User Profile

I like this book but find it was lacking a sense of hope, which was surprising since the title of the book is "hope endures." This was pretty misleading. The author seems to eventually take her negative experiences with the convent to mean there is no point in Christianity, and details a lot of her emotional struggles during the last few chapters which detracts from the positive memories and missionary work she dedicates her life to (both in and out of the Missionaries of Charity). The book consequently gives the message that it is better to try to be a good person without taking part in any particular beliefs, faith, or communities, which I find reductionist and even a little dangerous. It contrasts with the rest of the book where so much of the work/charities she and others characters dedicated herself to was motivated almost exclusively by faith and Christianity. Her criticisms of some of the church's or convent's actions are very justified and well articulated, but instead of staying true to her beliefs and finding a healthier expression of them (or a better place to express them), she shrugs off her faith with a "Eh, who cares. People suffer so God probably isn't real, Jesus was just a magician, etc." Maybe it was just simplistically written but I wasn't impressed with this reasoning and wish she would have given us some more insight into the positive aspects of her life/beliefs. Reading the last few chapters felt almost like being gently dropped off a cliff and left there at the end.

All that said, the book was otherwise well written and exciting, and included a lot of specific examples of the suffering Collette saw and how she tried to make a difference. It was, as always, very entertaining and enlightening to read about some of the toxic inner workings with the Missionaries of Charity and about the amazing work they did/do in so many places throughout the world. I love memoirs that make me feel like I am living the experiences with the author, and this one provided that.

My only other criticism is that there wasn't much insight into the emotional life of the author or the other characters until the end of the book. I didn't feel like I had any sense of who she was or who her friends/family were. There was a lot of simply dictating what happened and what people said without more context.

Overall it's a good book and I recommend it, but only to people who already have a strong faith and aren't therefore likely to be hurt or mislead by the last couple chapters. If you already feel devoid of hope I think this book would probably make that seem justified and worsen your state.

I absolutely adored this book. It was probably my favorite read of the year!

A lot of people seem to be saying that because the main characters (Keiko and Henry) were so young that they're feelings/romance wasn't believable. I strongly disagree. First off, this was set a long time ago when (in Henry's culture) boys were considered men at the age of 13. Second, one of the main reasons they developed such a strong mature relationship was because they had almost no one else to rely on in their lives. Henry didn't have his family, neither of them had other friends at school, and both experienced discrimination and racism on a regular basis. Consequently, their relationship meant more to them than a typical adolescent romance might. Third, nobody in the book was claiming they were going to marry at thirteen, they were simply engaged and would probably have had a long (at least a year or more I would say) courtship. Fourth, people even today meet at this age and go on to be together the rest of their lives. It may not be common but it certainly happens, especially if loyalty, commitment, working hard on a relationship, and making sacrifices for each other are values you both adhere to. You can see from Henry's marriage and his determination to look after his wife till the end that he holds these values dear. Fifth, Henry was building a relationship with her family as well, as was more common in traditional cultures and in the past in America, which gave him even stronger ties to her.

Aside from the romance, I was thrilled to read a story that contained tragedies such as war, internment, family breakdown, illness, etc, and yet still managed to be hopeful and have a happy ending! I don't mind sad endings but I really felt this one was uplifting and still fairly realistic. I'd love to have known more about what happened after the scene where the book left off, but at least I can imagine things stayed happy and worked out for everyone.

The historical fiction aspect was great; I honestly knew next to nothing about the Japanese-Chinese conflicts or what it was like to live during the internment camps, so this book was a great introduction because I could really put myself in their shoes. The author combined the emotional and historical pieces beautifully and I liked how diverse the characters were. They weren't all racist or all accepting or whatever, there was a mix. The lunch lady was an especially cool character because I didn't at all expect her to help Henry out so much based on what we'd seen earlier on.

I recommend this book to anyone, especially if you're a fan of romance, historical fiction, or hopeful/spiritual messages. :)