Polite Lies; a review

Polite Lies by Kyoko Mori is a brilliantly written work of non-fiction (autobiographical) and a moving look into the Japanese culture and one woman's struggle between the Japanese culture and that of the Midwest (interesting juxtaposition, yes?). I'm obviously fascinated by the Japanese culture, so when I saw this book I had to read it. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone (and I can't capture any of her subject matter as well as she can) so this will probably be a short review.

The book is only 12 chapters, but some of them are dense chapters. Each one is arranged into short essays (sort of) and they are all arranged around one theme, given in the title of the chapter (i.e., family, home, rituals, to name a few). I thought that was a really good way to arrange her essays to give the book a good flow which made it very readable. I admit, I devoured the book in just two days.

Mori's prose is very easy to read, she covers the facts well, but it's also very moving prose, not just cold hard facts about her life or the cultures she has lived in. It was interesting to me how she managed to be very emotional and very detached at the same time, especially considering that the events she was discussing were emotional events from her own life. It gave the work a lot of personality, and I felt I got to know the author and her personality from reading the book. It felt very honest, very sincere, very real. Overall great read, and I'm now looking to pick up a copy of her novel and read it as well.