stellar performance

loved it. as a both Korean and Japanese speaker surprised by the fact that the narrator pronounced these two languages so fluently and correctly.

4 people found this helpful

Disconnected Ramblings

I was listening to the audio version and just decided to quit. I don't see any rhyme, reason, nor cohesion in the story. This one is gonna have to be a "did not finish" for me.

2 people found this helpful

A wonderful story

I loved this story, how well it is plotted, characterized, and performed. Despite taking place in Japan, the points on nationalism, the human condition, and the people caught in the middle are ever more relevant.

2 people found this helpful

Koreans in Japan After WW-II

Enjoyed & learned about very interesting story...I must admit that I never thought about life in Japan as 2nd generation of Koreans. Not going into spoilers, I thought it was very interesting story about Korean (South, North, then South again) kid growing up in Japan treated as 2nd citizen, etc. BTW, LOVED ending! ✌

2 people found this helpful

Young love, secrets, & cultural conflict

Sugihara is a student in a Japanese high school, but he's not Japanese. Born, raised, and educated in Japan, he is still Korean, a citizen of South Korea, and legally a resident alien. This places some legal restrictions on him; it also makes him a target of bullying and prejudice.

He has had to become a fighter, while keeping his eyes on the prize of passing the entrance exams for a Japanese university. When he meets and falls in love with a Japanese girl named Sakurai, they bond over classical music and foreign films.

But she doesn't know he's Korean, until, after a personal tragedy in his own life, he finally tells her.

Anti-Korean prejudice runs deep in Japan, and it's not clear that Sakurai will be able to overcome it in herself, or even want to.

This is a short novel, and a novel of first love, but it is so much more than that. It captures, effectively and without a heavy hand, the complexities of being a foreigner in the only country Sugihara knows, the ways it has affected his parents, especially his father, and both the bonds and the conflicts in his relationship with his father.

I found it both enjoyable and enlightening. Recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

1 person found this helpful

This was sweet

Cultural differences and self-titled "tedious explanations" could not dim the small happy light of this story.

The narrator did a wonderful job with the voices and not letting the heart of the book get lost in translation.

1 person found this helpful

Meh - Wasn't for Me

This started out okay and had my attention, but it quickly lost steam. I confess, I don't even recall how it ended, and I just finished reading it yesterday. It felt more like a character study, or a window view at a certain kind of character, rather than a truly cohesive story. There were some interesting parts, but I just don't love this.

1 person found this helpful

A Great Book

GO is a great book. The story is well-written and is such fun to read. I read the book while listening to it with Audible. The reader did a great job. I liked this book because it was so entertaining. I liked it and think many others will too.

A story about racism, ethnic hatred and love

Is great how the author use a love story to express his point of how there are not basis for racism, though it hurt to think this may be an autobiographical story in any level.

review

I generally enjoyed listening to this book. This is a general statement to meet requirements that don't allow for a simple star rating.