HISTORICAL
FICTION
|
|
|
Medieval leper
bell
Photo taken by
Cnyborg at the museum Ribes Vikinger, Ribe, Denmark
|
Kitayama-Jūhachikento,
a Japanese historic sanatorium for Hansen's disease patients. In 1243,
Ninshō (Buddhist priest of Saidai-ji) organized Kitayama-Jūhachikento.
|
Gerhard Armauer
Hansen: Norwegian physician, remembered for his identification of the
bacterium Mycobacterium leprae in 1873 as the causative agent of
leprosy.
|
|
|
BOOK
ILLUMINATIONS
From Merrimon Book Reviews
HOME
ROMANCE
FICTION SUSPENSE & THRILLERS
MYSTERY
AUTHORS REVIEWER
PROFILES
|
The Pearl Diver
by Jeff Talarigo
The
Artifacts of a
life in a Japanese leper
sanitarium
On Shodo Island in
1948, a girl dreams suddenly end. Once she
dreamed of pearl diving, the one place where she was herself as she
escaped the expectations of her family. In a moment, her entire
life is gone. The appearance of two small spots brings shame to
her family and lessens their social and economic position. The
young girl goes into hiding only to be arrested and removed from
society by laws meant to isolate the contagious disease of
leprosy. Transported to a remote and isolated area, the Nagashima
leprosarium, she must forget everything: her past, her family and even
her name, a name now erased from the family records She must choose a
new name for her new life. Her past is now dead. Stripped
of everything she ever knew, the woman begins her life anew known as
Miss Fuji. Although new drug discoveries arrest the disease, she
lives out her life helping other patients, massaging them and caring
for those more harmed than her. Through reaching out to the other
patients, she rediscovers the part within herself that yearns for
freedom and connection.
Jeff Talarigo's THE PEARL DIVER
looks into the life of a leper colony in Japan through the cataloguing
of the artifacts left behind for posterity. Through the
artifacts, the life of Miss Fujii emerges. Each artifact has a
story to tell. Some tell of the advancement of history.
Others items tell of the horrifying cruel effects on patients as
Japan's Leprosy Prevention laws encourage not only the segregation of
patients sanitariums where forced sterilization and abortions are
routine. Some items as simple as a teacup, a map, a badge or a
tide table leave behind evidence and stories of compassion and
community between the patients. Although THE PEARL DIVER clues the reader
into some of the political realities of Japan's policy towards leprosy
and the political figures on the outside of the sanitarium, THE PEARL DIVER focuses on the
intimate details of the inner life of the patients and their isolated
world. Prefaced and postcripted by life after the height of the
sanitarium's activity, the artifacts remaining provide the heart of a
inner transformation that is both inner within the life of a secluded
woman and also a life that expands outward beyond herself through
sometimes quiet but daring actions. THE PEARL DIVER explores solitude
and community, isolation, and the bridges individuals create between
one another. Jeff Talarigo's prose has an elegance in its
beautiful, emotional simplicity and precisely connected images.
An image of a map becomes the map of not only a place but an inner
journey.
The rich character of Miss Fuji creates a very emotional story.
Her innocence makes one feel the shock of isolation, her compassion
towards others inspire, and her yearning to reach beyond her world
uplifts. Once a young diver challenging herself to the depth in
her pearl diving, she now faces other challenges, challenges that make
her into the woman she becomes through her actions day in, day
out. At times heart-breaking and thought-provoking, THE PEARL DIVER is a novel that
leaves the reader with a sense of hope.
If the topic of leprosy makes you shy away from this book, don't let
it. The most shocking elements of this story do not center around
grotesque descriptions of the disease but rather the treatment of the
patients by those responsible for their care. Certainly, Jeff
Talarigo does not sanitize the difficulties of Hansen's disease itself,
but in the midst of the disease and isolation, the actions outsiders
responsible for the patients' health and welfare are by far the most
harrowing aspects of the novel. In the midst of this cruelty, THE PEARL DIVER looks into the
humanity of the patients and the interconnections between them. THE PEARL DIVER is a novel that
looks into the worst of humanity and yet leaves the reader with an
inspiring hope both individual and a hope lived through history.
Publisher: Anchor
(April 2005)
Reviewed by Merrimon,
Merrimon Book Reviews
Review Courtesy of Amazon Vine
|
|
|
