Above the East China Sea, Sarah Bird
Above the East China Sea, Sarah Bird
2 Rating(s)
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
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Above the East China Sea

Author: Sarah Bird

Narrator: Jennifer Ikeda, Tandy Cronyn, Ali Ahn, Graham Halstead

Unabridged: 14 hr

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 07/04/2014

Categories: Fiction, Humorous


Synopsis

Set on the island of Okinawa today and during World War II, this deeply moving and evocative novel tells the entwined stories of two teenage girls-an American and an Okinawan-whose lives are connected across 70 years by the shared experience of both profound loss and renewal. Luz, a contemporary U.S. Air Force brat, lives with her no-nonsense sergeant mother at Kadena Air Base. Luz's older sister, her best friend and emotional center, has died in the Afghan war. Unmoored by her death, unable to lean on her mother, Luz contemplates taking her own life. In l945, Tamiko has lost everyone-the older sister she idolized and her entire family-and finds herself trapped between the occupying Japanese and the invading Americans whom she has been taught are demons that live to rape. On an island where the spirits of the dead are part of life and the afterworld reunites you with your family, suicide offers Tamiko the promise of peace. As Luz tracks down the story of her own Okinawan grandmother, she discovers that the ancestral spirits work as readily to save her as they do to help Tamiko find a resting place. And as these two stories unfold and intertwine, we see how war and American occupation have shaped and reshaped the lives of Okinawans.

About Sarah Bird

Sarah Bird’s novel, Above the East China Sea, was long-listed for the Dublin International Literary Award. A Dobie-Paisano Fellowship helped in researching Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen. Raised in an Air Force family on bases around the world, Sarah is the child of two warriors, a WWII Army nurse and an Air Corps bombardier, who met at a barn dance in North Africa. She lives in Austin, Texas.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Gillian

I think this is one of Sarah Bird's best books. I was resentful that life got in the way of reading this in one sitting as I wanted to completely lose myself in the lives of the two protagonists. I found that I cared very deeply for them. I am also a fan of any book that teaches me about something I......more

This is on the top of my favorites list. There are two stories that move along quickly. I read it fast the first time to follow the story. It carried me along. Then (and I usually don't do this) turned around and read start to finish immediately again. I loved the story both times. The first read wa......more