Translation of Love (Kutsukake)

The Translation of Love 
Lynne Kutsukake, 2016
Knopf Doubleday
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780385540674


Summary
An emotionally gripping portrait of post-war Japan, where a newly repatriated girl must help a classmate find her missing sister.

After spending the war years in a Canadian internment camp, thirteen-year-old Aya Shimamura and her father are faced with a gut-wrenching choice: Move east of the Rocky Mountains or go “back” to Japan

Barred from returning home to the west coast and bitterly grieving the loss of Aya’s mother during internment, Aya’s father signs a form that enables the government to deport them.

But war-devastated Tokyo is not much better. Aya’s father struggles to find work, compromising his morals and toiling long hours.

Meanwhile Aya, born and raised in Vancouver, is something of a pariah at her school, bullied for being foreign and paralyzed when asked to communicate in Japanese. Aya’s alienation is eventually mitigated by one of her principal tormenters, a willful girl named Fumi Tanaka, whose older sister has mysteriously disappeared.

When a rumor surfaces that General MacArthur, who is overseeing the Occupation, might help citizens in need, Fumi enlists Aya to compose a letter asking him to find her beloved sister.

The letter is delivered into the reluctant hands of Corporal Matt Matsumoto, a Japanese American serving with the Occupation forces, whose endless job is translating the thousands of letters MacArthur receives each week. Matt feels an affinity toward Fumi but is largely powerless, and the girls decide to take matters into their own hands, venturing into the dark and dangerous underside of Tokyo’s Ginza district.

Told through rich, interlocking storylines, The Translation of Love mines this turbulent period to show how war irrevocably shapes the lives of people on both sides—and yet the novel also allows for a poignant spark of resilience, friendship, and love that translates across cultures and borders to stunning effect. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1951-52
• Where—Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Education—M.A., University of Toronto
• Currently—lives in Toronto, Ontario


Lynne Kutsukake, a third-generation Japanese-Canadian, was born in Toronto, Ontario. She earned a master's degree in East Asian Studies from the University of Toronto and studied Japanese literature in Japan, eventually becoming a librarian in Toronto.

Her short fiction has appeared in Grain, Prairie Fire, Dalhousie Review, Windsor Review, and Ricepaper. She wrote the short story, "Mating," a finalist for the 2010 Journey Prize, while taking a writing class at the University of Toronto. The Translation of Love, her first novel, appeared in 2016. The author lives in Toronto. (Adapted from the publisher.)

Book Reviews
Lynne Kutsukake, a third-generation ­Japanese-Canadian and first-time novelist, conjures the voices of [an] agonized time with graceful simplicity.... The plainness of Kutsukake’s prose can verge on threadbare, with patches of earnest research peeking through, but these lapses are balanced by moments of indelible poignancy.
Janice P. Nimura - New York Times Book Review


[A]lthough the stakes are never quite high enough for the novel to gather significant momentum, many scenes pack an emotional punch and are enhanced by the author’s clarity and restraint.... The Translation of Love offers rich insights into an underreported period in history, despite holding some of its subject matter at arm’s-length. Certainly, there is plenty to suggest that Kutsukake’s next novel can deliver on the promise of this one.
Trilby Kent - Toronto Globe and Mail


Kutsukake is an accomplished writer, adroitly handling the dark effects of discrimination, hunger, poverty, and disease after the war.... [A]n engaging and compelling read.
Asian Review of Books


(Starred review.) Kutsukake’s moving debut novel focuses on the intertwining stories of several protagonists in post–World War II Tokyo.... Kutsukake’s story is consistently engaging, though a smattering of unlikely plot points can be distracting. The result is a memorable story of hope and loneliness with a cathartic ending.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) This poignant first novel is set in postWorld War II Japan during the American occupation. Told from multiple viewpoints, it is a story of nationality and identity, family and friendship, love and loss.... [A] fresh perspective on life in postwar Japan. —Catherine Coyne, Mansfield P.L., MA
Library Journal


(Starred review.) Kutsukake skillfully weaves these characters’ varied perspectives together to create a vivid and memorable account of ordinary people struggling to recover from the devastations of war.
Booklist


(Starred review.) Emotionally rich without turning saccharine, twisting without losing its grounding in reality, Kutsukake's novel is classic historical fiction at its best. A vivid delight chronicling a fascinating—and little-discussed—chapter in world history.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're made available. In the meantime, use these LitLovers talking points to kick off a discussion for The Translation of Love...then take off on your own:

1. Discuss the devastation of the war and its effects on the survivors who are caught between a painful past and an uncertain future.

2. How are the Japanese treated by their American occupiers? How prevalent is discrimination of the Japanese towards Americans and the Americans toward Japanese? What do you make of the treatment, for instance, of Aya at the hands of her classmates?

3. Five different voices make up this novel. Do you find one more compelling or sympathetic than others?

4. Why do their relatives resent Aya and her father's move to Toykyo?

5. Talk about Matt's presence in Tokyo. Consider the irony of his internment in America—where he was considered a foreign threat—and his position now among the ranks of the victors. Where do his sense of identity and his sympathies lie?

6. What do the letters to General MacArthur reveal about the state of the Japanese and their society? When one letter writer asks, "how should a man live?" what were your thoughts?

7. What do you make of Sumiko, who was raised to be "proper," but who feels the thrill of escaping convention to flirt with danger in a dance hall? Why does Matt decide to help Fumi find her?

8. What does the book's title, "The Translation of Love," mean in the context of the story?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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