Comments (27)

Forgiveness

a Gift From My Grandparents
Community comments are the opinions of contributing users. These comments do not represent the opinions of Surrey Libraries.
What did you think about this title?
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Jan 10, 2024Gail Glasscock rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have purchased a copy to share with others.
Sep 21, 2023RamonaLK rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Since this was the history of the authors relatives, the information was staggering to read, of how his ancestors were treated but survived their unfortunate circumstances by pure grit and determination and placing family as the most…
Feb 11, 2023Walter724 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I really enjoyed reading this! I didn’t know what it was going to be about beforehand. I learned lots! I recommend it.
Oct 06, 2022muffinpopcorn rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
VERY GOOD! Recommend this book
Jan 11, 2021TEENREVIEWCREW rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This book recorded how the author's grandparents struggled to survive and keep on to their humanity within a world without humanity; how his parents being kept alive by each other, yet they chose separation eventually; how Mark, the…
Dec 04, 2019firebird770 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
A very emotional read; the true story of two families enveloped by the atrocities of the Second World War and their acceptance of the harshest cruelty in letting go and moving on. I recommend this book to anyone who has deep bitterness…
Sep 17, 2019Aimee M Trudel rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Jan HIGHLY RECOMMENDS IT
Aug 26, 2019
Tea & Talk Book Club / November 2018
Jun 07, 2019CarolynAnn4 rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
I was excited about reading this book based on the summary -a real life biography by a man whose paternal grandmother was a Japanese-Canadian woman who lost everything to the Canadian government during WWII and his maternal grandfather who…
Jan 29, 2019miketany rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
This book was surprisingly poorly edited and written. Even though it was able to effectively convey the story, it was not properly organized and there seem to be too many characters mentioned to follow along. I think this book had lots of…
Jan 28, 2019Jane_Sm rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
I sincerely wish this book had been better written and/or edited. The stories are compelling and well-told in themselves but the relationships are often bewildering. Basically, the author's mother was the daughter of Ralph MacLean, a…
Jan 17, 2019
/Submitted by Pippa/ Sakamoto’s account of his maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother is compelling reading. Both experienced the effects of World War 2 – his grandfather in a Japanese POW camp and his grandmother the hardships…
Jan 12, 2019toadie1902 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
This is the way history should be taught. Not some dry textbook account that leaves you unable to connect with the people involved, even if you sympathize with what they have been through. The fact that you are treated to both sides of…
Jul 04, 2018
I was pretty certain that I wouldn't like Forgiveness, this year's Canada Reads winner, as much as I liked another of the contenders, The Marrow Thieves. I am really pleasantly surprised to have been wrong in making this assumption! Mark…
Jun 26, 2018firefly5 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
What a wonderful book. Thank you Mark Sakamoto for sharing 'your' story. I shed tears over the way the men were treated in the POW camp and more tears for the treatment of Canadian people of Japanese decent. I admire the strength and…
May 18, 2018bolenk rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Thank you Mr. Sakamoto for sharing your grandparents’, as well as your own, stories: one grandparent whose whole family suffered racial hatred when they took the bold step to move from Japan to Canada. If that weren’t enough, a few short…
Mar 29, 2018debwalker rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Canada Reads winner for 2018. How to forgive the unforgivable?
Mar 18, 2018spiderfelt_0 rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
This title is catalogued at my library with the WWII history books, no doubt because a section of the story describes the experiences of a Canadian prisoner of war who survives horrific conditions in a Hong Kong prison camp, and later as…
Feb 04, 2018dirtbag rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This book is difficult to define. Upon starting out, I thought it was a political commentary about the idiocy of war and how everyone involved on both sides lost. I thought he did a phenomenal job of showing that the harshest treatment of…
Jan 30, 2018
Place your hold and watch Jeanne Becker defend this book at the Canada Reads debates held March 26-29.
Jan 28, 2018
Whoever edited this book deserves a demotion or a dismissal. The prose style is mostly fine and often quite wonderful but it is also quite inconsistent with some very abrupt and oddly-placed sentences. And it reads a bit rough in places. I…
JudeLee
Oct 10, 2016JudeLee rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
I was very emotional at the way Mark's mother spiralled downward at the end of her life. This description was so vivid. I could visualize it. The birth of the baby was so emotional. I could relate to a difficult delivery (aren't they all…
Aug 29, 2015aTimeBeing rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
I looked forward to reading this book, but was disappointed because reads like a personal journal, citing memory after memory, rather than developing the complexity of the promise of forgiveness. It appears to have been a cathartic process…
May 22, 2015becker rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This was a little gem that ended up being so much more that what I expected of it. I would recommend this to anyone. It is highly informative and incredibly inspiring, all while being very readable.
May 04, 2015sharon711 rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Sakamoto eloquently describes the wartime experiences of two Canadians, his paternal grandmother Mitsui and his maternal grandfather Ralph. The disenfranchisement of Japanese Canadians based on ethnicity was racism as unacceptable as the…