The Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton
Forty years after the bombing of Nagasaki a scarred man knocks
on Amaterasu Takahashi’s door in Pennsylvania.
He claims to have known her before her world burned and to have been
sent with a box of letters a former acquaintance is sure she would want to
read. Unable to contain her curiosity
she does read them and is swept back into the past, not just of that horrific
day when she lost her daughter and grandson but far into her own past that is
even now affecting the present.
This is a slight book that will keep you on your toes. There aren’t too many characters, but there
are LOTS of secrets. Each time you think
you know the whole story, another secret is revealed. Amaterasu has been dealing with survivor’s
guilt all these years; she feels it is her fault that her family members
died. It’s up to the reader whether or
not to agree, and whether or not you believe all that she says.
The book has this interesting title because each chapter starts
with a word or phrase in Japanese and a definition. Each is a unique concept to Japanese culture
and adds to the telling of the story.
