friends and countrymen perished. Back in Canada, Mitsue and her family were expelled from their home by the government and forced to spend years eking out an existence in rural Alberta, working other people's land for $1 a day.
By the end of the war, Ralph emerged broken but a survivor. Mitsue, worn down by years of BACK-breaking labour, had to start all over again in Medicine Hat, Alberta. A generation later, at a high school dance, Ralph's daughter and Mitsue's son fell in love.
Although the war toyed with Ralph's and Mitsue's lives and threatened to erase their humanity, these two brave individuals somehow surmounted enormous transgressions and learned to forgive. Without this forgiveness, their grandson Mark Sakamoto would never have come to be.
5 shining stars
Mark 11:25 "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. "
"A relatable journey of real-life ups and downs-humble reminders throughout, to be more kind and forgiving of others and to ourselves, that letting go is to be grateful for life's challenges as tests of courage and willingness to forge through fear and disappointment. This book shares many examples of powerful life lessons that inspire us to embrace change as a gift from learning, and [remind us] that making peace with our past is possible if we hold on to what we we've learned from our experiences and let go of what we cannot change."
-Quote by Shania Twain
"This is an astonishing book, part memoir, part saga of two Canadian families, Japanese and Canadian, that were at war with each other and found peace and forgiveness together. It is a funny, heartbreaking story of a family scarred by history's pain and their own self-destructiveness, yet redeemed by stoic endurance and the capacity for forgiveness. You're going to remember this book."
- Michael Ignatieff
This well written true story is so amazing that I cannot write a review that does it justice. So I will quote the book blurb from the flap inside the front cover. -
When the Second World War broke out, Ralph MacLean chose to escape his troubled life on the Magdalen Islands in eastern Canada and volunteer to serve his country overseas. Meanwhile, in Vancouver, Mitsue Sakamoto saw her family and her stable community torn apart after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.
Like many young Canadian soldiers, Ralph was captured by the Japanese army. He would spend the war in prison camps, enduring pestilence, beatings, and starvation , as well as a journey by HELL ship to Japan to perform slave labour, while around him his friends and countrymen perished. Back in Canada, Mitsue and her family were expelled from their home by the government and forced to spend years eking out an existence in rural Alberta, working other people's land for $1 a day.
By the end of the war, Ralph emerged broken but a survivor. Mitsue, worn down by years of BACK-breaking labour, had to start all over again in Medicine Hat, Alberta. A generation later, at a high school dance, Ralph's daughter and Mitsue's son fell in love.
Although the war toyed with Ralph's and Mitsue's lives and threatened to erase their humanity, these two brave individuals somehow surmounted enormous transgressions and learned to forgive. Without this forgiveness, their grandson Mark Sakamoto would never have come to be.
5 shining stars
February 23, 2018
In Forgiveness, Mark Sakamoto tells the story of his maternal grandfather, Ralph MacLean, who had spent a number of years clinging to life as a POW in a Japanese prison camp during the second World War and his paternal grandmother, Mitsu Sakamoto, who had been forced from her home and province following the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces.
The details surrounding Ralph’s imprisonment were harrowing to say the least. I found myself having to put the book down multiple times as the descriptions of the living conditions inside the camp were too much to handle. I can’t imagine the strength he had to find within himself to keep going when hope of survival was at its bleakest.
Mitsue’s story was particularly heartbreaking. Along with other Japanese-Canadians, Mitsue had to watch helplessly as all her belongings were stolen from her following her forced relocation. As Canadians, we should certainly be proud of all that we have accomplished as a country, but we should not shun or hide less favorable aspects of our past. We are by no means perfect and our treatment of Japanese immigrants as well as Canadian born men and women of Japanese descent during the second World War is one of those less than prideful moments.
Near the end of the book is where things would become quite personal to me. Mark tells of the falling apart of his family as his parents (Mitsu’s son and Ralph’s daughter) divorced when he and his brother were still very young. In the years that would follow, I found Mark’s experiences mirror my own as he helplessly watched his Mother’s life fall apart leading to her untimely death in her early fifties. This was almost eerie.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Forgiveness take the top spot in the competition, but the book that I had expected would win last year was knocked out immediately (I’m still mad about that). In the end, it’s all about having a strong advocate, so hopefully Jeanne Beker can pull up her socks and do this book justice.
The details surrounding Ralph’s imprisonment were harrowing to say the least. I found myself having to put the book down multiple times as the descriptions of the living conditions inside the camp were too much to handle. I can’t imagine the strength he had to find within himself to keep going when hope of survival was at its bleakest.
Mitsue’s story was particularly heartbreaking. Along with other Japanese-Canadians, Mitsue had to watch helplessly as all her belongings were stolen from her following her forced relocation. As Canadians, we should certainly be proud of all that we have accomplished as a country, but we should not shun or hide less favorable aspects of our past. We are by no means perfect and our treatment of Japanese immigrants as well as Canadian born men and women of Japanese descent during the second World War is one of those less than prideful moments.
Near the end of the book is where things would become quite personal to me. Mark tells of the falling apart of his family as his parents (Mitsu’s son and Ralph’s daughter) divorced when he and his brother were still very young. In the years that would follow, I found Mark’s experiences mirror my own as he helplessly watched his Mother’s life fall apart leading to her untimely death in her early fifties. This was almost eerie.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Forgiveness take the top spot in the competition, but the book that I had expected would win last year was knocked out immediately (I’m still mad about that). In the end, it’s all about having a strong advocate, so hopefully Jeanne Beker can pull up her socks and do this book justice.
July 29, 2025
As much as anything, this book is a history book. It is a Canadian book that tells both the glory and the darkness that resides in history. If we do not learn from this book then the world will be a much poorer place.
When World War 2 began the world was sent spinning for the second time in a century into an abyss of hate, destruction, and death. In British Columbia all people of Japanese origin, whether Canadian citizens or not were rounded up, their property seized, and they were sent into the interior of Canada. Many ended up in Alberta. Their treatment was shabby at the best of times and horrid at worst of times. On the eastern end of Canada young men eagerly joined the armed forces.
Time, fate and history mixed the brave young soldiers and sent many to Hong Kong. There, the Japanese overpowered the Canadians and incarcerated many in hellish camps for years. Torture, starvation and Death were daily visitor to the camps.
And so we fast forward. The war is over. The Japanese Canadians remained displaced and ruthlessly uncompensated for their losses before being shipped to work as labourers inland. The survivors of the brutality of the Japanese POW camps return to Canada. And then Fate occurs. A white male who survived the horrors of a Japanese POW camp meets a Japanese girl who was forced to work as a labourer in Alberta.
The novel is titled ‘Forgiveness.’
Read this book. Especially if you are a Canadian as I am.
When World War 2 began the world was sent spinning for the second time in a century into an abyss of hate, destruction, and death. In British Columbia all people of Japanese origin, whether Canadian citizens or not were rounded up, their property seized, and they were sent into the interior of Canada. Many ended up in Alberta. Their treatment was shabby at the best of times and horrid at worst of times. On the eastern end of Canada young men eagerly joined the armed forces.
Time, fate and history mixed the brave young soldiers and sent many to Hong Kong. There, the Japanese overpowered the Canadians and incarcerated many in hellish camps for years. Torture, starvation and Death were daily visitor to the camps.
And so we fast forward. The war is over. The Japanese Canadians remained displaced and ruthlessly uncompensated for their losses before being shipped to work as labourers inland. The survivors of the brutality of the Japanese POW camps return to Canada. And then Fate occurs. A white male who survived the horrors of a Japanese POW camp meets a Japanese girl who was forced to work as a labourer in Alberta.
The novel is titled ‘Forgiveness.’
Read this book. Especially if you are a Canadian as I am.
March 16, 2021
How timely that just as I am asking my Sec 4&5 English class to write articles on the theme of "forgiveness", I reached for this book.
Imagine that your paternal grandparents are two of the thousands of Japanese Canadians interred by the Canadian government during WWII. Imagine that your maternal grandfather is a Canadian POW imprisoned by the Japanese. How do you reconcile all those parts of your family story? Especially when your grandparents have born witness to the worst in humanity. For Mark Sakamoto, it meant sitting and talking with his paternal grandmother and maternal grandfather through many interviews and the letter he writes to both of them at the end of the book-so beautiful!
An absolutely incredible story.
#canadareads2018 #erinrossreads2021 #teachersandbooks #canadianauthors
Goodreads review published 16/03/21
Imagine that your paternal grandparents are two of the thousands of Japanese Canadians interred by the Canadian government during WWII. Imagine that your maternal grandfather is a Canadian POW imprisoned by the Japanese. How do you reconcile all those parts of your family story? Especially when your grandparents have born witness to the worst in humanity. For Mark Sakamoto, it meant sitting and talking with his paternal grandmother and maternal grandfather through many interviews and the letter he writes to both of them at the end of the book-so beautiful!
An absolutely incredible story.
#canadareads2018 #erinrossreads2021 #teachersandbooks #canadianauthors
Goodreads review published 16/03/21
January 25, 2018
Michael Ignatieff called this book "part memoir, part saga." While the first part of the book taught me a little more about Japanese-Canadian family life in the mid-20th centure, I look for more story in my saga. I instead it comprised a decently written biography.
I didn't perceive that the latter part of the book added much to the overall work. I look for more reflection in a memoir.
I chose this book because it was listed on the Canada Reads longlist. I hope it does not make the shortlist.
I didn't perceive that the latter part of the book added much to the overall work. I look for more reflection in a memoir.
I chose this book because it was listed on the Canada Reads longlist. I hope it does not make the shortlist.
February 8, 2018
Forgiveness is not a transaction. It is not an exchange. Forgiveness has nothing to do with the past. p237
This book is part investigative journalism but also an act of devotion to the authors family. Ralph McLean, a Canadian, and Mitsue Sakamoto, also Canadian, both endured world war II as prisoners on opposite sides of the world. Ralph, the authors maternal grandfather, a soldier from the Magdalen Islands, spent over 3 years as a prisoner of the Japanese in Hong Kong. His paternal grandmother, Mitsue, newlywed, was deported from Vancouver with her entire family to Coalville Alberta, where her prison was a converted chicken coop and hard labor harvesting sugar beets.
Both of their stories alternate in harrowing detail. Their integrity and resilience shine through the journalistic prose. It would have been wonderful if a family tree was included. Late in the book I was still scrambling, looking for connections. I have to forgive MS for his uneven and sometimes confusing presentation for this is not literature.
This story isn't all valedictory. The agonizing subtext is forshadowed in the prologue, but the reader never gets to find out what was on the cassette tape from his mother. It was shock to read of her lonely fate and to realize the extent of forgiveness required for healing. MS has dug deep and drawn from the strong examples of his grandparents to be able to write this book forgiving his mother and himself.
Breaking down is the easy part. Anyone, at any time can break down. The act of coming together is what makes a hero. Moving on, with an open heart. p182
This book is part investigative journalism but also an act of devotion to the authors family. Ralph McLean, a Canadian, and Mitsue Sakamoto, also Canadian, both endured world war II as prisoners on opposite sides of the world. Ralph, the authors maternal grandfather, a soldier from the Magdalen Islands, spent over 3 years as a prisoner of the Japanese in Hong Kong. His paternal grandmother, Mitsue, newlywed, was deported from Vancouver with her entire family to Coalville Alberta, where her prison was a converted chicken coop and hard labor harvesting sugar beets.
Both of their stories alternate in harrowing detail. Their integrity and resilience shine through the journalistic prose. It would have been wonderful if a family tree was included. Late in the book I was still scrambling, looking for connections. I have to forgive MS for his uneven and sometimes confusing presentation for this is not literature.
This story isn't all valedictory. The agonizing subtext is forshadowed in the prologue, but the reader never gets to find out what was on the cassette tape from his mother. It was shock to read of her lonely fate and to realize the extent of forgiveness required for healing. MS has dug deep and drawn from the strong examples of his grandparents to be able to write this book forgiving his mother and himself.
Breaking down is the easy part. Anyone, at any time can break down. The act of coming together is what makes a hero. Moving on, with an open heart. p182
July 21, 2018
How very Canadian! I am always fascinated with the Canada Reads competition. This year was no exception. The theme was “One book to open your eyes”, and I was intrigued how both fiction and non fiction could be pitted against one another for the grand title. This book was the winner... and what a fine choice.
The author is quite a talented storyteller yet the story is true. While the plot is forgiveness the story spans three generations of Canadians. It starts during or shortly before World War II and comes to present day.
It would a great book for a history class as it describes the war from two totally unexpected vantage points. It makes the history personal, it makes it come alive and it is not your typical account of the war.
The topic of “forgiveness “ of course permeates the entire story which makes it so Canadian .
This story has a much stronger start than a finish but perhaps that is because the start was so sweeping and effected so many thousands of people, whereas the end whittles it down to a much smaller group, a single family.
Nonetheless, this book was an eye opener. It speaks from a position of “home” rather than from afar . It shows how war drives people to the brink, how struggles and challenges make you stronger, and how reflection can restore order , encourage forgiveness and permit you to move forward. This book is most worthy of all the accolades it receives.
We could all learn a lesson from its pages.
The author is quite a talented storyteller yet the story is true. While the plot is forgiveness the story spans three generations of Canadians. It starts during or shortly before World War II and comes to present day.
It would a great book for a history class as it describes the war from two totally unexpected vantage points. It makes the history personal, it makes it come alive and it is not your typical account of the war.
The topic of “forgiveness “ of course permeates the entire story which makes it so Canadian .
This story has a much stronger start than a finish but perhaps that is because the start was so sweeping and effected so many thousands of people, whereas the end whittles it down to a much smaller group, a single family.
Nonetheless, this book was an eye opener. It speaks from a position of “home” rather than from afar . It shows how war drives people to the brink, how struggles and challenges make you stronger, and how reflection can restore order , encourage forgiveness and permit you to move forward. This book is most worthy of all the accolades it receives.
We could all learn a lesson from its pages.
July 16, 2018
This is the recent winner of the CBC’s Canada Reads award. It is an unique family story but am reluctantly giving the book 3 stars. It was narrated in a manner which failed often to convey to me the emotions I should be feeling. The two WW2 stories which occurred separately on both sides of the globe involving the author’s grandparents were masterfully and sympathetically told. The book needed better editing. There were geographic and historical errors.
The theme of forgiveness was interwoven in the family history, but it was never made clear how the Japanese Canadian grandmother and the grandfather from the Magdalene Islands came to forgive one another for the horrors they endured and survived during wartime.
The stories of Ralph MacLean and his experiences during WW2, first as a young soldier with the Canadian army in bloody battles trying to free Hong Kong from Japanese domination, and then his horrific time as a prisoner of the Japanese where he lost much body weight and many of his fellow prisoners died. There were bedbugs, lice, diphtheria, dysentery, hunger and cold plus torture and killing by prison guards. The conditions were heartbreaking. They slept on the floor in a badly constructed building until it collapsed due to snow on the roof killing some of the soldiers. Next was a painful voyage to Japan where he worked as a slave laborer under shocking conditions.
The story of the author’s grandmother is a stain on Canada’s history. Mitsue Sakamoto was a Canadian born woman of Japanese origin. Her family lived a comfortable life in Vancouver. The men made a decent living aboard their fishing boats or in the lumber industry. Mitsue was a skilled seamstress. This all ended when the Canadian government began deporting many to Japan. Those who remained were uprooted from their homes, lost their possessions and were sent to the prairie provinces to become farm laborers. Mitsue and some of her family did backbreaking work and lived in a drafty one room converted, drafty chicken coop. They endured hunger, cold, dirt and insect bites. The book highlights racism and prejudice towards the Canadian Japanese population and the hardships they suffered.
Ralph’s daughter and Mitsue’s son met later and fell in love. A photo shows them both seated at dinner with Ralph and Mitsue. The son and daughter later married. The author is the child of this union.
I wanted to learn more about Mitsue and Ralph after the war and how they overcame unpleasant memories of people who treated them so badly. I wanted to know what their conversations were like, how they put aside prejudices and accept the romance between their children, forgive and move on with their lives. Forgivenesses is implied but never clarified. The book is a tribute to the integrity and resilience of the grandparents.
Ralph’s daughter left Mitsue’s son when the author was young. She started leading a life which included heavy drinking and a younger abusive man. She slipped further into alcoholism and an unhealthy lifestyle and became reclusive. The author always felt responsible for her and the theme of forgiveness towards his mother is also present in this narrative. This part of the book didn’t seem cohesive with the earlier section. I wanted to know more about Ralph and Mitsue and how their families adjusted to life after the war. Their stories were dropped in favor of Mark’s study in Halifax for a law degree, his marriage and his mother’s rapid decline and early death.
The theme of forgiveness was interwoven in the family history, but it was never made clear how the Japanese Canadian grandmother and the grandfather from the Magdalene Islands came to forgive one another for the horrors they endured and survived during wartime.
The stories of Ralph MacLean and his experiences during WW2, first as a young soldier with the Canadian army in bloody battles trying to free Hong Kong from Japanese domination, and then his horrific time as a prisoner of the Japanese where he lost much body weight and many of his fellow prisoners died. There were bedbugs, lice, diphtheria, dysentery, hunger and cold plus torture and killing by prison guards. The conditions were heartbreaking. They slept on the floor in a badly constructed building until it collapsed due to snow on the roof killing some of the soldiers. Next was a painful voyage to Japan where he worked as a slave laborer under shocking conditions.
The story of the author’s grandmother is a stain on Canada’s history. Mitsue Sakamoto was a Canadian born woman of Japanese origin. Her family lived a comfortable life in Vancouver. The men made a decent living aboard their fishing boats or in the lumber industry. Mitsue was a skilled seamstress. This all ended when the Canadian government began deporting many to Japan. Those who remained were uprooted from their homes, lost their possessions and were sent to the prairie provinces to become farm laborers. Mitsue and some of her family did backbreaking work and lived in a drafty one room converted, drafty chicken coop. They endured hunger, cold, dirt and insect bites. The book highlights racism and prejudice towards the Canadian Japanese population and the hardships they suffered.
Ralph’s daughter and Mitsue’s son met later and fell in love. A photo shows them both seated at dinner with Ralph and Mitsue. The son and daughter later married. The author is the child of this union.
I wanted to learn more about Mitsue and Ralph after the war and how they overcame unpleasant memories of people who treated them so badly. I wanted to know what their conversations were like, how they put aside prejudices and accept the romance between their children, forgive and move on with their lives. Forgivenesses is implied but never clarified. The book is a tribute to the integrity and resilience of the grandparents.
Ralph’s daughter left Mitsue’s son when the author was young. She started leading a life which included heavy drinking and a younger abusive man. She slipped further into alcoholism and an unhealthy lifestyle and became reclusive. The author always felt responsible for her and the theme of forgiveness towards his mother is also present in this narrative. This part of the book didn’t seem cohesive with the earlier section. I wanted to know more about Ralph and Mitsue and how their families adjusted to life after the war. Their stories were dropped in favor of Mark’s study in Halifax for a law degree, his marriage and his mother’s rapid decline and early death.
July 17, 2014
All in all a good book, especially for a debut novel. My rating of a three stems from my desire for the book to have delved farther into the process of forgiveness between the author's maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother. Sakamoto does a great job in the first 3/4 of the book describing the experiences of both these grandparents - one as a POW prisoner and one as a displaced Japanese Canadian. What happened to these individuals after these experiences? Did the POW grandfather suffer from PTSD? Did the two ever talk about their experiences of welcoming the other into their family? I wanted more to the story of the grandparents.
April 1, 2018
Every March in Canada we have this odd competition, Canada Reads. It began in 2002 and features five panelists arguing over five books over four days vying to be the worthy book. Each year there is a theme and this year it was the “book to open your eyes.” Yes with all that snow (it’s been a long winter) Canadians are drawn together by a “book fight.” The panelists are varied, including a tornado hunter, a fashion journalist, a singer, an actor and a TV host. And the books are quite varied as well.
And this year’s pick looks into a dark history in Canada, the forced relocation of Japanese citizens during the Second Wold War. Not long after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, racism fueled fears that forced the Canadian government, under Prime Minister McKenzie King to move all people of Japanese decent into forced labour camps. They were not allowed 100 miles from the coast. The saddest part was many of them were born in Canada. Yes, we sent our own citizens into work camps simply by the colour of their skin.
This book is a memoir written by Mark Sakamoto, a third generation Canadian. His father’s mother, Mitsue Sakamoto was born in Canada but she and her husband’s Japanese family were sent to work in harsh conditions on Alberta farms over the next hour years. What was interesting is that Mark’s maternal grandfather Ralph MacLean joined the Canadian army and was sent to Hong Kong in the early days of the war. Within a very short time, Ralph and his Canadian colleagues were captured and spent four horrible years as prisoners of war under the Japanese army.
Paths cross in Alberta when the children of these two families meet, marry and have children. This is where the book takes on a new angle. As a child, Mark witnesses his parents’ marriage fall apart and his mother takes on a downward spiral. Through his family misfortune and reflecting on what his grandparents went through, the author realizes the meaning of forgiveness.
Parts of the book I loved, some I hated, and yet the images are very disturbing and powerful. This is a unique story and Mark Sakamoto leads us down the path to forgiveness or really what does it mean to be human. The message is honest. This is something we all need these days, especially in light of the state of the world today.
Definitely worth a read. Definitely lives up to a “book to open your eyes.”
And this year’s pick looks into a dark history in Canada, the forced relocation of Japanese citizens during the Second Wold War. Not long after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, racism fueled fears that forced the Canadian government, under Prime Minister McKenzie King to move all people of Japanese decent into forced labour camps. They were not allowed 100 miles from the coast. The saddest part was many of them were born in Canada. Yes, we sent our own citizens into work camps simply by the colour of their skin.
This book is a memoir written by Mark Sakamoto, a third generation Canadian. His father’s mother, Mitsue Sakamoto was born in Canada but she and her husband’s Japanese family were sent to work in harsh conditions on Alberta farms over the next hour years. What was interesting is that Mark’s maternal grandfather Ralph MacLean joined the Canadian army and was sent to Hong Kong in the early days of the war. Within a very short time, Ralph and his Canadian colleagues were captured and spent four horrible years as prisoners of war under the Japanese army.
Paths cross in Alberta when the children of these two families meet, marry and have children. This is where the book takes on a new angle. As a child, Mark witnesses his parents’ marriage fall apart and his mother takes on a downward spiral. Through his family misfortune and reflecting on what his grandparents went through, the author realizes the meaning of forgiveness.
Parts of the book I loved, some I hated, and yet the images are very disturbing and powerful. This is a unique story and Mark Sakamoto leads us down the path to forgiveness or really what does it mean to be human. The message is honest. This is something we all need these days, especially in light of the state of the world today.
Definitely worth a read. Definitely lives up to a “book to open your eyes.”
March 23, 2018
I found this book a slow read until the last few chapters when the story moves into the author’s own life instead of his grandparents’ stories. Although his grandparents endured incredible hardships, the writing fell flat. It wasn’t until Sakamoto started talking about himself that I felt emotions coming through the words.
December 14, 2016
(3.5) Quite a book-worthy family tree!
I enjoyed reading Mark's narratives of his grandparents and parents. I learned a lot about how Japanese were treated in Canada during World War II (particularly in British Columbia). How awful this was, but how it was crucial to Mark ever coming into existence. The lives that his families lived were certainly eventful and worthy of being written down. The narrative is largely engaging, but could be a little more literary and definitely could benefit from more reflection from Mark. For most of the book, the narratives are very matter-of-fact, and could've been written by anyone. They could be even more meaningful coming from their descendant.
The main exception to this was his mother's narrative, particularly after she divorced his father. Her decline was clearly coming, painful to read, and revealed much more of Mark's emotion. I think he could've gone deeper into his feelings along the way (kind of reminded of Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction, which did this part well, though the roles were reversed).
I was also surprised that forgiveness didn't play more of a role in this book. Particularly given the subtitle, I expected the forgiveness to describe early relations between his parents' families, but the forgiveness he spends far more time on is his forgiving himself for his relationship with his mother. This ties into my criticism above that he doesn't reflect on the narrative nearly as much as he could have.
The interweaving of narratives didn't seem to help my enjoyment either. I was pretty neutral. There might've been ways to interleave them more, show more parallels etc. But absent that, I'd recommend just keeping the narratives separate and immerse the reader in each of them, as again, they are very rich veins of narrative.
I enjoyed reading Mark's narratives of his grandparents and parents. I learned a lot about how Japanese were treated in Canada during World War II (particularly in British Columbia). How awful this was, but how it was crucial to Mark ever coming into existence. The lives that his families lived were certainly eventful and worthy of being written down. The narrative is largely engaging, but could be a little more literary and definitely could benefit from more reflection from Mark. For most of the book, the narratives are very matter-of-fact, and could've been written by anyone. They could be even more meaningful coming from their descendant.
The main exception to this was his mother's narrative, particularly after she divorced his father. Her decline was clearly coming, painful to read, and revealed much more of Mark's emotion. I think he could've gone deeper into his feelings along the way (kind of reminded of Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction, which did this part well, though the roles were reversed).
I was also surprised that forgiveness didn't play more of a role in this book. Particularly given the subtitle, I expected the forgiveness to describe early relations between his parents' families, but the forgiveness he spends far more time on is his forgiving himself for his relationship with his mother. This ties into my criticism above that he doesn't reflect on the narrative nearly as much as he could have.
The interweaving of narratives didn't seem to help my enjoyment either. I was pretty neutral. There might've been ways to interleave them more, show more parallels etc. But absent that, I'd recommend just keeping the narratives separate and immerse the reader in each of them, as again, they are very rich veins of narrative.
March 20, 2018
Author lost me when he got the date of the atomic bomb drop wrong.....
January 6, 2022
Mark Sakamoto’s grandparents were on two different sides of WWII. His maternal grandfather fought in the war and was captured and spent years as a prisoner of war, first in Hong Kong, then in Japan. Mark’s paternal grandmother, a Japanese-Canadian, and her family lost their home and livelihood in BC and were sent to rural Alberta to farm. Mark and his brother were born and raised in Medicine Hat, Alberta. After Mark’s parents marriage ended, his mother had a really hard time (to put it lightly, but trying not to give too much away in my summary).
The summaries of this book make it sound like it’s all WWII, but it’s not. I found the book to be an entire biography of his grandparents, then his own – with a focus on his relationship with his mom. I really liked this. A little “bonus” for me was that Mark’s wife is from Assiniboia, Sask, a small town about 45 minutes from the town I grew up in.
The summaries of this book make it sound like it’s all WWII, but it’s not. I found the book to be an entire biography of his grandparents, then his own – with a focus on his relationship with his mom. I really liked this. A little “bonus” for me was that Mark’s wife is from Assiniboia, Sask, a small town about 45 minutes from the town I grew up in.
July 12, 2018
Mark Sakamoto had a very worthy and important story to tell. The stories of his maternal grandfather, Ralph Maclean, and his paternal grandmother, Mitsue Sakamoto, are both fascinating. During World War Two, Ralph was taken prisoner of war by the Japanese and endured terrible suffering for four years, being brutalized, starved, and isolated by his captors. In Canada, Mitsue and her family were interned and then force evacuated to farms on the prairies where they too endured harsh conditions and had all their property stolen from them by the Canadian government.
Since Ralph’s daughter, Diane, married Mitsue’s son, Stanley, the author had a very interesting family to write about. That part was really good. Unfortunately, Mark Sakamoto then decided to tack on a few more stories about his mom’s alcoholism, his law career, his relationship with his wife, Michael Ignatieff ‘s political career (wha???) There is no cohesiveness at all in any of this and there are precious few transitions or links to help the reader through the confusion. To me, this is really the fault of the editor who should have helped this non-author to tie together all his material (or cut some of it out).
It is a shame that such a good story was allowed to fall apart like this. Four stars for the war part of the book, but not much more than 1.5 for the rest of it.
Since Ralph’s daughter, Diane, married Mitsue’s son, Stanley, the author had a very interesting family to write about. That part was really good. Unfortunately, Mark Sakamoto then decided to tack on a few more stories about his mom’s alcoholism, his law career, his relationship with his wife, Michael Ignatieff ‘s political career (wha???) There is no cohesiveness at all in any of this and there are precious few transitions or links to help the reader through the confusion. To me, this is really the fault of the editor who should have helped this non-author to tie together all his material (or cut some of it out).
It is a shame that such a good story was allowed to fall apart like this. Four stars for the war part of the book, but not much more than 1.5 for the rest of it.
May 8, 2018
This book was the winner of the 2018 Canada Reads debates, and what a worthy winner!
Sakamoto tells 3 interwoven stories in this memoir of love and forgiveness: his maternal Grandfather who suffered terribly as a Japanese POW during WWII; his paternal Grandmother, a Canadian-born Japanese women who lost everything during the interment of Japanese citizens during WWII; and his own relationship with his alcoholic mother during his childhood and teens. The writing is exquisite and the stories are full of emotion, empathy, richly expressed. I admire Mark Sakamoto tremendously for being able to tell this story with such love, and yes, forgiveness.
Sakamoto tells 3 interwoven stories in this memoir of love and forgiveness: his maternal Grandfather who suffered terribly as a Japanese POW during WWII; his paternal Grandmother, a Canadian-born Japanese women who lost everything during the interment of Japanese citizens during WWII; and his own relationship with his alcoholic mother during his childhood and teens. The writing is exquisite and the stories are full of emotion, empathy, richly expressed. I admire Mark Sakamoto tremendously for being able to tell this story with such love, and yes, forgiveness.
February 11, 2018
One of the best books I have ever read. The stunning and at times horrific story is written in a real and impactful style.
Favourite part: The pacing of the book was fantastic. The reader experiences a buildup to what seems to be the climax, and then a slight reprieve before building up again to the final climax and denouement.
Least favourite part: Honestly not much. The authors part of the story following the climax seemed at times a bit rushed. He could have expanded more upon his personal experiences to provide a wrap up that flowed more with the story.
Favourite part: The pacing of the book was fantastic. The reader experiences a buildup to what seems to be the climax, and then a slight reprieve before building up again to the final climax and denouement.
Least favourite part: Honestly not much. The authors part of the story following the climax seemed at times a bit rushed. He could have expanded more upon his personal experiences to provide a wrap up that flowed more with the story.
June 25, 2018
Put it down for a little while but SOOOO glad I picked it back up. If I had to guess, this might be my #1 pick of 2018. So amazingly brilliant and beautiful.
June 24, 2018
3 ½ stars. A moving and informative memoir about family members involved in WW11 - how Canadians of Japanese descent fared “at home” and how Canadians fared abroad as soldiers at war in Japan and in POW camps. Sakamoto has paid wonderful tribute to his grandparents (paternal and maternal) by sharing their stories.
Found it touching, eye-opening and inspirational - an excellent way of honouring his grandparents by the author. Even more important, was that Sakamoto kept their stories alive and shared them with Canadians and others who need to know what happened in our country's his/herstory.
I was a bit confused when Mark Sakamoto started focussing on his mother towards the end of the book. I felt it detracted somewhat from the grandparents' stories and was not sure why he chose to include his mother’s story. However, when reflecting on other readers’ comments and particularly Mark Sakamoto's involvement with his mother, this discussion about his mother’s difficulties provided a lot more insight into the author as a person, son and grandson and also the Japanese cultural tradition of 1st born sons taking on responsibility for their parents. I thought the author did a good job of tying it together at the end - just a bit startled at the beginning of the wrap-up. 3 1/2 stars rounded down to 3 stars.
Found it touching, eye-opening and inspirational - an excellent way of honouring his grandparents by the author. Even more important, was that Sakamoto kept their stories alive and shared them with Canadians and others who need to know what happened in our country's his/herstory.
I was a bit confused when Mark Sakamoto started focussing on his mother towards the end of the book. I felt it detracted somewhat from the grandparents' stories and was not sure why he chose to include his mother’s story. However, when reflecting on other readers’ comments and particularly Mark Sakamoto's involvement with his mother, this discussion about his mother’s difficulties provided a lot more insight into the author as a person, son and grandson and also the Japanese cultural tradition of 1st born sons taking on responsibility for their parents. I thought the author did a good job of tying it together at the end - just a bit startled at the beginning of the wrap-up. 3 1/2 stars rounded down to 3 stars.
March 3, 2020
I did enjoy this memoir. Especially the parts about his paternal grandmother and the injustices of the Canadian and provincial BC government against her family and many other Japanese and Japanese-Canadian families. Not just the internment though that was horrific and unjust, but also the micro-aggressions of every day Canadians who would avoid Japanese owned businesses and who committed arson and theft to defile Japanese families' most prized possessions. The daily grind of racism in Canada that still persists in many forms today.
The parts about his maternal grandfather were interesting too, but more so the way Grandpa Ralph returned home from a Japanese POW camp without prejudice against Japanese people. The parts about his parents and his own life, I wasn't very interested in. I didn't know Mark Sakamoto before seeking out his memoir specifically to read more about Japanese-Canadian internment so that might be my bad. Otherwise, it's more an explanation and a description of what happened than a reflection of how it shaped his heritage and his family roots. I wish there had been more retrospection and more about his grandparents and how they lived after the traumatic events of their early adulthood.
The parts about his maternal grandfather were interesting too, but more so the way Grandpa Ralph returned home from a Japanese POW camp without prejudice against Japanese people. The parts about his parents and his own life, I wasn't very interested in. I didn't know Mark Sakamoto before seeking out his memoir specifically to read more about Japanese-Canadian internment so that might be my bad. Otherwise, it's more an explanation and a description of what happened than a reflection of how it shaped his heritage and his family roots. I wish there had been more retrospection and more about his grandparents and how they lived after the traumatic events of their early adulthood.
June 22, 2018
Forgiveness by Mark Sakamoto won the Canada Reads award for 2018. Jeanne Beker defended this book to the end and it was an outstanding win. I was drawn to the story line and couldn't wait to read the book. I was certainly not disappointed. I learned more about the Second World War and how Japanese took POW and how Canada dealth with Japanese Canadian's and internment. It is so unfortunate when man evokes harm in the most cruel and inhumane way toward other men and women in society.
This book is a must read for every high school student in Canada. It is enlightening. Throught provoking. Timely. In fact, this book should be a must read for every Canadian!!!!
This book is a must read for every high school student in Canada. It is enlightening. Throught provoking. Timely. In fact, this book should be a must read for every Canadian!!!!
March 18, 2018
Really interesting way to hear from two different sides of the war. I really appreciated the opportunity to learn and hear the stories of people whose experiences could have easily been lost to time. The writing wasn’t as engaging as I would have liked, but I thought it was a decent overview of a family’s experiences across generations.
December 30, 2023
3.5 - This is definitely a family story worth telling. However, I found the writing style detracted from rather than enhanced the story.
October 24, 2025
Slow start, but remarkable accounts of multiple journeys across generations. Wow!
February 26, 2018
"My grandparents bore witness to the worst in humanity. Yet they also managed to illuminate the finest in humanity."
A tale of 3 interwoven family stories that share the complex & difficult experience of each core player (the author, his maternal Scottish Canadian grandfather & his paternal Japanese grandmother) experienced in their pivotal twenties. The book challenges the reader to explore your own capacity for forgiveness, examine your own Canadian family story (big gaps in my own that I've been trying to fill recently, good time to read this book!) and reminder that EVERYONE has their baggage. It's not the fact you go through it that hurts, but how one deals with the difficulty that separates the strong from the weak.
Many life lessons in this book, which is part memoir, part biography & 100% Canadian. Good choice for Canada Reads 2018!
A tale of 3 interwoven family stories that share the complex & difficult experience of each core player (the author, his maternal Scottish Canadian grandfather & his paternal Japanese grandmother) experienced in their pivotal twenties. The book challenges the reader to explore your own capacity for forgiveness, examine your own Canadian family story (big gaps in my own that I've been trying to fill recently, good time to read this book!) and reminder that EVERYONE has their baggage. It's not the fact you go through it that hurts, but how one deals with the difficulty that separates the strong from the weak.
Many life lessons in this book, which is part memoir, part biography & 100% Canadian. Good choice for Canada Reads 2018!
Read
February 26, 2018Heard about this book from the 2018 Canada Reads shortlist. Bought a copy and loved it. Most of the book tells the story of the author's grandparents - a grandmother that suffered through the discrimination of being a Japanese descendant living in Canada when we treated the Japanese people horribly and a grandfather that suffered the horrors of being a Canada solider captured by the Japanese. Both could have grown up bitter against the other's people group, but they chose to forgive and live free of bitterness. The last part of the book tells about the author's own struggle to forgive his mother for struggles they encountered in their lives.
Here are just two great quotes from the book:
"History has proven all too many times that discrimination in any form is a downward spiral."
"Forgiveness is moving on. It is a daily act that looks forward."
Here are just two great quotes from the book:
"History has proven all too many times that discrimination in any form is a downward spiral."
"Forgiveness is moving on. It is a daily act that looks forward."
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