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| Plum Wine | 
 enlarge | Author: Angela Davis-gardner
Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback
Category: Book
List Price: $13.00
Buy Used: $1.44
You Save: $11.56 (89%)
New (44) Used (47) from $1.44
Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 113356
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.2 x 0.7
ISBN: 0385340834
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780385340830
ASIN: 0385340834
Publication Date: March 27, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 18 | | NEXT » |
Overcoming our past April 19, 2008
This love story confronts the issues of how our own personal pain from past experience affects our ability to love in the future. The setting of this book takes you to post Hiroshima Japan. The affects on the people of this place and how it has affected others around the world. Not only does it look at war it also embraces the issues that are placed on children who are not given the love that most children take for granted. Sometimes we can overcome our past and sometimes we cannot. I especially liked the setting of Japan and the descriptions of the beauty of the land. Being able to have a small window into the world of another culture was a pleasure for me. While this was a Love Story it was more about our ability to look at what responsibility we each have to take in our own personal decisions. I believe this to be the best part of this book. While the stories themselves were adequate it was the ability to cause the reader to explore their own feelings regarding themselves and the world that truly made it worth the read.
Reading Between Cultures April 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I throughly enjoyed this book. Since I lived six years in Japan (from 1993-99) while immersing myself in the culture, I was delighted to see the accuracy of Angela's DAvis-Gardner portrayal Japanese way of thinking and relationships. The story caught me up in its suspense as I read on to discover where Barbara was going to find intimacy and how she'd manage these strange cross-cultural relationships, and what the writing on these plum wine bottles revealed. Descriptive language in this novel was beautiful and some passages brought an amused smile to my lips.
I was astonished by the range of reviews by others. Several talked about how they couldn't understand how Barbara could be attracted to Seiji. Some found both characters unsympathetic or shallow. I don't find fault with these characters but with others reading and understanding of these two protagonists.
I think critics who are harsh on these characterizations haven't lived alone in a foreign land and felt the keen loneliness inherent in that situation, especially in a land where the ideal of men and the values they lives by (work has priority over relationships, relationship with mother has priority over spouse) are so different than western values.
Both Barbara and Seiji were sympathetic characters for me because I understood and felt their dilemmas and could see the cross-cultural issues at play. I could understand how Barbara would waver between going along with Seiji's ways and trying to change him to American romantic ideals.
I thank Angela for a compelling read that enlightened me to the shame and sadness experienced by survivors of Hiroshima.
 Expected more, not enough depth April 14, 2008
Maybe my expection was too high. The story did not have enough depth and seemed to be written for "easy reading" level. Did not keep my interest although I completed the book.
 Very Disappointing February 27, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I didn't like this book from the start, but I continued to read it because I'm in a book club and we meet monthly to discuss the chosen book. I've been in the book club for 7 years and this book is on my bottom 10 list for sure (maybe bottom 5). Anyway, the story dragged on and on. The characters weren't terribly interesting or well developed. Serji was completely unappealing - why any woman would give this man what Barbara gave (and offered) is beyond my comprehension - he was a self-obsessed, arrogant, chain-smoking, thoughtless little man. I don't know what the author thought his appeal would be to any woman, and since the book is primarily a love story (?) it's even more baffling.
Anyway, I definately don't recommend this book and I'm quite confused about all those who gave it 5 stars. I believe they must be strong enthusiasts of Japanese culture in the 1960's and/or very interested in the sad history and aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima. If these topics aren't your "cup of tea" this book is not for you.
 Exquisite writing February 21, 2008
The only problem I had with this book was that at least two of the haikus were not written in the traditional format of 17 syllables....but I suppose something could have been lost in translation. That criticism aside, the book was beautifully, believably, written and captured the time, the place and the characters perfectly. Simply put, it is an exquisite story.
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