I absolutely loved this book! I went into it not really knowing the emotional journey I was going to go on with Nori. I felt sadness, anger, hope and happiness with her throughout her story. Nori never gave up despite the life and family that she was born into. She also never let her fire die, which I loved about her.

Nori's mother drops her off at her affluent grandmother's home when she is a Young child. Her grandmother looks down on her because she is a bastard child and she treats her with hatred and abuse. Throughout all Nori survives and finds her voice, especially when she meets her older brother, who protects her in the midst of her horrible circumstances. Tragedy follows tragedy for Nori and she moves from place to place trying to find a place where she feels at home and at peace with herself. As circumstances change, Nori must decide who she is and the identity she wants to assume for herself.
The story is well-written and the reader develops a great compassion and sympathy for this child who is left bereft because of the cruelties of her grandmother and the world in general.
I was surprised by the ending and Nori's ultimate decision about who she chose to become.
Recommended for fans of historical fiction.

The beautiful writing certainly shines through in this debut novel.  So many themes were explored in the life of a mixed-race girl in Japan who encountered such loss and prejudice throughout her life. Yet, her indomitable spirit kept her going.  One slight issue for me was that some characters, especially Nori's grandmother, seemed to be too one-dimensional and too abhorrent.  I look forward to Lemmie's next book.

This book was very interesting. I picked it up because it covers a piece of history in WWII that often gets forgotten or neglected in the stories told. In that sense, Lemmie met my expectations though there were a few moments where she seemed to take some license with history. It wasn't enough to bother me but it did jerk me out of the narrative a bit. Her characters are very well thought out and elegantly written. This book wasn't really for me but I know many other people who come to our store who would love it.

Fifty Words for Rain shines in its ability to immerse the reader in the thoughts and emotions of Nori from childhood to adulthood. Asha Lemmie's writing is beautiful and compelling, and I couldn't stop turning the pages. However, I felt like there was a lack of depth to the book because of the two periods of Nori's life that are skipped over. I wondered about Nori's time in the okiya, her first time building relationships on her own, and being free of her grandparents. It was confusing to not see growth or reflection in Nori after these periods of her life. Outside of Nori, I wanted more depth from the other characters, like Akiko and Alice. Although this book ended up being somewhat of a miss for me, I would read another novel by Lemmie.

Fifty Words For Rain
By Asha Lemmie

This is a debut novel? Wow this is amazing and I loved it! This was such an emotional story about a biracial child named Noriko "Nori" Kamiza (Half black and half Japanese) who has experienced  harrowing heart-breaking conditions when her mother leaves her to her very traditional grand parents. 

This story about her resiliency as she lives a life surrounded by people and culture that is set against her. Through it all Asha Lemmie delivered a gut punching and wonderful debut cultural historical fiction novel about race, culture, family, love and resiliency. 

I enjoyed reading this and I highly recommend for historical fiction fans.

I am astounded that Asha Lemmie wrote this book between the ages of 16 and 22. Bravo! I don't have a musical bone in my body, but I think music-lovers would especially appreciate this book. There were musical parts that brought me to tears. Overall I enjoyed this story and appreciated reading about a biracial girl in post-WWII Japan: a perspective I haven't read in fiction before.

One of the best books of 2020!  This story was so good and I could reread it again almost immediately after finishing!  Highly recommend!

Heartbreaking story, written beautifully. This would make for great book club discussions. Usually a mention of WWII in the description will make me pass on a book these days (overdone) but in this story it is more of a tangential detail. This is a story about duty, tradition, family, culture, and strength.

This was my first time hearing of this author and I was intriqued by the description of this novel.  This novel was intense, it was thought-provoking, and invoked a multitude of emotions.  It made me think of the deep dynamics of family.  I thoroughly enjoyed this read and have recommended it to several fellow readers.

With her first novel, Asha Lemmie proves herself a talented writer unafraid to take chances. Her heroine’s situation is unique, and her journey to adulthood is one that won’t leave the mind quickly. Noriko “Nori” Kamiza is only eight when her beautiful mother brings her to her family home in Kyoto in 1948 and abandons her at the gates, making her promise to obey and keep silent. We soon learn why: Nori is illegitimate, the product of her aristocratic mother’s affair with a Black American GI, and her appearance and very existence are a deep source of shame.

For two years, Nori remains isolated in the mansion’s attic, cared for by her stern grandmother’s maid and educated well, but she’s subject to regular beatings and attempts to bleach her almond-colored skin. Her life changes when her teenage half-brother Akira arrives at the house to live after his father’s death. The dynamic that forms between them – the beloved heir and the accursed bastard – is mesmerizing. After being hidden away for so long, Nori is hungry for attention but afraid to misstep. She worships Akira for easing her restrictions and standing up for her, which nobody has done before. For his part, Akira clearly cares for his little sister, but he’s a brilliant violinist with plans of his own; she isn’t his entire world, like he is hers.

This is literary fiction with many quotable lines and a cinematic, fast-moving plot. Nori’s path to maturity is unorthodox and beset by dramatic, often shocking shifts in circumstance. Nori is bright, curious, and – understandably – not in good control of her emotions. Readers may struggle with some of her choices. They also won’t fail to empathize with her as she learns self-acceptance, overcomes prejudice, and emerges as a powerful force of her own.

(from the Historical Novels Review, November 2020)

I loved the way this book carried me away to the world of Nori even though parts of her life were difficult to read. I was mesmerized by the authors depiction of her life and feelings although I am not sure I fully agree with the ending!

Reading this book felt like wrapping myself in a warm blanket. The writing pulled me in each time I sat down with it. The story of two siblings clinging to each other despite their family's demands is endearing and sometimes heartbreaking.

I was very surprised by the ending. The main character's decisions didn't line up with what I'd come to know of her.

This is a powerful and compelling book. Nori is a fascinating protagonist from her childhood days on. There's much emotional turmoil in the book with various types of moderate abuse and neglect, poignant friendships, and both wonderful and tragic turns of events.  Not literary but written to sweep you up into a story that has familiar notes but is often original and surprising.

I really enjoyed this book, confessing that I know very little about the culture of aristocrats in Japan.  The character development of Nori and Akiri was well portrayed.  This is a poignant story about belonging and also freedom from the past.

Astounding!

The last words a mother says to her young daughter before abandoning her were,
"“Promise me. Promise me that you will obey in all things. Do not question. Do not fight. Do not resist. Do not think if thinking will lead you somewhere you ought not to be. Only smile and do as you are told. Only your life is more important than your obedience. Only the air you breathe. Promise me this.”"
Kyoto 1948 and a young girl of mixed race is left on the doorstep of her grandparent's estate. We trace her story from when she's confined to the estate's attic, subjected to chemical sponge downs to alter the color of her skin and constantly reminded of how worthless she is. Eight-year-old Noriko “Nori” Kamiza wasn't quite left on the hillside with wolves but it is a near thing metaphorically speaking.
I was completely struck down by the underlying poignancy of Noriko's physical treatment along with the emotional abuse she was subjected to. Attitudes and expectations in post war Japan in the upper echelons of the aristocracy, a strictly tiered society, are portrayed at a time when saving face is everything.
This is a tragedy with immense moments of change but tragedy is a constant right to the end. In my mind the story sits within the milieu of a Shakespearean tragedy maybe with a dash of Flowers in the Attic. Fifty Words had me glued even as there were moments when I became completely unstuck.
Music plays a part and like a musical composition the story's crescendo  rises to a glorious triumphant moment and then crashes onto shores of a harsh yet nuanced reality. I was left wondering whether Nori will perpetuate tragedies or be able to rise beyond them. More questions than resolutions. Did I want that? Possibly I wanted a fairytale ending. But this is no fairytale, it's a tragedy. Nori balances between strength and weakness, between choosing and not. As she says, "I have always deserved to die. But I refused."
I wondered about Japanese forms of Tragedy. It seems that Japanese literary traditions do not align with Western traditions of Tragedies. 
However, one scholar, C. Andrew Gerstle in "The Concept of Tragedy in Japanese Drama" Japan Review No. 1 (1990), pp. 49-72) refers to particular areas of drama such as "the 'Women' plays of Noh and the third-act pieces of Bunraku—[that] focus on heroes who though caught in a difficult situation consciously choose their paths, which lead often to the extreme edges of human suffering."
Nori experiences that "extreme edge" and although she doesn't consciously choose her path, her life experience has trapped her well and truly as much as she tries to escape.  A place she constantly treads and from which escape seems impossible. This  forms the backbone of this startling and moving novel.

A Penguin Dutton ARC via NetGalley 
Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

[3,5/5 stars]

"You will see what you will do to protect the things you love. You will be horrified by what you'll do. And you will do it anyway."

FIFTY WORDS FOR RAIN by Asha Lemmie is a coming-of-age story about Noriko "Nori" Kamiza, the illegitimate child of a Japanese aristocrat and her African American lover. When her mother abandons Nori with her traditional grandparents, her heart-wrenching life begins.

From the first page, I was able to identify many Japanese cultural signs such as obedience, silence and submission. Throughout the story, Nori evolves from victim to survivor - being a lonely and curious girl who was treated harshly by her grandparents to a resilient woman who endured countless struggles, it was quite an emotional and painful ride! Nori suffered racism her whole life for being a mixed race (Japanese/Black) in that period of time (Post WWII Japan). Her journey was pure tragedy however I found it overly dramatic at times.

Lemmie examines race, family, friendship, love, sacrifice and familial/cultural expectations in a dynamic and deep way. After reading so many tragedies, I wondered what is the point that the author wished to convey. Nevertheless, through Nori's life, her kindness in the face of the cruelty gives us a touch of hope.

I did wish that the side characters were further fleshed out and some of them were caricaturized.
Also I wanted to know more about Seiko's life (Nori's mother) in the latter part of the novel. There were few elements of Japanese culture that I found inaccurate which may disappoint some readers. Lastly, the ending was quite abrupt. (I would love to discuss this ending, too perfect?)
Despite these critiques, I loved the author's writing style as I was easily absorbed in the story.

FIFTY WORDS FOR RAIN is an intense and moving debut novel that I overall enjoyed.

Fifty words for Rain is a solid yet imperfect historical fiction novel with what some may deem as uneven character development and unbalanced pacing. Yet despite these flaws, I was still intrigued and eager to know the fate of this half Japanese  and half Black girl named Noriko living in Post World War II Japan, which I think speaks to Lemmie ability as a storyteller. Nori was an endearing protagonist and from those first few pages, I was vested in her fate, once her mother abandons Nori in front of her racist, elitist, and aristocratic Japanese grandparent's door as an illiterate yet intelligent child of the tender of age eight, that is when  Nori's life changes forever. The story is written mostly from the perspective of Nori, however at various points in the novel when Lemmie wants to give the reader a more mature, biased or unbiased perspective of the events the narration changes from Akiko, Nori's prejudiced but dedicated house maid, to Kiyomi the hardened Geisha, who teaches Nori about the finer things in life comes to love her, to Akira, Nori's beloved older half brother who would do anything to protect her, to Alice, a young woman from England who becomes a sister figure to Nori, as well as other minor characters. I enjoyed these perspectives because they aided the reader in understanding events and situations that Nori was too young and naive to understand herself. How much one enjoys this novel will depend how one chooses to view the imperfections in this book should it really be seen as  inconsistent character development or does one view those inconsistencies as a girl who grew up alone in the attic with a warped view of herself and those of the world around her. My perspective is that of  the latter. Fifty Words for Rain is a nice debut for Ms. Lemmie, I rate it 3.95 stars, I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

I wanted to love this book but came away from it unsatisfied and disappointed. It seems that I am in the minority on this as most readers seem to love it. I have a lot of personal knowledge of Japan because I spent ten years growing up in the country and my mother is Japanese american. At first I thought my problems with the book were unique to me and my knowledge of the language and culture and I was being too harsh. Lemmie overall does a good job with the Japanese vocabulary that she uses but there are some errors that are jarring. A woman would never refer to an older brother as aniki, although the more often used Onee chan is realistic. Lemmie also has Akira call Nori imouto which would never be used in dialogue in that way. The other issues I had were with cultural differences; the Japanese aren't physically demonstrative at all (especially in that time period) so the scenes with hugging or hand-holding felt false. The plot while interesting is very soap-opera like, moving quickly and without a lot of detail and development. Most of the characters are not fleshed out and are sometimes caricature-like. I found parts of the ending interesting (about the car accident) and other parts altogether unsatisying (would Nori really stay in Japan after all she has endured at the hands of her family? would she give up the love she found in London?). Despite the weaknesses of the novel, Lemmie deserves praise for tackling a little-addressed subject and creating an interesting (though far fetched) story. Clearly many other readers absolutely loved her book, I am just not one of them.

Fifty Words of Rain is a phenomenal, beautifully written novel by Asha Lemmie. From the very first chapter, I was drawn into the main protagonist Noriko Kamiza. Noriko is born into a prominent family being the cousins of the emperor. This means that her family has power and respect in Japan. However, one thing that alienates Noriko from the powerful family is that she is a half-breed born as a result of an affair between her mother, Seiko and her African American lover. 

For a chance at a better life, Seiko leaves Nori with her grandparents but they conceal her away fearful that her presence will stain the royal family and the honor and respect they are so desperately trying to uphold. Nori is only eight years old when she is taken in by her grandparents; forced to stay in the attic, never adventuring outside, and subjected to chemical baths to lighten her skin. The only thing Nori's mother advised her before she left was to "Promise me. Promise me that you will obey in all things. Do not question. Do not fight. Do not resist. Do not think if thinking will lead you somewhere where you ought not to be. Only smile and do as you are told."  This was Nori's mentality always obey and never question. 

However, when Nori's half-brother Akira (who is the legitimate heir) comes to stay at the estate their bond strengthens them beyond measures. He adores his sister and will do everything in his power to see to it that Nori is never harmed or treated poorly. Their bond is despised by their grandparents who will go to extreme lengths to ensure that Akira is the one to continue to bring their family honor and respect and nowhere in that plan is a place for Nori. Nori with a newfound strength with the love of her brother, starts to realize that maybe there is a place for her after all and she must fight to survive.

I have never felt so emotional reading. There were times that I just felt so heartbroken for Nori. The pain and sorrow she felt was just radiating off the pages. Lemmie did an outstanding job with expressing the emotions and compassion through Nori's eyes.

This book expands several years as Nori grows up from being a eight year old to a young adult in her twenties. She goes through so many struggles and life altering moments from living in torment with her grandparents, being united with her brother, to being sold to a geisha house without her brother knowing, enduring overwhelming grief, being forced to leave Japan or die, traveling the world, falling in love, and finally being able to come into her own destiny.