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Three Views Of Crystal Water
Listen as author Katherine Govier discusses the history and context behind the writing of Three Views of Crystal Water in this series of exclusive videos. In this lucid and exotic tale, Katherine Govier delves into the19th-century pearl rush. Greed for the unearthly luster drove sea-farers toscour the ocean floor until the plunder all but destroyed the divers, the oysterbeds and the pearl itself. But on a small island off the coast of Japan, a mantamed the oysters, learning to create pearls at will. Three Views of Crystal Water is told by the Canadian girlVera, who comes of age amongst the brave women divers of Japan. Nurtured by the ama community, she learns to dive 45 feet with a single breath. She also findsher first lover. In the lives of the simple fisherfolk, loyalty is everything.But Vera is an outsider, and when war is declared in Europe, she must go home toVancouver. In the murky streets of Gastown, Vera comes to understand thepearl-lust that has divided the men in her family. But it is years later whenshe discovers what catastrophes war has brought to her friends, and whatdeliverance to her young lover, and herself. Like the divers it so compellingly portrays, Three Views ofCrystal Water penetrates far below life’s surface. Part fable, parthistory and entirely original, this novel is infused by Govier’s profoundreflections on nature—both earthly and human.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
6 people are currently reading
213 people want to read
About the author
Katherine Govier
24 books98 followersKatherine Govier is the author of eleven novels, three short story collections, and a collection of nursery rhymes. Her most recent novel is The Three Sisters Bar and Hotel (HarperAvenue). Here previous novel, The Ghost Brush (published in the US as The Printmaker's Daughter), is about the daughter of the famous Japanese printmaker, Hokusai, creator of The Great Wave. Her novel Creation, about John James Audubon in Labrador, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 2003.
Katherine's fiction and non-fiction has appeared in the United Kingdom, the United States, and throughout the Commonwealth, and in translation in Holland, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Japan, Romania, Latvia and Slovenia. She is the winner of Canada's Marian Engel Award for a woman writer (1997) and the Toronto Book Award (1992). Creation was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 2003.
Katherine has been instrumental in establishing three innovative writing programs. In 1989, with teacher Trevor Owen, she helped found Writers in Electronic Residence. In 2011 she founded The Shoe Project, a writing workshop for immigrant and refugee women. She continues as the Chair of its Board of Directors. In 2019 Katherine was made a member of the Order of Canada.
She has edited two collections of travel essays, Solo: Writers on Pilgrimage and WIthout a Guide.
Katherine's fiction and non-fiction has appeared in the United Kingdom, the United States, and throughout the Commonwealth, and in translation in Holland, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Japan, Romania, Latvia and Slovenia. She is the winner of Canada's Marian Engel Award for a woman writer (1997) and the Toronto Book Award (1992). Creation was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 2003.
Katherine has been instrumental in establishing three innovative writing programs. In 1989, with teacher Trevor Owen, she helped found Writers in Electronic Residence. In 2011 she founded The Shoe Project, a writing workshop for immigrant and refugee women. She continues as the Chair of its Board of Directors. In 2019 Katherine was made a member of the Order of Canada.
She has edited two collections of travel essays, Solo: Writers on Pilgrimage and WIthout a Guide.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
November 2, 2011
Vera is only a child when her mother dies, and her father has long since been absent. Her rather colourful grandfather eventually returns from his travels, complete with his Japanese lover, Keiko, a pearl diver. Vera lives with them, and visits him daily at work. Life settles into a comfortable routine until the grandfather dies.
After his death it seems that there is no longer any money to support Vera and Keiko. Vera writes to her absent father hoping he will take care of her, but she hears nothing. They have to find ways to earn a living, but Vera has no skills or experience, and Keiko has no relevant experience and a poor command of English. Their only option seems to be to live in Japan where Keiko can use her experience as a pearl diver.
There are fascinating accounts of the trials and tribulations of pearl diving, and the camaraderie of the pearl divers and their families. Life is lived according to the seasons, with all the community moving to the island from which they dive for several months, then back again when the pearl gathering season is over. Vera is the odd one out, the only blonde westerner, but she does eventually connect with another loner.
Over the years we watch Vera becoming an adult, and her changing relationships with Keiko and others.
Eventually Vera's father turns up, which changes everything.
With the anticipated start of World War II it becomes clear that Vera could be in danger.
What happens to Vera? What happens to Keiko?
I would definitely recommend reading this wonderful book to find out.
February 17, 2020
“Three Views of Crystal Water” has been on my bookshelf for close to 15 years. I read it when it was first published and loved every word. I always wonder if a novel will hold up over time when I pull it out for a second read many years later. In this case, the answer was most decidedly yes.
It is ostensibly the story of the ama diving women of Japan and much of the story does revolve around them. But it is also the story of the secret world of pearl merchants and the story of Japans ill-considered alliance with Hitler.
All of this plays out as its main character Vera Lowinger Drew endures the loss of her mother and grandfather, finds herself transported to Japan where she becomes by necessity an ama diver for a few years, reunites with the long last father she barely knows and finally carves out a life of her own back in Vancouver, Canada.
“Three Views of Crystal Water” showcases Govier’s trademark meticulous research and her ability to probe the depths of her characters’ psyches. It is the kind of novel you can settle into and lose yourself inside for a few weeks. Every bit as enjoyable a read the second time around.
It is ostensibly the story of the ama diving women of Japan and much of the story does revolve around them. But it is also the story of the secret world of pearl merchants and the story of Japans ill-considered alliance with Hitler.
All of this plays out as its main character Vera Lowinger Drew endures the loss of her mother and grandfather, finds herself transported to Japan where she becomes by necessity an ama diver for a few years, reunites with the long last father she barely knows and finally carves out a life of her own back in Vancouver, Canada.
“Three Views of Crystal Water” showcases Govier’s trademark meticulous research and her ability to probe the depths of her characters’ psyches. It is the kind of novel you can settle into and lose yourself inside for a few weeks. Every bit as enjoyable a read the second time around.
August 13, 2021
A deeply satisfying read spun with mastery around a simple question: What does a girl do when she is born to a family that is not hers? I admire the many layered storytelling and the vividly precise descriptions of the ocean and pearling, not to mention the genuine emotional impact that is both personal and universal. So much to chew on, such a feast of reading. This is one of those bring-with-you-to-a-deserted-island books. Highly recommended.
July 6, 2013
Canadian writer Govier set her novel in Vancouver ‘a beautiful city with a view to the Orient’ and Japan where I first find Vera describing how she, a white European dives for abalone the traditional almost naked way with the women who specialise in this task in the village of Koba in the late nineteen thirties. The prolog introduces the lyrical beauty of the crystal water: the diver’s feeling of weightlessness in the silky touch of the clear waters, the beauty of the waving kelp on the sea floor and the proud women of all ages who dive deep with knives in their belts to cut the resisting abalone from the rock. After this present tense immediacy, Govier takes me years into the future where 25 year old Vera narrates her memories beginning at age thirteen after the shock of her mother’s apparent suicide left her alone on a wharf waiting to inform her grandfather James Lowinger of that fact when he arrived in Vancouver from Japan. Her next shock, reflected more by her scandalised neighbours is that her grandfather is accompanied by a young Japanese woman, Keiko.
Lowinger, a grey moustachioed, romantic adventurer and pearl dealer does not marry Keiko but nevertheless charms the neighbours and people in the tavern with his stories of his life in the Orient while Vera enjoys the freedom of life in the old port around her grandfather’s office in Homer Street, an area of sailors and traders previously forbidden to her by her mother who was also one who feared the sea. The office of Lowinger and McBean is presided over by the formidable Miss Hinchcliffe who resents Vera’s increasing interest and curiosity about the business and declares that there never was a Mr McBean about whom a mystery develops alongside that about Vera’s father Hamilton Drew who has not answered any of the wires and letters concerning the death of Vera’s mother and the future of the girl. This situation remains when Lowinger dies and Vera whose interest in her grandfather’s stories has been further enhanced by her appreciation of his collection of Japanese woodcut prints, especially the three views of crystal water that show the women divers, is again left alone and decides to accompany Keiko who is also a diver, home to that same Crystal Waters island in Japan.
Thus the writer sets up an intriguing story told in Vera’s viewpoint of another three views of life in Japan in the dangerous period just prior to World War II, interspersed with Lowinger’s stories of his part in the history of pearling from Ceylon in 1860, the Persian Gulf and Japan up to the invention by Mikimoto of the method of the cultivation of pearls. The mysteries suggested by the woodblock prints divide the novel into three parts where past and present interact and memories intertwine with history. Memory ‘where does it go so that, when we try to grasp it, it eludes, but dances back with its smells and sounds, remembered voices only to prove its power, and then retreat’. Vera endures the loneliness, the harshness of the winters and the poverty of the fishing village made worse by the demands of the Emperor declaring one day of starvation every week to support his army’s vicious war in China. Everyone obeys and more and more young men are conscripted but not the mysterious ‘sword polisher’ Ikkanshi whose significance is further signalled by the writer’s choice of samurai sword action words as epigraphs for the subsequent chapters. Ikkanshi and Vera, as the two isolates of the village are drawn together as Ikkanshi, a London educated diplomat and military officer finds himself explaining Japanese society and the historical importance of the antique sword he is working on in the context of Japan’s decline into military fascism.
All these complications were conveyed easily to me by this accomplished writer who easily combines the story of Vera’s growth to womanhood with the pearling stories, the love stories and the story of Vera’s enchantment with the women divers and her successful acceptance in their group, always under the threat of war. The ending after the war gave me some disappointment but she always gave me as the reader sufficient encouragement to participate and contribute my own interpretations of the events.
This novel is highly recommended. Teachers and students in years 11-12 will find it a valuable resource for the across the curriculum Asian perspective of the national curriculum as well as an enjoyable cross cultural reading experience.
Lowinger, a grey moustachioed, romantic adventurer and pearl dealer does not marry Keiko but nevertheless charms the neighbours and people in the tavern with his stories of his life in the Orient while Vera enjoys the freedom of life in the old port around her grandfather’s office in Homer Street, an area of sailors and traders previously forbidden to her by her mother who was also one who feared the sea. The office of Lowinger and McBean is presided over by the formidable Miss Hinchcliffe who resents Vera’s increasing interest and curiosity about the business and declares that there never was a Mr McBean about whom a mystery develops alongside that about Vera’s father Hamilton Drew who has not answered any of the wires and letters concerning the death of Vera’s mother and the future of the girl. This situation remains when Lowinger dies and Vera whose interest in her grandfather’s stories has been further enhanced by her appreciation of his collection of Japanese woodcut prints, especially the three views of crystal water that show the women divers, is again left alone and decides to accompany Keiko who is also a diver, home to that same Crystal Waters island in Japan.
Thus the writer sets up an intriguing story told in Vera’s viewpoint of another three views of life in Japan in the dangerous period just prior to World War II, interspersed with Lowinger’s stories of his part in the history of pearling from Ceylon in 1860, the Persian Gulf and Japan up to the invention by Mikimoto of the method of the cultivation of pearls. The mysteries suggested by the woodblock prints divide the novel into three parts where past and present interact and memories intertwine with history. Memory ‘where does it go so that, when we try to grasp it, it eludes, but dances back with its smells and sounds, remembered voices only to prove its power, and then retreat’. Vera endures the loneliness, the harshness of the winters and the poverty of the fishing village made worse by the demands of the Emperor declaring one day of starvation every week to support his army’s vicious war in China. Everyone obeys and more and more young men are conscripted but not the mysterious ‘sword polisher’ Ikkanshi whose significance is further signalled by the writer’s choice of samurai sword action words as epigraphs for the subsequent chapters. Ikkanshi and Vera, as the two isolates of the village are drawn together as Ikkanshi, a London educated diplomat and military officer finds himself explaining Japanese society and the historical importance of the antique sword he is working on in the context of Japan’s decline into military fascism.
All these complications were conveyed easily to me by this accomplished writer who easily combines the story of Vera’s growth to womanhood with the pearling stories, the love stories and the story of Vera’s enchantment with the women divers and her successful acceptance in their group, always under the threat of war. The ending after the war gave me some disappointment but she always gave me as the reader sufficient encouragement to participate and contribute my own interpretations of the events.
This novel is highly recommended. Teachers and students in years 11-12 will find it a valuable resource for the across the curriculum Asian perspective of the national curriculum as well as an enjoyable cross cultural reading experience.
June 26, 2009
I have never heard of this writer and just happened to stumble on this novel. It is set in Vancouver in the 1930s and deals with a girlJapanese immigrant family who dives for pearls. the novel is apparently well researched and I loved the poetic and delicate language. chick lit at its best.
November 12, 2009
Great book, out of print, you may need to order this.
February 15, 2010
I loved this book. Sometimes where I'm at when I read a book has so much to do with what I thought of it... this book was read at one of those times.
September 3, 2013
I liked the story, the cultures and history in it.
Going to look for more of Goviers writing!
Going to look for more of Goviers writing!
January 6, 2025
I had no idea what to expect in this book but the title grabbed me right away. I love how the title is the name of a woodcut Japanese triptych that the protagonist, Vera Lowinger Drew, examines as a young teenage girl and then throughout the novel rearranges the order of the three parts to tell different versions of the story. I also love that the book is divided into three parts - which feel like three movements - each a different view. The novel has 12 chapters, the names of which reflect the lessons that Vera receives from the sword polisher.
Prologue
View 1
Chapter 1: Mei - Attacking from in front
Chapter 2: Ushiro - Attacking from behind
Chapter 3: Uke-nagashi - Warding off: take and give back
Chapter 4: Tsuka-ate -Strike with the handle
View 2
Prologue
Chapter 5: Kesa-giri -Diagonal cuts
Chapter 6: Morote-suki -Two-handed thrust
Chapter 7: San-po-giri -Three directions cuts
Chapter 8: Ganmen-ate - Strike to face
Chapter 9: Soete-tsuki - Companion hand-thrust: turning to surprise one on your left
Chapter 10: Shi-ho-giri - Four direction cuts
View 3
Prologue
Chapter 11: So-giri - Many cuts; running cutting through a crowd
Chapter 12: Nuki-uchi -Drawing upward, cutting down
Many plot lines are woven into the novel. The main plot follows the life of Vera, who begins that book as an orphaned 13 year old girl in Vancouver meeting her grandfather at the docks. We follow Vera to Japan where she lives with her grandfather's young partner, Keiko, for a couple of years. We follow Vera back to Vancouver where she learns more of the truth of her family background. Eventually years later she returns to Japan to re-connect with friends there.
We follow the reality of the pearl trade at the turn of the 20th century, who benefits and who puts their lives at risk for pearls. We learn about natural pearls and cultured pearls. We learn about the greed in the trade as well as the precariousness of developing a fortune and the risks. Vera's grandfather's will is so interesting.
We learn about Japanese culture through the eyes of Canadian characters and the novel includes many Japanese words throughout.
The novel focuses a lot on nature mostly in relation to the Pacific Ocean from an unnamed island where Vera spends a number of summers. Her contemplation of nature, ability to spend time alone and in silence, the changing light on and in water, the sounds, the feel of the wind and so much more is rich, rich, rich in this novel.
The roles that people play in Vera's life, as protectors, lovers, teachers are beautifully developed.
The politics of the time - the fatal partnership of Japan with Germany under Hitler and the divisions this caused in society and friendships is well presented as well as the impact of the Depression of the 1930s. The sword polisher holds the position of wise resister, really well presented from start to finish.
Really a story of love and loss and how a young girl finds her way in life through persistently asking questions and seeking truth and with the help and guidance of family and friends.
At times the novel felt slow, more so in View 2, but resolves many lingering questions wotards the end in View 3.
Prologue
View 1
Chapter 1: Mei - Attacking from in front
Chapter 2: Ushiro - Attacking from behind
Chapter 3: Uke-nagashi - Warding off: take and give back
Chapter 4: Tsuka-ate -Strike with the handle
View 2
Prologue
Chapter 5: Kesa-giri -Diagonal cuts
Chapter 6: Morote-suki -Two-handed thrust
Chapter 7: San-po-giri -Three directions cuts
Chapter 8: Ganmen-ate - Strike to face
Chapter 9: Soete-tsuki - Companion hand-thrust: turning to surprise one on your left
Chapter 10: Shi-ho-giri - Four direction cuts
View 3
Prologue
Chapter 11: So-giri - Many cuts; running cutting through a crowd
Chapter 12: Nuki-uchi -Drawing upward, cutting down
Many plot lines are woven into the novel. The main plot follows the life of Vera, who begins that book as an orphaned 13 year old girl in Vancouver meeting her grandfather at the docks. We follow Vera to Japan where she lives with her grandfather's young partner, Keiko, for a couple of years. We follow Vera back to Vancouver where she learns more of the truth of her family background. Eventually years later she returns to Japan to re-connect with friends there.
We follow the reality of the pearl trade at the turn of the 20th century, who benefits and who puts their lives at risk for pearls. We learn about natural pearls and cultured pearls. We learn about the greed in the trade as well as the precariousness of developing a fortune and the risks. Vera's grandfather's will is so interesting.
We learn about Japanese culture through the eyes of Canadian characters and the novel includes many Japanese words throughout.
The novel focuses a lot on nature mostly in relation to the Pacific Ocean from an unnamed island where Vera spends a number of summers. Her contemplation of nature, ability to spend time alone and in silence, the changing light on and in water, the sounds, the feel of the wind and so much more is rich, rich, rich in this novel.
The roles that people play in Vera's life, as protectors, lovers, teachers are beautifully developed.
The politics of the time - the fatal partnership of Japan with Germany under Hitler and the divisions this caused in society and friendships is well presented as well as the impact of the Depression of the 1930s. The sword polisher holds the position of wise resister, really well presented from start to finish.
Really a story of love and loss and how a young girl finds her way in life through persistently asking questions and seeking truth and with the help and guidance of family and friends.
At times the novel felt slow, more so in View 2, but resolves many lingering questions wotards the end in View 3.
September 22, 2021
Being from Vancouver, I loved that the early part of the book takes place in the 1930s in 'old' Vancouver (James Lowenger, the trader in the book, would be gobsmacked at the Water Street of today!) It took re-reading the first part to understand that the child's mother had committed suicide. The story develops slowly, but once deep into it, I couldn't put it down. The girl's experience as she comes of age on the island with the other 'amas,' learning to dive deep for oysters, falling in love, experiencing friendship and acceptance--all were haunting to read about, considering the times (the commencement of WW2). I found the book at a secondhand store; so glad I picked it, knowing nothing about the author beforehand.
November 20, 2021
I enjoyed reading about the Pearl Industry and the "ama",female Japanese divers. before WWII. This novel is composed of alternating tales: of Vera's life and how she became an ama, of her grandfather, a pearl merchant, and of the life of these pearl divers. There were some strong, compelling characters such as the sword-polisher and Keiko.
I agree with the blurb descibing this book of "Pearls and Passion; of Belonging and Betrayal" .
I agree with the blurb descibing this book of "Pearls and Passion; of Belonging and Betrayal" .
November 7, 2022
Slow to start, I loved this book about the pearl-diving women of Japan, and the one white girl who joins them. Even though the ending is slightly ambiguous, I liked where it implied it was going. A book set around WWII, but not about WWII.
All about glass reading challenge-glass is made from sand (set near a beach AND water on the cover)
All about glass reading challenge-glass is made from sand (set near a beach AND water on the cover)
September 30, 2023
I wanted to like this book as I am very interested in Japan and have a fascination with the ama. It took me 2.5 weeks to read it because it just didn't hold my interest. I wanted more on the ama, and more character development outside of the main protagonist.
Read
December 10, 2020I loved the simplicity of the Ama's (Japanese diving women) lives in rural Japan in the 1940's. Beautiful writing.
April 19, 2021
I enjoyed the book but found the pace of the book slow, kept waiting for something to happen
April 5, 2024
Awesome story. Rich characters and great description of life in the 30’s of the pearl diving community. It echoes lisa See’s book on the ama’s - the pearl divers.
July 14, 2012
Laborious read.
Generally I love books set in exotic parts of the world and being an historical novel would be a bonus, unfortunately I found this such a laborious read that I frequently questioned myself as to why I was persevering with it. It felt like a non-fiction book and could have benefitted from severe editing.
Vera is a likeable enough character, who finds herself motherless at the age of six. Her father's whereabouts are unknown, so she lives with her pearl trading grandfather and his young Japanese wife, Keiko. It takes a while for the book to reveal who Vera's grandfather is and how he fits into the back-story. Similarly, we gradually learn her parents' identities and who her grandmother was.
Keiko had been a pearl diver on a small Japanese island and when Vera's grandfather dies they have no choice but to return there so Keiko can earn a living and support them both. Vera is very much a loner to begin with, until she begins to learn a little Japanese and meets a few friendly islanders. One of her first friends was the sword polisher, who happens to speak a bit of English from his days in Britain with the Japanese army.
The novel covers quite a span of time and the pearl divers return for several summers of pearl diving during the course of the narrative. Vera longs to be truly accepted and become a pearl diver herself, but this is controlled by the island's headman.
The threat of WWII is looming and questions are asked about Vera's safety amongst 'the enemy'. It is therefore sensible for her to return to Canada when her wandering father finally tracks her down and removes her from, what is now, her home.
A new era begins as she travels with him and his pearl trading.
I read this for a book group and the most interesting outcome was the discussion of pearl diving and the pearls (the differences between real and cultured pearls) and also the art that was mentioned earlier in the book, ukiyo-e.
I found the time-hopping rather confusing and struggled to finish this book. It is interesting in parts but didn't grab me overall. My opinion was shared by the members of the book group with the exception of Sue Hunter who has given it a five star rerview on here.
Generally I love books set in exotic parts of the world and being an historical novel would be a bonus, unfortunately I found this such a laborious read that I frequently questioned myself as to why I was persevering with it. It felt like a non-fiction book and could have benefitted from severe editing.
Vera is a likeable enough character, who finds herself motherless at the age of six. Her father's whereabouts are unknown, so she lives with her pearl trading grandfather and his young Japanese wife, Keiko. It takes a while for the book to reveal who Vera's grandfather is and how he fits into the back-story. Similarly, we gradually learn her parents' identities and who her grandmother was.
Keiko had been a pearl diver on a small Japanese island and when Vera's grandfather dies they have no choice but to return there so Keiko can earn a living and support them both. Vera is very much a loner to begin with, until she begins to learn a little Japanese and meets a few friendly islanders. One of her first friends was the sword polisher, who happens to speak a bit of English from his days in Britain with the Japanese army.
The novel covers quite a span of time and the pearl divers return for several summers of pearl diving during the course of the narrative. Vera longs to be truly accepted and become a pearl diver herself, but this is controlled by the island's headman.
The threat of WWII is looming and questions are asked about Vera's safety amongst 'the enemy'. It is therefore sensible for her to return to Canada when her wandering father finally tracks her down and removes her from, what is now, her home.
A new era begins as she travels with him and his pearl trading.
I read this for a book group and the most interesting outcome was the discussion of pearl diving and the pearls (the differences between real and cultured pearls) and also the art that was mentioned earlier in the book, ukiyo-e.
I found the time-hopping rather confusing and struggled to finish this book. It is interesting in parts but didn't grab me overall. My opinion was shared by the members of the book group with the exception of Sue Hunter who has given it a five star rerview on here.
April 12, 2016
This a multilayered tale, which begins in Vancouver in the mid-1930s, cutting back and forth in time and space between Panama, Japan, and the Middle East. Govier interweaves young Vera Drew’s story with that of her grandfather, James Lowinger, the most sympathetic of a feckless lot of pearl-mad adventure.
The pacing may at times test a reader’s patience. Govier works in a lode of pearl lore and legend, bizarre accounts of treachery and cruelty. And just as she romances the pearl, she mythologizes the ama who dive like sea nymphs bare-breasted into the depths of the sea.
WW2 intervenes in the life of a Canadian girl and the island community of pearl—divers where orphaned Vera has found home and love. The setting is exotic, and so are the stories about profession chosen by very few and known to few in the world outside the oysters´ treasure. The story gives a history of the skill and dangers of pearl divers everywhere; but only in Japan are there ´Amas' ,the special and strong women who chose to follow this risky career. I gathered knowledge from this book which was especially poignant since I read it on a flight to Japan but I found the story too multilayered without a clear story line. The hard copied book remained on the plane!
November 8, 2012
I am not sure what I think of this book. It had some lovely descriptive bits, but I found the pace extremely slow. I kept wanting something to happen. If I hadn't had to read this for book club, I probably would not have ploughed through. It has won several awards, and I'm trying to figure out why. I'm sure I could learn something important if I could figure it out!
The ama are interesting. The sword lore was vaguely interesting. If I was someone enamoured with Japanese culture I might have enjoyed it more. I didn't become attached to any of the characters. Vera's grandfather was interesting, but he was killed off early...
It was fine, but I didn't quite get all the gushing praise on the back cover!
The ama are interesting. The sword lore was vaguely interesting. If I was someone enamoured with Japanese culture I might have enjoyed it more. I didn't become attached to any of the characters. Vera's grandfather was interesting, but he was killed off early...
It was fine, but I didn't quite get all the gushing praise on the back cover!
Want to read
November 10, 2008I was one of the first to get this book in First Look, but had a really hard time with it. I'll try again sometime as I heard it's very good.
Read
February 14, 2015And I really did want to give this one a try. Oh well - makes room for another book.
May 6, 2013
This book had some interesting information about pearl diving, but I was unable to make myself finish it. I made it through half the book.
January 30, 2016
I learned about Peal Diving from this book. Brave characters.
December 6, 2014
Lyrical, intriguing, and engaging. The pace is a little bit slow, but it is a beautiful book.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews