Book Review: "My Brother's Husband" by Gengoroh Tagame

I had all the feels for this amazing graphic novel, told in traditional Japanese manga style (read in the opposite direction of traditional books).

Yaichi is a single father, dutifully raising his young daughter Kana. One day, a visitor arrives: Mike, a bearish Canadian man who was the husband of Ryoji, Yaichi’s estranged twin brother. Ryoji had always promised he’d show Mike the area in Japan where he grew up, and although he died, Mike is determined to see those places anyway.

Mike’s arrival stirs up questions and emotions. Kana didn’t even know she had an uncle, much less one who died. And men marrying other men? That doesn’t happen in Japan. Does that really happen in other places?

Yaichi must deal with his unresolved feelings toward his brother and his sexuality. Mike is just so unapologetically open about everything, which is in sharp contrast to Japanese culture, and Yaichi isn’t sure how he feels about the whole “gay thing.” But the longer Mike stays with them, the more Yaichi realizes that HE is the one whose thinking must change, for Kana’s sake, and if he wants to have any sort of relationship with Mike in the future. Plus, he sees things through the openness of Kana's viewpoint.

My Brother's Husband is such a sweet, beautiful story. The book I have has all four volumes in one, but it was an easy read I couldn’t put down. I totally was waiting for melodramatic things to happen but then I remembered that’s not the way things often happen in Japan.

I loved this story of family and love and acceptance!

Book Review: "The Baseball Widow" by Suzanne Kamata

Suzanne Kamata's The Baseball Widow is a well-written exploration of family, belonging, connection, and, of course, baseball.

Christine has longed for connection, for purpose, to belong. When she meets Hideki, a teacher, she thinks their relationship will sustain her, but it isn’t until after she goes abroad to help Cambodian refugees that he realizes how much he needs her.

Once she returns to Japan, they get married and Christine gives birth to two children, including a young daughter with multiple disabilities. She needs her husband more than ever. But Hideki serves as a coach for his high school’s baseball team, a responsibility he takes very seriously, so he spends more time with his team than he does his family.

When Christine and Hideki’s son is bullied in school, a neglected and overwhelmed Christine takes the children home to the United States, thinking they might be safer there. But while she might have more help at home, she also has more temptation—in the form of Andrew, a friend from high school whose service in Fallujah left him emotionally and physically scarred.

Will Hideki realize that he may lose his family before it’s too late? Will Christine realize what’s most important to her? What sacrifices will both need to make?

This was a beautiful, thought-provoking book about being caught between two cultures. Thanks to Suzy Approved Book Tours, Suzanne Kamata, and Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing for inviting me on the tour and providing a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review!!

The Baseball Widow publishes 10/5.