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To Hanako Shimoda, recently divorced, Luciano Pavarotti is a god. To her daughter, Emily, this fixation on Pavarotti is a harmless fantasy, the byproduct of loneliness. Meeting Luciano is the story of what happens when Hanako acts on her fantasy and invites opera star Pavarotti to dinner in their Westchester County home.
Emily, with no real career plan, has gone back after college to work at her old summer job - waiting tables at the local Japanese steakhouse. Even worse than wearing a fake kimono and obi is that she's living at home with her mother. At first, her mom seems pretty much her old self - still reliving her Japanese childhood; still affecting the airs of a European sophisticate; still brewing espresso, cooking Italian, and singing arias from Rigoletto while she cleans; still idolizing Luciano Pavarotti.
But when Hanako hires Alex, a handsome Greek, to renovate the kitchen, Emily begins to worry. And when Alex, who seems to be getting very cozy with her mother, spills the secret that the renovation is in preparation for a visit from Pavarotti, Emily is thrown into a wonderfully familiar quandary: how to deal with a parent who might be losing it.
First-time novelist Anna Esaki-Smith has a wry, understated approach to the themes of assimilation, growing up, striking out on shaky ground, finding yourself - and loving your mother. Like a reflecting pool in a Japanese garden, Meeting Luciano gradually reveals the beauty of its subtle design.
To Hanako Shimoda, recently divorced, Luciano Pavarotti is a god. To her daughter, Emily, this fixation on Pavarotti is a harmless fantasy, the byproduct of loneliness. Meeting Luciano is the story of what happens when Hanako acts on her fantasy and invites opera star Pavarotti to dinner in their Westchester County home.
Emily, with no real career plan, has gone back after college to work at her old summer job - waiting tables at the local Japanese steakhouse. Even worse than wearing a fake kimono and obi is that she's living at home with her mother. At first, her mom seems pretty much her old self - still reliving her Japanese childhood; still affecting the airs of a European sophisticate; still brewing espresso, cooking Italian, and singing arias from Rigoletto while she cleans; still idolizing Luciano Pavarotti.
But when Hanako hires Alex, a handsome Greek, to renovate the kitchen, Emily begins to worry. And when Alex, who seems to be getting very cozy with her mother, spills the secret that the renovation is in preparation for a visit from Pavarotti, Emily is thrown into a wonderfully familiar quandary: how to deal with a parent who might be losing it.
First-time novelist Anna Esaki-Smith has a wry, understated approach to the themes of assimilation, growing up, striking out on shaky ground, finding yourself - and loving your mother. Like a reflecting pool in a Japanese garden, Meeting Luciano gradually reveals the beauty of its subtle design.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Excerpts-
From the book
My mother left for the opera in the late afternoon. Whenever she went to the opera, she made an effort to dress up, digging into her crowded closet for a pocketbook and shoes that matched, spraying old, heavy perfume in her hair. Although raised in Japan during the war, she prided herself on an appreciation of the West, to the point of distancing herself from her own culture. When visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she avoided the Asian wing. She never attended touring performances of kabuki or bunraku, and she criticized the limited repertoire of Japanese cuisine.
She fancied herself not American but broadly European, having worked as a secretary at the British embassy in Tokyo before getting married. She followed what she believed to be a distinctly European manner, writing careful letters when a phone call would do, saying "Pardon?" instead of "What?" Whenever she ate soup, she'd scoop the spoon away from her before lifting it silently to her mouth, taking care never to slurp the way Japanese do when eating noodles. She inevitably dribbled soup down her chin. She studied Romanesque architecture in her middle age, and more recently had grown obsessed with Italian opera. It was as though she were on a quest, moving through the geography of Western civilization in search of an essence that could finally transform her. She tried to make us as European as she possibly could, too, serving us crustless cucumber sandwiches for lunch and giving us leather satchels to take to school instead of backpacks.
Still, she fit imperfectly into this world. After dinner at a French restaurant, she'd return home and make herself a bowl of rice and miso soup. She read Japanese newspapers. The only time she seemed natural and confident was when cloaked in kimono. Tonight, as she hunted for car keys, the neckline of her dress billowed to reveal a large expanse of white skin.
After my mother left, I looked in the refrigerator for something to eat, peeling open clumps of aluminum foil and yellowed Tupperware containers, but found nothing inspiring. Growing up, I marveled at the refrigerators of my friends, gleaming iceboxes that produced platters of cold chicken and bowls of potato salad, or frosted cakes from which precisely cut slices were missing. It seemed as if attractive leftovers, wood-paneled family rooms, and golden retrievers were written into their genetic code. Our home was never so consistent. I was once humiliated when a friend opened our refrigerator door to find an octopus tentacle curled in a stainless steel bowl. . . .
The steakhouse was a wooden farmhouse originally set near a rice field in Hokkaido. Sometime in the early 1970s, it had been transported piece by piece to a grassy spot overlooking the Saw Mill River Parkway thirty minutes north of New York City, then meticulously reconstructed, using hemp cords and strategic grooves.
About the Author-
Anna Esaki-Smith was born in 1961 in Tarrytown, New York. She earned a bachelor's degree in Asian Studies from Cornell University in 1983 and a master's degree from the Columbia University School of Journalism in 1987. In 1991, she began work toward an MFA from the Columbia University Graduate School of the Arts, but left just short of a degree to work as a Newsweek correspondent in Hong Kong. Esaki-Smith's career as a journalist and writer for Reuters, Newsweek, and Success has taken her all over the world, including several posts throughout Asia, where she has worked as a news correspondent. She currently lives in Shanghai with her husband and two sons.
Reviews-
March 29, 1999 The author's confident if quiet voice gives credence to this polished, gentle first novel. When Japanese-American Emily Shimoda finishes college, she moves into her mother's house in Westchester County, N.Y., resuming her old waitressing job at a Japanese restaurant while deciding what to do with her life. Emily is worried that her mother, Hanako, recently divorced by Emily's father, is becoming more and more eccentric. An avid opera fan and Europhile, the cosmopolitan Hanako has decided to renovate her house because she believes with unwavering certainty that opera star Luciano Pavarotti is coming for a visit. Moreover, Hanako seems to be too trusting of the hearty Greek-American contractor, Alex, who aggressively inflates the home improvements, arousing Emily's suspicions and leaving her baffled at her mother's naive allegiance to this take-charge stranger. Under Alex's gaze and through the regenerative enterprise, Hanako blooms, however, taking stock of her newly reimagined life. Will Pavarotti actually show up? The answer to this question is delightfully unexpected, as the novel gracefully explores Emily's past and present to suggest that it is Emily, not her mother, with the identity crisis. Hanako, in her carefully controlled English, has fed her daughter colorful stories of growing up in Japan while making it clear that Emily and her siblings were expected to be fully assimilated Americans. This contradiction has rendered Emily obstinate and confused, "a frowning girl." Emily is at times too analytical and detached, almost infuriatingly so, and her nostalgia for an old college boyfriend is a bit forced. Nevertheless, her fraught relationship with her mother is heartfelt and complicated; when she tries to dismiss her concerns about her mother's possible disappointment, she finds she can't. As Emily learns to see her ethnic identity clearly, Esaki-Smith delineates her heroine's maturation as a blend of personal choices, proud heritage and self-exploration.
February 15, 1999 Esaki-Smith's first novel is the delightful, humorous story of Emily, a recent college graduate who has returned home to live with her divorced mother, Hanako. Besides continuing her obsession for European things, especially Italian cooking, opera, and espresso, the Japanese-born Hanako has begun renovating the family home. To Emily's surprise, Hanako has pursued the renovation because she believes her hero, Luciano Pavarotti, is coming to visit. Eventually, Emily must come to terms not only with the fantasies and frailties of her mother but also with her own disappointments and fears. She must also deal with Hanako's odd friendship with Alex, the contractor whom she has hired to redo the house. Esaki-Smith's well-developed debut novel demonstrates great potential. Recommended for large fiction collections.--Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of Oregon Libs., Eugene
April 15, 1999 Alone together for the first time, a mother and daughter grapple with the timeless filial issues of love, respect, and personal boundaries. After graduating from college without a plan for her future, Emily Shimoda convinces herself that she is moving back home to keep her recently divorced mother company. Her mother, however, seems to have adjusted to her new status more effortlessly than Emily. Instead of dwelling on the past, Hanako Shimoda, a Japanese-born American with European affections, undertakes an elaborate home-remodeling project, develops a delightfully quirky relationship with her inadequately skilled contractor, and continues to obsess about her idol, opera star Luciano Pavarotti. Lacking any direction in her own life, Emily worries excessively about her mother's seeming lack of judgment and common sense. When Emily learns that Hanako has invited Pavarotti to their house for dinner, she fears that her mother has finally lost touch with reality. Though humorously drawn, Esaki-Smith's novel never ridicules her slightly eccentric characters, presenting all their deliciously human faults and foibles in a warmly sympathetic manner. ((Reviewed April 15, 1999))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1999, American Library Association.)
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