All My Darling Daughters

All My Darling Daughters by Fumi Yoshinaga (3 stars, paperback, 206 pages) 

 

I wanted my book club to read a manga in the traditional style to keep them on their toes. Yoshinaga examines the Japanese attitudes to relationships, be they lovers, friends, or family. At the center of the book is Yukiko’s relationship with her mother, but the book spirals outward to take you through defining moments in the lives of their friends and family as well, always with a focus on the women. It gave me a sense of the cultural mores in Japan, and the kinds of problems women face with regards to familial expectations and daily life. It draws a lot of attention to the expectations of emotional labor on women.

The book is flexible in moving backwards and forwards in time, and the illustrations are beautifully-composed. They do get simplistic when the characters are angry or surprised, a trait this book shares with other manga. I had to go back and forth a bit to confirm the identities of some characters, or try to figure out what they had to do with the characters already introduced.

Overall, the book was a tenderly-told analysis of womanhood in Japan. It had some resonant emotional high points, but I just don’t think the book will stick with me for long.