This superb collection of short stories is going to be one of my best of the year when it comes time to make up that list in December. Suzanne Kamata has given us a portrait of American women living in foreign countries, marrying foreigners, and often giving up life as they know it to reside in their husband's native country.  Most were set in Japan, a setting that resonates with me, since I lived in Japan for a total of five years quite awhile ago.

I especially identified with the American woman in the story "You're so lucky" about a woman who is having a C-section in Japanese hospital--she looks at the clock as they begin to administer the anesthetic. It was shockingly similar to my own experience when my son was born there, although he was born in the American Naval hospital.  Of course, she gives birth to twins, and must then begin to deal with physical disabilities that many preemie babies have.

In the next story, "The Naming," we are treated to almost the same event but from the perspective of the Japanese father, who as a baseball coach is struggling with a team that has lost 19 straight games. He is suddenly called away from his team when his wife goes into labor, and hurries to the hospital while his team of underdogs wins without him. His internal struggle with the children's disabilities mirrors his wife's, and it is not until he comes to grips with their ability to survive that he can face naming the children.

Kamata continues with stories of the family dealing with these children.  In "Polishing the Halo" the mother is worried that "Not only was Ana a girl in a society that favored boys, not only was she a mixed race child in a country that cherished pure blood, but also she was disabled."   As she watches, another mother, herself deaf,  signs a halo and says she is an angel, giving Ana's mom hope and a new perspective.

Throughout all the story, Kamata's sympathetic and compelling picture of multi-cultural marriage, of different customs and traditions, and unmet expectations adds to her ability to give us insight into the hearts and minds of these women who have chosen to abandon the familiar in order to remain with the love of their lives.

Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing proves again that small publishers can and do spot the winners.  My thanks for the opportunity to review this one.  ( )

Book Title: The Beautiful One Has Come
Author: Suzanne Kamata
Publisher: Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing
ISBN: 978193363143809
Reviewed by Michele Tater for The Couch Tater Review

This exquisitely written book consists of twelve short stories, each focusing on how a woman handles living in another country or how to live in their own. Most of these stories take place in Japan, where the women have to learn to adjust into a culture that is considerably different then what they are used to or how their ideas differ from society. This book gives the reader a brief look into the world of the Japanese and how they live and love. With characters of different of various ages and stages of life, it gives a wide range of glimpse into an assortment of situations. Some are adjusting live in general and some are to motherhood. Each must look inward to resolve the areas of their life that have become problematic to them.

Especially with the awful events that have happen in Japan lately, this book gives the reader a look of this proud and everlasting country. It is a place filled with tradition and history. I think this book can be enjoyed by most age groups; young adult and adults. It is an easy reading book, which would be good on raining days, book clubs and anytime reading. I look forward to more books from this author, who I feel can only excel on what she has already written. ( )

It is a nice collection of japensee glimpses of thier coulture. The stories are short just glances. I enjoyed the one where two students met at art school and 4 years later they are married and have gone to Paris to paint. On the begining of that story her mom gets after her because she wants to finsh her picture before she does some work. Later after dinner the father asks her if they were her pictures and said they needed to send her to art school.
One story about a american living with her japense husband and everyone is curious what she buys at store, kids take her t-shirts off laundry line. how she is trying to join in the nieghborhood. One class she takes is ahulu dance class by a real hawian dancer. Who ends up telling her he is gay but his boyfriend his still in the closet and is afraid to come out.
They are interesting little bit pictures of how different their lives are and what is important to them at the time. ( )

This is a collection of short stories about being a foreigner in another country, about the realities of assimilating yourself into another culture and whether you can ever be truely accepted.

The early stories are very short and almost too light, but the stories gain in depth as you read on. You're So Lucky takes you through the premature birth of twins and the gentle but agonising horror of waiting to see what happens. Driving asks who is imprisoned in their marriage, the wife or the mother-in-law and who will find freedom easier to attain.

Some of the aspects of Japanese culture revealed are quite alien to Western views but are presented as facts rather than curiosities. They are also a window into the rambling way we think to ourselves about what is happening and why, and whether we should do something about it and if so, what.

There is the occasional feeling that a story ends suddenly with just a sentence to finish it off and a half dozen typographical errors detract from the writing. Overall though these are gentle thought provoking stories. ( )