The Strangeness of Beauty

I'm reading The Strangeness of Beauty by Lydia Minatoya. It is a Japanese-American literary novel. I am loving the international-type literature lately. It always has the most interesting stories and cultural facts, I think. This book has a scene where the Japanese are leaving for America on a boat. They have a long roll of paper that they throw down to their parents, holding onto the end so that the paper unrolls between them... until it runs out. She described it so much better than me, but it was such a beautiful image! And there are so many other beautiful Japanese traditions and cultural things that make it so interesting to me. It doesn't really have an obvious plot--it just kind of flows along. But I really like that it isn't throwing some major conflict/resolution stuff at me. It is just how life is. She is describing a life. I really like that. I think there is a lot of wisdom in this book too. For example, "I have noticed that when people tell their own stories, often it has less to do with wanting to communicate an idea to another than with clarifying an emotion for themselves." Isn't she right? Anyway, I would recommend this book, obviously. Yay for being done with finals!!! yay for fun reading!