Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Celeste has fond memories of her Aunt Mitch, a Japanese woman who treated her kindly as a child. This was before Celeste's mother died, before Aunt Mitch moved away, before Celeste found herself in foster homes without any family at all.
Now Celeste is 33 years old, and has just found out her Aunt Mitch died, leaving her as the next of kin. She receives a package of photos, momentos, Aunt Mitch's ashes, and a single home movie that shows Celeste as a tiny child, being doted on by a man she doesn't recognize. Celeste's mind reels. Could this man be the father she's never known? Aunt Mitch left written instructions for Celeste to find her estranged sister and return these belongings to her, so Celeste starts off on a grand adventure to Japan, to seek out her aunt's sister and, if she's lucky, gain some insight into her own past.
I really liked the descriptions of Japan in this book; it seems like a fascinating country. It was interesting to read about Celeste trying to navigate a place so culturally different from her own home, especially as she didn't speak the language.
I found Celeste herself to be rather uninteresting, though. She did some drawing and some singing, and she was trying to track down her father, but she didn't seem passionate about anything. She seemed to really dislike her boyfriend, Dirk, but didn't do anything about it except ignore him while on her trip. She liked Takuya, but was completely passive about their relationship, agonizing over why he wouldn't make a move while refusing to make one herself. Celeste just seemed too weak to carry this story.
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