Outside Beauty

by Cynthia Kadohata

"My mother had four daughters by four different men."

There's only one way Shelby and her sisters can describe their mother: She's a sexpot. Helen Kimura collects men (and loans, spending money, and gifts of all kinds) from all over the country. Sure, she's not your typical role model, but she's also not just a pretty face and nail polish. She is confident and brave; she lives life on her own terms, and her four daughters simply adore her. These girls have been raised outside the traditional boundaries. They know how to take the back exit. They know how to dodge crazed lovers in highway car chases. They do not, however, know how to function without one another.

Then suddenly they must. A late-night phone call unexpectedly shreds the family apart, catapulting the girls across the country to live with their respective fathers. But these strong-willed sisters are, like their mother, determined to live life on their own terms, and what they do to pull their family back together is nothing short of beautiful.

At turns wickedly funny and insistently thought-provoking, Outside Beauty showcases Cynthia Kadohata's unerring ability to explore the bonds that bind.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Contemporary, Family, Asian American, Teen

272 pages, Hardcover

First published June 3, 2008

About the author

Cynthia Kadohata is a Japanese American writer known for her insightful coming-of-age stories about Asian American women. Her first published short story appeared in The New Yorker in 1986. As she spent her early childhood in the American South, the author set both her first adult novel and her first novel for children in Southern states. The former became a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and the latter--her first children's book, entitled Kira-Kira--won the 2005 Newbery Medal.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

as i review yet another book about spectacularly irresponsible parenting!! like Lullabies for Little Criminals, these four girls grow up with a parent blissfully ignoring their parental responsibilities in order to live in some sort of hedonistic wonderland. in lullabies, the relationship was drug-addled romping, where the two of them behaved like children together until it all came tumbling down. this book is less dangerous than that, but helen kimura isn't going to win any parenting awards...

she is like a less vengeful miss havisham,training her girls to be sex-bombs to be able to live a life of leisure and not have to have a job and still get expensive jewelry, but she isn't plotting anyone's destruction, she's just teaching her girls how to be perfect and beautiful; so they will be successful in life. awesome. did i mention that she has four daughters by four different men?? now, i'm not saying she is LGM or anything, this is only important as a plot point, because they are all feverishly devoted to one another in their little estrogen-hive, until SOMETHING HAPPENS, and they get scattered to the winds, each having to go to her own father's house, and how this affects their close-knittedness and their understanding of the broader world.

there are a number of reasons i don't have kids. and one of these reasons is that i don't do anything half-assed. and if i was going to have a kid, i would be, you know, involved in its life, to raise it into a courteous and useful human. and frankly, i don't have time for that.

but it doesn't stop other people from breeding.

yesterday at work - in the bookstore - we had a concert from noon (jasmine says 9) to 7 of young precocious children and their violins and pianos and shit. the music part was fine, but when each child finished its performance (and please do that math - seven ten hours of performances equals a shit-ton of kids) they were just let loose onto the floor, like some musical catch-and-release program, unsupervised, running and yelling and throwing themselves under tables and laying down in front of shelves, not caring about being respectful towards the music of their peers. i saw two little boys, about seven years old, carrying a very expensive photography book of nudes between the two of them, like in one of those cartoons where people carry panes of glass out in public and you just know it is going to end badly, running and grinning about the chance to look at illicit boobies in public like a couple of old perverts and barreling into customers with this very expensive book(oh, yes, the store remained open throughout this debacle) and where were the parents?? of any of 'em?? no one knows. we took turns yelling at other people's kids all day. and i don't get hazard pay for this kinda day - they just expect me to do my job on top of everything else.is hard to be me.

so on this mother's day, don't be a junkie and think that being a best friend is the same as being a parent. don't pick up hitchhikers when you have a car full of your daughters and you are running away from your latest insane boyfriend, don't think that just 'cuz your kid can play a sonata or two that they know how to behave themselves during a bookstore-concert.

make me some better adults, please.

come to my blog!

[Short Reviews · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

I'm not sure what to think of this. This author is either a hit or miss for me: either I love her book or I don't like it. But this one was just... bareable.

The writing was nothing special, but it hooked me in enough to continue reading it, and it was quite a short book so I was able to finish it in a few hours.

Four sisters in this book grow up under their irresponsible parent in an apartment somewhere in 1980s Chicago.

The neglecting parent is one cliche that I'm getting tired of truth be told, and unfortunately Shelby's mother Helen was the epitome of this overused trope. She teahces her girls to be beautiful, perfect ladies in order to attract men. She pushed her own dreams onto her daughters, not caring whether or not it was appropriate for their ages.

My mother had briefly entertained the idea that we would be like the Partridge Family or the Jacksons: a family band. We took singing and dancing lessons and didn’t much like them. Then my mother decided she wanted us all to be not only songbirds, but sex-bombs, each in her own way. She could see potential in my sisters but not me, because I wore glasses, and the contacts she once got me made it feel like dust was rubbing against my eyes. So I was always clutching at my face and crying out, “There’s dust in my eye!” My mother said I was a late bloomer.

Sexbombs?



The sisters are very close to one another, and share a strong bond, which was a sweet to read, and I think the only redeeming part of this book (that and Jiro - he was awesome).

This quote is what captured my interest the most:

I would never be truly lonely as long as my sisters were okay. The line between loneliness and happiness seemed slender to me. If I were killed by a car tomorrow, Jiro (my father) would be unhappy. If anything happened to any of my sisters, I would be unhappy. You were taking a chance by letting someone make you happy or sad. My mother had never wanted to take that chance, for whatever reason.

You know what I would love to read? I'd love to see what made their mother the parent (and person) she was. What happened in Helen's childhood that made her so obsessed with beauty, that she teaches her daughters to be shallow themselves? Why has she chosen to quench her loneliness with different men?
Too bad we'll never find out, because the book ended on that quote. Sigh.

[Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing, considering the beauty of the author's previous book, "Kira-Kira." This one suffers from fits and starts in pacing, as well as an uneven premise with a flimsy resolution. Parts are charming; the sisters' close ties is the glue that holds the book together. All told, though, I think the author lost track of intention and the plot suffered.

[Cali · Rating 2 out of 5]

ACTUAL RATING: 1.5 stars

I was sadly disappointed by this. It seemed that if this author wrote Kira-Kira, then her books shouldn't be this... shallow. It focused on beauty, beauty and sisterhood. But mostly beauty.

It didn't exactly help that for some unknown, inane reason Shelby would think in exclamation points. That is officially one of my pet peeves. I understand if the exclamation point is used like "I don't care!", she yelled. but when used in "My sisters were in that tornado with me!" I just don't see the point. It makes it sound so weird and un-natural.

And this SHELBY is apparently 14 years old. The way the author wrote her either made her seem younger or older than her actual years. It was very confusing and just plain irritating. If she's 14 years old, then ACT like a fourteen-year-old!

Mr.Bronson on the other hand, the 'villain' of the story was lame. What did he do exactly? Oh you know, just spank Maddie and was slowly changing who she was. But aside from that, ya know. Normal dude. That was it. That was the GINORMOUS problem that Shelby and her sisters had to tackle. And the fact that they were separated. Other than that, it was smooth sailing.

Characters = flat, boring, 2D (the whole time I was reading I just wanted to say "So what?". So what if you're separated? So what if you're not happy? SO WHAT?)
Story = could be better written (lame problem in my opinion)

I was expecting more and definitely not this. FLOP.

[Shan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can remember reading this when I was 15 or younger and absolutely loving it, so much so I borrowed it from the library way more than once. I loved it.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really loved Kadohata's Kira-Kira, but this book as well as Cracker! The Best Dog in Vietnam did not amaze me. I can see her writing talent through her development of Shelby and the bond between her sisters, but the setting and plot could have been improved. I do not understand the reasoning behind the 1980's setting when the story did not revolve around historical context; I would have liked to seen the story take place in contemporary society, with e-mail and other electronic devices coming into play.

Still, I will continue to read Kadohata's future novels. This was good in terms of characterization, but plot progression needed some work.

Want to read more of my reviews? Follow me here.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that this book was okay, it wasn't good enough for me to want to read it constantly but wasn't bad enough for me to never want to read it again. In this book the mother of the 4 daughters isn't the best role model any child could ask for. She acts like a single woman who parties every night just to get a roof under her children's head. However, I wished the author included more details to make me feel like I was in the moment to really imagine and experience the feeling of how miserable they felt about their mother's accident or about how they felt like when they were being separated. I wish she included more, I really think that the book would've been a slab bit better. Otherwise, this book is good to get into the feels and see what it feels like to have a mother who doesn't really do her job. It made me realize a lot of things and made me see things from a different perspective that I wouldn't have noticed if it wasn't for this book. We hear stories all the time about how kids grow up not really knowing their birth fathers and not having a good mother to take care of them, this book would be one that seemed realistic.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Four sisters and their perpetually-, never-single mother. Perpetually, because she never stays with any guy for any length of time. All four girls have different fathers; their fathers are all very peripheral to their lives. But she’s also always with a man; she’s beautiful, and her beauty is her main asset

The girls are very close, and Shelby, the main character and second-oldest sister, is like a second mom to Maddie, the youngest. Maybe I like it more because I’m the youngest of four girls, but I think I’d love it no matter what.

It’s a great story, and I don’t want to give anything away.

[Niki · Rating 3 out of 5]

The whole ending and particularly the resolution were very rushed.

[Elizabeth K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this was great. YA novel, about four sisters who are actually half sisters because their mother more or less makes a living by serial dating men and then breaking their hearts when she moves on to the next guy. The sisters, who range in age from 16 down to 6, get daily lessons from their mom about poise, graceful posture, preventing wrinkles, appraising jewelry, and attracting men. Most of the action takes place during a summer when the girls are separated as each goes to stay with her own father. When I started reading this, I was thinking what the heck kind of messed up scenario is this for a young adult book? But I was completely sold by the time I was half-way through, and the author does a great job of taking a character like the mother who by all rights should be pretty unlikeable, and showing how true it is that her daughters love her and appreciate her even as they start realizing some of the ways in which they do not want to be like her. I don't have any sisters and this book makes me wish I did.

Grade: A+
Recommended: To anyone who enjoys YA literature.

[Spencer · Rating 1 out of 5]

2020
Always trust your instincts...

I knew that I didn't like this book about 20 pages in, but I convinced myself to keep reading. I really thought that it would get better.... It didn't. What a waste of time.

[Kyra ♡ ‧₊˚ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book that made me a reader.

Outside Beauty by Cynthia Kadohata follows four fiercely loyal sisters, each with a different father, who navigate the instability of their glamorous, impulsive mother and a life constantly on the move. When a car accident forces them to live apart with their respective fathers, the sisters are determined to reunite, no matter what it takes. The story is tender, funny, and full of the kind of messy familial love that feels achingly real.

I first read this book in middle school, and I still think about it to this day. It was one of the very first chapter books I devoured, I took it home, planted myself on the couch, and read for hours until my mom literally had to tell me to stop. I finished it in one sitting, totally immersed in the lives of the sisters.

Despite how much I’ve grown as a reader, how much my tastes and analytical lenses have shifted, Outside Beauty holds a permanent, cherished place in my heart. It didn’t just entertain me, it sparked something. It made me love reading. And for that, it gets all five stars, no hesitation.

Final Verdict: A beautiful, chaotic, sister-powered story that shaped my love for books. Forever a foundational read in my personal literary canon.

[Heidi Burkhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have found Kadhhata's books to be rather uneven. What I will say is that she does know how to write books, whether or not the audience is interested in her characters, settings and story lines.

When I started this book I thought that I might put it down, but I kept going with only a few breaks until I finished it.

Shelby and her sister, Marilyn, had difficult although believable roles as the older two of four siblings. When their wandering mother is seriously injured in an auto accident it is up to these girls to make choices for the four of them.

Outside Beauty reminds me of an updated version of Homecoming, by Cynthia Voigt. I hope that this book finds its way to readers who can appreciate it.

[Clarybella Diaz-Colon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever read a complicated story? Well if you haven't i suggest Outside Beauty.The Genre of Outside Beauty is Realistic Fiction. Outside Beauty is Realistic fiction because this can happen to anyone in our world. I personally thought this was a great book. I thought this was a great book because it was so complicated that you just wanted to keep and keep on reading to see what happens.
Most of Outside Beauty takes place in Chicago of course where the family lives. There is also 2 different places in the book Green Valley,California and Benton Springs, Arkansas. First of all, one of the main character is Shelby. She is one of the most important because she is telling the book so we know more about her than the others. In the beginning Shelby and her three other sisters Marilyn,Lakey and Maddie and of course the mother who's name is not said in the book are running away from their mothers ex boyfriend. so they go with Lakey's father in Green Valley California and they stayed there for a while until they realized that her ex boyfriend got a person to follow them so they left immediately even though her and Lakey's father were hitting it off all over again and the mother and actually from three other mans that she had kids with she loved Lakey's father but didn't tell him anything. they got back to Chicago and they were the same for a while until one night their mother got into a terrible car accident and they were sent to their fathers house for the summer. Lakey went with her father in California. Marilyn stayed with her father in Chicago. Shelby and Maddie went to Arkansas. Before they all left they promised to write letters to each other. Eventually Shelby and Maddie started talking in the phone and one time in the afternoon Maddie called crying and saying that her father Mr. Bronson hit her. So after this Shelby tries to run away but is unsuccessful. so eventually Maddie's letters sounds like if Mr. Bronson wrote them or he was telling Maddie what to write. So later a month passed and their fathers got a call saying that the girls mother had infection because of all of the plastic surgeries she had to take for her face because of the car accident. the infection could even be deadly. So they left immediately and they all met but Maddie wasn't the same she changed. Then they got Maddie back to normal and escaped and went to Lakey's dads cabin house were the ceremony took of Lakey's fathers wedding with his new woman. They got their and lasted their for I would say two days. But then the police came looking for them and got arrested and waited till their fathers came. When they came Shelby's father said that they shouldn't be separated because they need each other. They got back and Shelby's father stayed until their mother got better eventually while he was at this he was selling his gum. When their mother got better he left but the girls still saw him because they were going for Christmas while their mother was in vacation with her new boyfriend. One thing Shelby noticed was that her mother was lonely that's why she had so many boyfriends and even her boyfriends were lonely. That's why her mother cared so much about her looks because she felt lonely. Sure she cared about her look but she was a great mother. I would say this is person vs person because the way they have to fight back with their parents so they could all be together with each other. The theme of the book would be how much kids know about their own situations, and how they can be counted on to deal with what they are given.
The 1rst person affects the book because we only know Shelby's side of the story we don't know the rest of the peoples side. It affects it so much because like how did the other people go trough this whole concept. Like I would like to hear Maddie's side of the story of how her dad hit her. Or even the other people side of the story and how they dealed with this. That's what I thought affected the story the most I would say.
Third of all, I thought the ending of the book was great how they all ended up together and the mom was okay. One thing I would change would be when Shelby runs away that she doesn't get caught and she runs away and actually meets with Maddie and they run away. I was surprised when they all run away together even in the condition their mother was in. wouldn't that mess up the condition their mother is cause she cares so much.
I would rate this book a 4 out of 5. I rated it a 4 because the author could have done much more better like I said in the top. I would recommend this book to people who likes a complicated story like this one or just need a book to read. I would also recommend this book to people who like to read books that can happen in the real world. So how Shelby went through this whole caious about her mother almost dying and moving across the country with her father. that was her whole complicated life and she got through. so many people are going through tough times they think they cant overcome but anyone can overcome what they are going through just like Shelby did in this book. Now that you have heard about this great but complicated story some of you guys might want to read it and hear even more about this story go ahead I suggest it so much.

[Dalila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you like books that have somewhat drama and suspension? well, if you do this book is the right book for you! The genre of this book is realistic fiction. Overall, I really enjoyed this book.

This book is about this girl named Shelby and her family. Shelby is the oldest sister of the rest of her siblings. Her mother is always somewhat there for them. One day Shelby and her mother ended up talking about Shelby's father who is unknown. Then one day somehow everything goes downhill from there on then. One day, her mother introduces Shelby and her siblings to this new guy that their mother is dating ( going to marry) and is now a complete shock to Shelby and siblings because now they are actually going to have a father. Throughout the book Shelby and one of her sisters write each others letters and things like that. Then on night out of no where their real father calls them and once again goes downhill. This causes Shelby and her siblings have to move away from each others and things like that. Then Shelby ends up still writing letters with her sister Maddie and wondering will they ever see each other again? At the end, they all reunite and end up in a orphan house. The conflict in this book is Person Vs Self. Its this conflict because int he book Shelby has to figure out what to do.

I really liked this book because it sounds as if the book was a real life story.The book shows that yes sometimes your going to have crazy adventures in life but as long, as you have some friends in your life to be there for you. Everything is going to be okay in the end.In the book it says "Don't you have friends? Yes, i do but i don't know if they are true friends" Another thing is that I liked the way the author says her deep quotes. It sounds as if she is the person in the book. "Even though, I said some lies in the end they ended up being real." I liked that because everyone has lied before and sometimes it ends up becoming true.

My favorite part of the book is when Maddie stands up for herself in a situation where her step-dad was bossing her around and she didn't like the idea of having a new dad. "I was surprised when mom told us....it wouldn't be the same.." Another thing is that I liked the way Maddie had said something about Lakey's father. (Lakey is one of Maddie's sisters) " Sometimes I secretly wish my mother had loved my father..." This stood out to me because it's sad to see some people don't have a father or mother...and it just sucks.

If I were to rate this book out of 5 stars I would rate it five out of five stars because it is such a good book. There are a lot of meaningful quotes and sometimes you may be able to relate to it. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading books that have a lot of quotes. Put yourself in Maddie's position..imagine if you didn't know your father or mother....enjoy the little things in life because without your mother or father you wouldn't have what you have right now.

[Josiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Why did the world give you twice as much as you could handle?"

—Shelby, "Outside Beauty", P. 140

"Who wanted a long life if you were sad?"

—Shelby, P. 166

Cynthia Kadohata, a master of young adult literature, has once again displayed her stunning skills in this tightly woven, suspenseful, complex story that deals with all kinds of unconventional relationships and the way that our interconnectedness with those around us will profoundly affect our lives, whether or not the connections themselves are simple or easy.

"We must have been changing a little bit every day, and all the little changes added up so that now we were different. It was as if I didn't know them 100 percent anymore. I knew them only 95 percent now."

—Shelby, P. 172

"Outside Beauty" is a beautifully worked and ingeniously nuanced tale of five girls that are half sisters to each other, sharing one mother and the common bond of at least partially Japanese heritage. It would have been very easy to let some of these girls shine while allowing others not to have fully developed personalities in the story, but Cynthia Kadohata does not fall into this trap; she marvelously brings out in each girl a fresh, believable, likable personality that gives the story a varied flavor that few books can match, and far fewer can exceed.
"Outside Beauty" is a wonderful, magnificent book that caught me up and held me in suspense until the very end. It is a tremendous picture of the elasticity and iron resolve of the human spirit, and shows with near perfection what can be achieved through the determined power of interpersonal love. I absolutely love it.

"The line between loneliness and happiness seemed slender to me... You were taking a chance by letting someone make you happy or sad."

—Shelby, P. 265

[Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone has their own family stories making their family warm and maintaining in happiness. Have you ever read a book in which every characters struggle with some pretty big concepts of family and beauty? If not yet, flip through pages of Outside Beauty by Cynthia Kadohata to know how it is like! Through this book, you can find it unbelievable having four sisters, each having a different father than the other, and still have a loving family.
13 year old Shelby has 3 sisters and a strong-willed mother Helen, holding the family together. Cynthia Kadohata did a great job using the narrator, Shelby to introduce her sisters along with their racial backgrounds. Thus, these differences are completely ignored by the girls themselves. In addition, race is reflected in the main theme of what "outside beauty" mean to different people and how it defines us. Moments mentioning race in Outside Beauty comes and goes in a flash. It comes and goes so quickly that they make us aware that others are aware of race. But in this universe, it matters even less than beauty does.
The question is, “Does race matter? Or does it not?” Cynthia Kadohata is pushing beyond the unexpected. What are you still waiting for?! You don’t want to miss this one of a kind book, do you? This is the book for you if you are interested in reading about this quote, “My mother had four daughters by four different men." How do you feel? You’ll definitely regret if you don’t read this book!

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. The writing was simplistic, more simplistic than usual for YA, but not in a bad way. It felt a bit more middle grade at times than YA, but the subject matter was definitely older.

Four sisters, four different fathers, and a mother who is obsessed with her looks and the men who support their lives. It was interesting, but I guess I expected a bit too much from that plot, even though I knew the girls would soon split and end up with their respective fathers. I did enjoy Shelby's subtle and natural growing familiarity and fondness with her father Juri, but a lot of the time I felt like I was standing outside of a window, looking in on these people's lives without much feeling of emotion. Near the beginning, Shelby gets a bloody nose and there's not even any mention of pain or hurt that Shelby feels from slamming her nose in a shopping cart. That lack of feeling is carried throughout the entire book.

I liked it in spite of the flaws, even when it seemed like the ending was very rushed, and the strange passage of time (An entire year passed in what I thought was about two or three months). I just wish there had been more emotional discovery, more explorations into the toxic environment the girls had grown up in, with a mother who was so obsessed with her looks that she tried to teach her daughters that men were the key to happiness in life.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I thought this was going to be one of those books that Teaches a Lesson, but it turned out to be very sweet.

Four half-sisters, the daughters of a very beautiful mother, are used to having different fathers and different men around. Helen (mom) doesn't want to settle down, nor does she believe that men want anything more than the perfect, beautiful woman. When she is in a bad car accident, the girls are sent to live with their fathers - and it seems that Helen has no one "type" for men. The catalyst for the third act in the book is the fact that the youngest, Maddie, seems to have a really uptight, martinet father. So they run away but ultimately, they figure out a way to stay together, with one of the fathers.

I liked the relationships here, and the differences in the daughters rang true. It's also unclear as to why this was set in 1983, except that then it takes away the girls ability to communicate easily once they've been separated: no cells, no computers back then. I'm finding this happens often in books, and I'm not sure how students are reacting. There's no real reason to set it in the recent past, and the lack of modern technology seems a little jarring.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of an odd book, with two-star aspects and three-star aspects. Like many other reviewers, I didn't see any point to the 1980s setting.

The most interesting and, I think, best-written parts are about Shelby getting to know her father, and I wish that had made up the bulk of the book. There was an especially intriguing comment thrown out that wasn't further developed that just hinted about how Jiro felt about having his daughter thrust upon him.

Jiro, Shelby, and Maddie were pretty well-developed, but the other characters, not so much. I couldn't stop thinking how odd it was that all four fathers were able and willing to take temporary custody of their daughters, and also that all four got along pretty well.

The ending struck me as a little silly, and while I did understand the strong feeling the girls had that they wanted to be together, I also kept thinking that Maddie's father wasn't all that bad--controlling and perhaps a little abusive, but their mother was definitely not providing a healthy and safe home life, either.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

265 pages Four sisters, Marilyn, Shelby, Lakey, and Maddie, adore their mother, Helen Kimura. Helen isn't your typical mother, she is always concerned with beauty and her latest boyfriend, and the girls all have different fathers. When Helen is in a car accident, the girls are forced to go live with their respective fathers, and no one is happy. The four are inseperable, and the youngest, Maddie, is being smothered by her father's strict ideas of child rearing. Shelby attempts to bring her sister to live with her and her father, Jiro, but her attempt to run away doesn't work. It isn't until a complication with their mother brings the four back together that they make a clean getaway. But running away isn't the answer, and the four will have to decide what family really is . . .

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kadohata won the Newbery for Kira-Kira, but I found this book to be far more powerful. Narrated by one of the four daughters of a woman who lives on her beauty - supported by an endless string of boyfriends - this tale of family love and relationships resists easy answers and cliches. The characters have surprising depth and complexity. This is YA literature at its best and a story that will remain with me for a long time.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kadohata's writing does not disappoint, though the story, for me, lacked the impact of Kira Kira, an admittedly high standard. Delightful characters, which Kadohata does a wonderful job of keeping distinct.

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this book 3 years ago. Just remembered about it now, oops.
From what I remember I enjoyed it and thought it was funny. And that's all I can really say.

[Isabella Bloom · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I learned-
-Stay close to your Family
-Be grateful for your family
-Use your family wisely
-Love
-Will
-Always
-Be
-Within
-Your love ones...

[Erica · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has had low circulation on our public library shelves, but I love some of Kadohata's books, so I read it to decide whether or not to keep it.

First of all, I appreciate having multiple stories of diverse people who live all across the United States, because so many authors pretend that everyone is white until you get to a coast or a big city. To have an American author of Japanese descent describe characters with her same background living in both rural & urban areas in the midwest feels like a gift to readers everywhere.

I acknowledge that I am a White, adult reader, and I may miss many relevant aspects of this book because of my lack of personal experience and assumptions I may not be fully aware of.

Having said that, one thing that stands out to me is that Helen Kimamura - the four girls' mom - conducts her life and trains her daughters in a way that seems parallel to the way Japanese geisha or courtesans have been described. She tries to train them to sing, but they are not naturals at it, so she focuses instead on teaching them to conduct themselves with grace & pay utmost & careful attention to their physical beauty. At the same time, she feeds them messages that resonate with a Zen-like outlook. (Fourteen-year-old main character Shelby - lacking the perfect beauty of her mother & older sister - focuses on those bigger-picture concepts, and then says, "Those were some pretty big thoughts I had, if I say so myself," demonstrating her thoughtfulness, self-awareness, confidence, & self-deprecation all at once.)

If Kadohata was intentionally subverting a stereotype, I wish she would have more explicitly framed it, because I believe some readers will allow the descriptions to feed into their stereotypes instead of focusing on the uniqueness of each character & the ways they don't fit tidily into it.

(From Wikipedia; "Courtesans"; "...perceived ability to steal the hearts and match the wits of upper-class men" "Geisha"; (historical origins) "wandering girls whose families had been displaced by war. Some...offered sexual services for money while others with a better education made a living by entertaining at high-class social gatherings." -- There are obvious parallels with Kadohata's story, but the words "geisha" and "courtesan" are never mentioned, nor is Helen's ancestry summarized, beyond saying she is Japanese.)

The four fathers, like the four daughters & their mom, are not straight-up tropes, but have unique characteristics, only some of which reflect common stereotypes of their identity groups.

As for the plot, it is frustratingly slow, and there is something about the first-person narration that seems to dampen the dramatic actions so that it all feels as if it happened to someone else sometime in the past, and reacting to it now would just be pointless.

You would guess, therefore, that the author is inviting readers to mull over the concept in the title "outside beauty" - yet neither the mild accident in the first few pages (that does *not* scar Shelby's face) NOR the more serious one later (that *does* scar Helen's face) prompt any of the characters to re-think their assumptions about physical beauty. They recover and continue just as before. Shelby has already formed her opinion and events confirm it for her. I had the sense that the author assumes readers will either agree or disagree with either Shelby or Helen & Marilyn from the start, not that they will reconsider or deepen their understanding.

I want a shelf-full of Kadohata books, but I think I'd rather have two copies each of Kira-Kira and The Thing About Luck, and let this one go. A bigger library should keep it, but at my branch, I don't think this one conveys the message for children that it seems to be aiming to convey.

[Adela Bezemer-Cleverley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is beautiful. I didn’t even realize when I picked it up from the library book sale that it was written by Cynthia Kadohata, who wrote “Kira-Kira” which I read and loved last year.

This book is not nearly as heartbreaking as “Kira-Kira”, but Cynthia Kadohata is pretty good at convincing you that it might be. And there were still parts that made me cry... she’s another one of those authors who write child characters so perfectly, whose writing seems so authentic to the voices and perspectives and experiences of children, and I always admire authors like that. Especially when they are able to combine it with such beautiful writing and stories!

This is the story of four sisters who love each other more than anything, more even than their mother whom they idolize despite the fact that she had them by four different men and she is obsessed with being perfect and beautiful. Four sisters who are separated to live with their fathers when their mother gets in a bad car accident, and through letters they send to each other they learn that the youngest sister’s father is kind of terrible. And so they endeavour to rescue her.

The main character Shelby is the second oldest sister, who actually has quite a nice father but who feels guilt-ridden over their younger sister’s struggle because she thinks she is supposed to take care of her. Throughout the book, Shelby is constantly learning new things about herself and about the adults around her, often things that start to change her perception of the world. It’s really good and I don’t have a lot more to say about it but I want to leave off with this quote from the very end of the book (it’s not a spoiler for the story):

The line between loneliness and happiness seemed slender to me. If I were killed by a car tomorrow, Jiro would be unhappy. If anything happened to any of my sisters, I would be unhappy. You were taking a chance by letting someone make you happy or sad. My mother had never wanted to take that chance, for whatever reason. Those were some pretty big thoughts I had, if I say so myself. -pg. 265

[Pyrate Queen · Rating 4 out of 5]

What would you do if suddenly the world that you knew came crashing down?

That's what happens to thirteen-year-old Shelby one night. But it's not just Shelby's world that has been shattered- she has three other sisters, all by different fathers, and now they find themselves being shuffled across the country for an indefinite time period.

Whereas people think Shelby's mother has done them wrong by shuffling them from city to city when a relationship has gone sour, Shelby and her sisters see determination and strength. And it is this characteristic that they pull from to put their family back together when everyone else is trying to drive them apart permanently.

[Julia Chen]

There's only one way Shelby and her sisters can describe their mother: She's a sexpot. Helen Kimura collects men (and loans, spending money, and gifts of all kinds) from all over the country. Sure, she's not your typical role model, but she's also not just a pretty face and nail polish. She is confident and brave; she lives life on her own terms, and her four daughters simply adore her. These girls have been raised outside the traditional boundaries. They know how to take the back exit. They know how to dodge crazed lovers in highway car chases. They do not, however, know how to function without one another.

[Jim Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kadohata writes young adult fiction that works for adults as well. She is a great storyteller and does not shy from tough topics. This book is about four sisters with different fathers and their single mom who is afraid of "settling down" and lives off her beauty. Still, she is a good mom and the sisters bond as best friends. When the mother is seriously hurt in a car accident, their lives are turned upside down when each of the girls has to go live with her father. It's a heartfelt book about connection, beauty, and growing up.