I started reading "Dreaming Water" by Gail Tsukiyama this morning and couldn't put it down until I finished. It is a very touching, lyrical, beautiful story told in three different voices.
Hana, the main character of this story, her Japanese American father, Max, and her Italian American mother, Cate: they all experience hardships, some beyond imagination. Max and his family at a Japanese internment camp during WWII. Cate in anguish over people's prejudice against her husband just because of his being Japanese. And, their beloved daughter, Hana, suffering from a cruel incurable disease.
How can they be so determined and positive against all odds? How can they remain so calm and tolerant despite all the terrible things that happened to them? How can they not stop providing unconditional love with one another? I am so grateful to Gail Tsukiyama for describing Max as an open-minded, warm-hearted, intelligent Japanese American, who makes me proud of my heritage.
Their courage has touched me deep inside and inspired me that I can be like them if I never let hardships get me down.
