{"id":26163,"date":"2016-12-29T00:01:18","date_gmt":"2016-12-29T08:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=26163"},"modified":"2016-12-29T00:01:18","modified_gmt":"2016-12-29T08:01:18","slug":"bamboo-secrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/bamboo-secrets\/","title":{"rendered":"“Bamboo Secrets” — A Love Story in the Shadow of Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Patricia<\/a>
Patricia Dove Miller signed copies of “Bamboo Secrets” at Book Passage book store. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Barbara Falconer Newhall<\/em><\/p>\n

You’d think that if you’d read a book five, six, maybe fifteen times, you wouldn’t want to read it yet again. But I did. I really did. In fact, when I finally got my very own ink-and-paper copy of my writing buddy’s book, “Bamboo Secrets,” and I started reading it, I could not put the darned thing down.<\/p>\n

I polished it off in a matter of days, forgoing my morning news fix with the New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle for the pleasures of another kind of reality — a painstakingly honest\u00a0memoir.<\/p>\n

\n

\"the<\/a><\/p>\n

The writing partner in this case is Patricia Dove Miller. The book is “Bamboo Secrets: One Woman’s Quest Through the Shadows of Japan.” (Illuminated Owl Press, 2016.)<\/p>\n

A Search for Identity in Japan<\/h5>\n

As the title suggests, Pat’s book seems\u00a0to be about an American woman’s midlife search for identity during a lengthy, fraught stay in Japan. At least, that’s what I thought the book was about as\u00a0Pat and I and our\u00a0writer-musician friend<\/a> Betsy Blakeslee shared manuscripts, talked about writing, ate, laughed and walked together — once a month, faithfully, for several years.<\/p>\n

But when I finally sat down to read the entire finished book, just me and the page, another story emerged. It was a theme I had known\u00a0was there, but had not noticed. This\u00a0was an honest-to-goodness love story.<\/p>\n

Along with her quest for her life’s purpose, Pat was telling the story of a\u00a0marriage, a deep friendship with staying power. It was\u00a0a marriage that endured the initial shock\u00a0of the husband’s sudden arrest in Japan on charges of marijuana possession. It was a friendship\u00a0that survived\u00a0the months of isolation that ensued when\u00a0the couple was shunned by friends and colleagues as\u00a0Japanese authorities deliberated\u00a0whether to sentence the husband to prison.<\/p>\n

Practicing the Art of Marriage<\/h5>\n

Readers will enjoy\u00a0the company<\/a> of Patricia Dove Miller as she attempts to practice the Japanese arts of ikebana, calligraphy and\u00a0shakuhachi<\/em> flute. But for some, the real gift of this book will\u00a0be the\u00a0glimpse it gives into the practice of the more elusive art of marriage.<\/p>\n

Enough from me. Here’s\u00a0an excerpt from Kirkus Reviews on\u00a0“Bamboo Secrets.”<\/p>\n

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Kirkus Reviews “Bamboo Secrets”<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n
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This debut memoir recounts how an American woman\u2019s planned sojourn in Japan becomes a tense bureaucratic nightmare after her husband\u2019s drug bust.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Patricia<\/a>
Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1992, Miller was 51 and trying to discover herself. Following her husband, Steven Solomon, to Kyoto, where he would be researching anthropology at the university, was an easy decision. She wanted to pursue her interest in Japanese aesthetics, Zen, andplaying the shakuhachi<\/i>, or bamboo flute, as both music and meditation. But, she writes, \u201cI didn\u2019t know that our dream and my personal quest would all smash into a thousand shards, like a dropped teapot.\u201d In January 1993, Solomon was arrested for having marijuana (taken very seriously in Japan) mailed to him from the United States, beginning an excruciating two-month anxiety dream as the Japanese legal system painstakingly investigated and made its decisions. Meanwhile, Solomon lost his job and apartment, presenting logistical hassles in finding affordable places to live that that would accept them and that complied with the system\u2019s rigid rules. As Miller dealt with the blow to her marriage\u2014she\u2019d believed Solomon was clean\u2014she seized opportunities to visit beautiful places and study Japanese arts. Her need to break the silence about this experience led to earning an MFA in creative writing and this book. Miller writes with honesty, clarity, and insight about her dilemma: \u201cI want to love Japan in spite of all it has put me through,\u201d a sentiment applicable to Solomon also . . .\u00a0A well-written, sensitive portrayal of coming to terms with a disrupted Asian idyll.<\/p>\n

— Kirkus Review Posted: <\/span>Nov.\u00a026th,\u00a02016<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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More stories about love and marriage at “Leap Year 1976 — The Day I Popped the Question.”<\/a>\u00a0 Also, “Confessions of a So-So Wife — The Night I Forgot to Make Dinner.”<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Patricia<\/a><\/p>\n

I thought my writing buddy’s book “Bamboo Secrets” was about a sojourn\u00a0to Japan in search of her creative identity. It turned out to be a love story. Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n

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