I chose this book because I wanted a glimpse into the life of the family of a samurai.
Etsu is the daughter of a samurai, but the timeline is such that her father is no longer an active samurai. He also dies when she's somewhat young, so he doesn't factor much into the story. There are tidbits here and there regarding how her father's station impacted their lives as a family, but it wasn't what I was expecting.
I would classify this more as a young woman's life and how she ends up with her feet in two different worlds. Her brother spends some time in America, and that opens the door so that she eventually travels to America to marry.
All in all, this was interesting at times. Since I was expecting something else, my interest level wasn't as high as it could have been. Also, she uses a lot of Japanese words that I was unfamiliar with, so I'd have to stop and look things up if I wanted to know what she was talking about. It was interesting to see how different the two cultures saw each other and how she ended up understanding both of them in the end.
The Google version I downloaded was missing three pages at the end, but I don't feel like I missed very much. Etsu was on her way back to America with her daughters, but there wasn't anything dire or important. This was an interesting read, and though not what I was looking for, it was okay.
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