Eight Million Gods and Demons

by Hiroko Shawin and Hiroko Sherwin

Book Overview

A haunting portrait of a fascinating age-Japan between the Meiji Era and the end of World War II In Meiji-era Japan, where the standard of beauty is the graceful geisha and the greatest joy a woman... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452284511
• ISBN13: 9780452284517
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: Plume Books
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Great book. . .

I'm usually not into novels, but this was really a great book. It is beautifully written, and a great story of a family through multiple generations. The perspective of the years leading up to WWII from the point of view of ordinary Japanese citizens was really cool and different. This book is intense and will give you chills and tears...It captures the bitter sweet nature of life and death, the beautiful and ugly sides of humanity, and impermanence. Highly recommended.

Beautiful

What a masterpiece! I read a quarter of the way through, and knew I was on to a sure thing. Hiroko Sherwin, please write more books for us!!! I won't tell you the plot, or give you the full story, you can find it in other reviews. I love learning about Japanese culture, and reading Japanese authors. This is by far and away the best book I've ever read.

Powerful and Poignant

This book started a little inauspiciously for me. A young and insecure Emi discovers that her powerful politician husband, Taku Imura, has become so smitten by the stunningly beautiful geisha, Hana, that he purchases her freedom and starts a second family with her. Interesting but unremarkable. But as the storyline developed I became much more deeply involved with the characters - especially that of Emi's son, Jun, and Hana's daughter, Yumi. Through them we see a Japan emerging from a feudal society into the 20th century where customs and ideals clash as Japan and the Japanese people try to find their global identity. Interesting how the unfaithful Taku and the conniving Hana ultimately become sympathetic figures as they represent the traditional Japan that is so rapidly vanishing. The advent of World War II and the aftermath of the A-bomb is an exceptionally powerful section of the book. Author Hiroko Sherwin poignantly shows its shattering impact upon the three generations of the Imura family who lose their ideals, their way of life and their lives to these tragic events. Great finish to a wonderful book.

Intense!

This book is incredibly heartwrenching and intensely emotional. I can't believe this book isn't more well-known because the story is amazing and the characters are so realistic that I felt like I was reading letters from friends. This story also gave me an entirely new perspective on Japan during World War II.

Demeter & Persephone

Much has been written through the ages of the cherished notion and often powerful mystery of the mother/daughter relationship. Back into the ages of pre-history we believe the world was populated by peoples who recognized the magical powers of Gaia and secret wisdoms that were passed from mother to daughter. More recently, through creation myth such as Demeter & Persephone society has recognized the creative relationship that exists in this pair and used it to explain the mysteries of earth, the growth and renewal of life. Through the blessing of literature this feminine linkage is being preserved, illuminated and repeated in literally thousands of stories or biography's available at every book seller in the world. Horoko Sherwin, who lives near the green hills of Bath, England has just published her first English language novel, Eight million gods and demons . It is a wonderfully readable, almost biographical family novel about three generations of women in the society of Japan between 1900 and end of World War 2. Written in the voice of women and from personal remembrances passed from mother to daughter, an oral family history, the reader will be caught up in the personal drama and tragedies of both men and woman reacting to implacable social changes on a feudal society. This story treads across the boundries of history, culture, and political norms of modern Japanese historyI recommend this authors to your readers. Hiroko's daughter, Mako Yoshikawa, is an author also and I hope you have an opportunity to review for yourself the sum total of their efforts.