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The Things She Owned

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About this listen

Years after the death of her cruel and complicated mother, Erika's house is still full of the things Michiko left behind: an onigiri basket, a Wedgewood tea set, a knotted ring from Okinawa.

©2020 Katherine Tamiko Arguile (P)2020 Bolinda Publishing Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction
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At first, I was a bit confused because it was hard for me to envision who was who and where they were and when (probably because I couldn’t literally see the names to help with my imagination, I’m a visual learner). But once I got over that, I realised that this story was set in both the past and present and from both mother and daughter perspectives. Then, the breathing in the audio began to jar me as at first I thought it was a sound effect and then it happened after every sentence, I just accepted what it was and once my brain got past that… it was a beautiful story. As a south East Asian (not Japanese) who grew up in Ladbroke Grove, it was so relatable in terms of what I know about my own family’s experiences when they were in Asia during the war. I think the ending felt slightly rushed, it would have been nice to expand the coming back scene but that’s just personal preference. Not a massive fan of the ending though - I didn’t think the cliche was needed (especially not after the chaos of modernism throughout the story). This would make a nice movie. Also, the first review that someone posted of this book that said this had no storyline is not factually correct. I think this book is more relatable to people who are not so far gone from (their) tradition and culture.

It’s giving… Relatable

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I looked at the first review and nearly didn't buy this book, but I listened to the clip and I'm really glad I did. A great story of mother and daughter's tale woven together.
The only slight negative is the narrator has poor breath control and you can hear her gasping breath in. I haven't noticed this in any of the other audio books, but once I got past this I really enjoyed it.

Great book

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Full of swear words, little story and the narrator has a harsh voice. I use audible to relax when I can’t sleep and a woman shouting swear words wasn’t entertaining. Unfortunately the website won’t let me return as this was a replacement for an audiobook I bought in error.

Awful

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