Lead Review

  • Book: The Kimono Tattoo
  • Location: Kyoto
  • Author: Rebecca Copeland

Review Author: Tina Hartas

Location

Content

4.5*

This is one of those books I happened to stumble upon over on NetGalley, as an audiobook, and what a pleasure it has been to listen to it. It is beautifully narrated by Theresa Bakken and transported me for the duration over to the wonderful city of Kyoto.

Ruth Bennett is a translator and who, from an early age, has come to see Japan as her home. Her medical missionary parents settled in the country, with both their children, Ruth and Matthew. But early on Matthew went missing whilst in young Ruth’s care and that is something the family has struggled to deal with. Her parents are back in the States, so she is forging her own way and getting on with life in her tiny apartment.

She is offered a tantalising translation project, a book penned by an author who has long been considered missing or dead, so already there is the first of several upcoming mysteries. As she turns the pages and happens to catch the TV news, she becomes acutely aware that real life is mirroring the contents of the script. There is murder along the way, with several twists and turns, flipping and cleaving through the murky waters like a Japanese carp fish.

The well turned storyline sets a framework for a wonderfully immersive Japanese experience. The detail of kimono culture is shared in a way that makes it fascinating and I craved to learn more. Did you know that for a kimono to be laundered, it needs to be unstitched? The undergarments, the Obis and the quality of the delicate fabric, the intricacies of decoration, are all woven into the story. And of course there is a strand, which threads its way through the storyline about a full body tattoo, again the process and pattern are described and, of course, they link down the line when everything comes together.

This is a gem of a find and wonderful if you want to continue your reading journey after finishing Arthur Golden’s Memoir of a Geisha – each novel, in its own way, is terrifically transportive to this incredible city.

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