Joint Discussin: The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Johns

Hello all! Carole and I will be discussing "The Woman in the White Kimono" by Ana Johns. We had a little fun with this one. C read the ebook version and I did the audio version. Fun! I am in red and C in blue. 

Author: Ana Johns
Title: The Woman in the White Kimono
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance
Published: May 28th 2019
Pages: ebook & audiobook (I listened to the audio)
Narrator of audio:  Emily Woo Zeller, Lauren Ezzo

Japan, 1957. Seventeen-year-old Naoko Nakamura’s prearranged marriage to the son of her father’s business associate would secure her family’s status in their traditional Japanese community, but Naoko has fallen for another man—an American sailor, a gaijin—and to marry him would bring great shame upon her entire family. When it’s learned Naoko carries the sailor’s child, she’s cast out in disgrace and forced to make unimaginable choices with consequences that will ripple across generations.

America, present day. Tori Kovac, caring for her dying father, finds a letter containing a shocking revelation—one that calls into question everything she understood about him, her family and herself. Setting out to learn the truth behind the letter, Tori’s journey leads her halfway around the world to a remote seaside village in Japan, where she must confront the demons of the past to pave a way for redemption.

Hello! I’m loving these last minute random picks! They seem to be doing pretty decent for us. :D

I would not really go that far. It was so freaking dull. It did pick up in like the last third, but still, the beginning. It was painful.

That is why I said decent ;) LOL Yes, the beginning was slowwwww but the last bit was amazing. I even had some tears. Just wish  the rest of the book followed suit. There was just a lot of filler or repeats of things that bogged the beginning down. Lots of reminders and extra backstory. 

 Lol, true. And even though I felt that it picked up, it was still slow somehow, I sped it up to 2.2x! It was the only way I could get through. My fav part was Naoko, the other pov, ugh, no thanks.

Yeaaa - I really didn’t care much about the present day POV of Tori. However, we had to know her too and her journey in order to really appreciate the ending there. But her POV coulda been smaller. She was the main issue of repeating stuff and etc. 

I get that we had to have that story to see the rest, but at the same time, we did not. We could just have followed Naoko, I feel then I would have been sad. Now I was all, that was cruel, the author tried to be smart and hide things, but it felt like a slap in the face to me. I was not sad. I was angry at the author instead.

I get the WHYS the author did it the way she did. It was the only way for Tori to truly let go. BUT I was so shocked! I was annoyed with the author, but I did give the author the reaction she wanted. I did cry. Mainly because I was shocked I think. But the ending was so good I felt. I do wish there had been a noticeable foreshadow or something. 

I also did not like that the prologue showed me what would happen to the lovestory. I have hope, even when I know that everyone will die. Here I had no hope for them. I did not know about her, but I knew he would leave and find the love of his life. This from page 1! Ugh, I was just so, why even read about their romance. SHe was not even the one! :/

I skipped the prologue so I was stunned by everything. I knew they didn’t end up together, but I didn’t know the whys and etc. And yes - I have a hard time marking this as a romance even though it is listed as one. The love was doomed from the start. Super obviously. I think I would’ve liked the format different. Tori’s journey all at the end. The jumping back and forth ruined surprises for me. 

Yeah, not a romance. I would have liked to see it as a historical fiction instead. No Tori. I felt the emotional impact for me would have been bigger. Shed a few tears and then see the light in the distance. I do not know how she would have done that, but it happened. Maybe she just could not see a way to fix it so she had to jump in time. It worked out but we do not know. Hmmm. I know you worried about X ;) I was at the point where I could no longer trust X either. Not until the end.

I liked him from the moment I met him. IDK why, but I liked him. I wanted her to get with him and love him. There was something about him. I wish the story was about him and her and fixing this together. He was so sweet. Sorry - I can ramble on and on. 

I liked him too. That is why I wanted to see how it came about. I also hope she never spoke an effing word to her family again. Gods, I hate them, UGH, her gran needs to die now!

YESSS! I hated them too. I am so glad she stood her ground. They kept calling her selfish and etc. No screw you guys! I am glad the mom gave in a little, but I wish she fought more. 

It just broke me inside when we got to that point when she was there. I wanted her to fight more, but how could she. I wanted her to like kick and scream. I hate that the best part of the book was this sad horrible truth.

But the mom was a product of her time and she had to be the dutiful wife and etc. Bleh. OooooOOOOO I agree, but I loved the ending so much. It was worth it the rest of the terrible journey for me. Maybe the audio was a different beast ;) but I really enjoyed reading it. How was the narrator(s)? 

I think not even the exciting sad part would have worked for me in print. In audio I finally felt things when we got to that part. There were 2 narrators, I have listened to one before, and yes that was Naoko. Tori’s narrator was new to me, and good? Nah, those parts were so boring, and a good narrator might lift them up, but this person could not do that, While Emily Zoo Weller as Naoko managed it.

And yes I listened to 2.2x. And that did not even feel fast! So either they talked really slow, or the story was slugged down, which it was. I did feel like whatever lacked was in the story itself

Mmmm. I’m glad I didn’t listen and I read. I feel there was more emotional impact at the end, especially since I skipped the prologue. 

This book did not need that prologue. It gave us nothing. And I would still rewrite this book ;) I just read GR reviews, it has such a high rating?!

Yess some major edits needed, but it was worth the read I felt. 

Not worth the read for me. It took too long to get good.

I think the ebook sounded a touch better. Which is a rarity for sure! 

And I say the audio was better, lol

BATTLE!! LOL. I may have to listen to clips of the audio to see ;)

Battle on!

LOLL. But I do like the whole theme about letting go and making peace with the sorrow and joy. That is why I can’t call this romance to me. Everything was doomed from page 1. 

Yes, nobody think of this as a romance. It was doomed. I did like how it should what happened with liaisons between American and Japanese women. Of course you had a freaking afterword! I did not have that so I did not realise the scope of things

I rarely read the afterwords and etc, but you must after this story. Soooo important. It really opened my eyes. I KNEW but I didn’t really KNOW and fully grasp the fact. So sad, so sad. 

And that is why I wanted more Naoko and not Tori. We should learn more about these things and here it did not come through as much as it could have. I mean not thinking of all those…..sadness

Yess, I feel like we should’ve meet Tori at the end and Naoko tells her all and then Tori has the reaction and etc. I feel like that would’ve made it more impactful. 

I really like that idea!

I think it would’ve helped a bit. I still think the story was impactful BUT it could’ve been more so with different formatting. Overall...I still cried at the end there. It struck my feelings. LOL

More anger for me ;)

Funny how that happens! 

Still, yes I am glad to have learned more! That place still strikes a chord in me, I feel so sad thinking about it.

Me too! SOOOO sad!!!

The end?

The end! 

About the Authors

Carole and Blodeuedd have been blogging a long while now. The last couple of years the epic duo have been discussing books, watching movies, and even wetting the pen and sharing their stories with the worldwide web. They both love cats, chocolate, and a good story.