Name: Edokko
ISBN: 9781777435233

Loren Greene

Lily Jennings is Going. To. Japan. Too bad for the people of the small town of Ajimu-nothing's going to hold this girl back when she wants something!

Edokko

Joana

Before going in be advised to have lots of patience set aside to deal with the main character Lily. She is a piece! Having to read through Lily's perspective is a challenge, although I was more interested in "experiencing" Japan through her eyes, so I was able to gloss over some of her attitudes.

Lily is a shallow spoiled brat. At first, she doesn't show it. You side with her because the experience she was promised was in Tokyo. But then that plan went south and she ends up in the middle of nowhere. And I get it. I probably wouldn't like that last-minute change as well. Although she starts to hate everything. Instead of taking advantage of the opportunity to see what it's like to live in rural Japan and experience the culture, all she focuses on is the fact she is not in Tokyo.

With time, Lily does change and we get to see that deep down she has a good heart. After putting aside the rebel teen hormones she is a good girl with her heart in the right place. She had some actions that made me change my opinion of her slightly. And that is the primary goal of the story to follow allow Lily's growth while spending one year abroad.

Since the story is character-driven, it develops more slowly and at times feels like nothing is happening and I'm just following along with the daily life of an exchange student. There are a lot of small moments that work together to develop the relationships between the characters. Also, there is no romance. Despite Lily's desire, there isn't any romance. The story focus on building friendships.

Knowing from the start this is an adventure of a one-year exchange program, it's kind of bitter-sweet. For once, I didn't care Lily had to get back home to Canada. She wasn't being appreciative of her time in Japan, so I didn't care if she went home. For another, she created good relationships that now she would have to abandon and only be able to keep them as long-distance.

Lastly, Edokko is a good book for Japan lovers. A vision of Japan as an exchange student away from the big touristy cities. As I said Lily is hard to deal with, but in between her complaints, it's possible to appreciate the setting.

Krista Kirby

** spoiler alert **
           I really wish I could have finished this book. I barely made it half way through it. The only thing Lily did was complain that she wasn’t in Tokyo. I understand being a teen and being upset that things didn’t quite go how she had planned and been told they would go, but I kept thinking that if I were in her shoes I would just be so happy that I had the chance to study abroad in Japan! Lily complains about everything, including the things she was first talking about enjoying, like food and new experiences. Everything is so negative from her and she didn’t even try to enjoy herself. I understand the disappointment of not being able to go to the first plan, but that she was able to go to Japan and study abroad and have an experience that most people dream of should have been a dream. I’ve seen from other reviews that she turns around but I can’t bring myself to get that far in the story. 
My opinions on this book may be because I am now in my twenties and am no longer in the heat of my teenage angst and mindset, but I just couldn’t finish this.

Edokko

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