One Chrysanthemum

Reading about Japan in the news, I remembered the novel One Chrysanthemum by Joan Itoh Burk.  We read it several years ago in book club, but the characters remain vivid in my mind.  It's Tokyo in 1965, and Misako is married to Hideo.  Misako discovers her husband's infidelity, and must decide what she's going to do.  Her grandfather, a Buddhist priest, represents the past, and a Westernized childhood friend Sachiko represents a changing Japan.  I remember the details that reveal the culture as much as the story itself.

Perhaps it comes from reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog.  Perhaps it comes from going to buy a simple watch, and being confronted with rows and rows of big, glittery brand name products.  Perhaps it comes from looking at Japanese art.  In any case, after years of reading "Western" novels where it's all about characters asserting their individuality, this novel is an interesting counterpoint.