Featured Review: The Water Trade by Rob Smith

[kristine29]

I'm learning a lot from your review, this is detailed yet keep the mysteries well..intriguing . Thank you and may you help other newbie reviewers just like me too

[Julehart1]

This book seems interesting. I like a book that has mystery and suspense and keeps you guessing what happens next. The fact that it's about WW2 time frame and also Japan are bonuses too. Thanks for your review.

[Ait28]

Wow! Mind-blowing review. I love historical fiction so this book is a definite read for me. Thanks for not spoiling it for us!

[Arkad]

This sound like an interesting book. I am a huge fan of mystery and true based story book. Looking foward to read it.

[Flowers123]

The story sounds intriguing. I believe it will make for an interesting read. Thanks for the review.

[kelvinmugo]

The water trade is a great book that brings history together in form of a love story between a Japanese girl and an American Caucasian man. Generally Miyuki (the girl’s name) finds it inappropriate for her to be walking together with Smith. In her culture this is not considered as a good gesture. This really comes out well when she is in the market place, when her groceries fall to the ground and Smitty decides to help her out people stare at them, this shows the heavy stigma in people especially at this time when the relationship with Japan and America happens to be icy. Another thing that pops out is the gardener who shouts at Miyuki when they are together with Smitty, she feels uncomfortable and uneasy at his voice she even goes to the extent of gesturing him to keep quiet. Despite all this we can see that both Smitty and Miyuki do have a deep sense of belonging in spite of the current situation.
I have yet read the entire book but I would recommend it for the lovers of romance, history and adventure

[useniaudu]

I like the book and how it sound is so interesting thanks

[MrsCatInTheHat]

According to a summary provided in Amazon, The Water Trade by Rob Smith is a unique, interesting story about people with great talent and holding jobs that are sensitive and dangerous but suffering from bipolar disorder at a time when it has not been properly diagnosed and defined and given appropriate treatment. This appears to be based on the history of bipolar disorder, told as a historical fiction. Thanks OnlineBookClub for featuring this! However, the reviewer does not mention that in the official review. So I'll just read through the book and offer more of my thoughts later.

The original synopsis did not mention Bipolar. Note that this review is two years old.

[Nelsy Mtsweni]

The cover of the book is inviting, therefore, I would have chosen to read the book. Having read the review, I found the book to be focusing on war amongst other things, but because I am not a fan of war novels, I will not read the book. The author showed them to be strong and brave characters. Thanks for the review.

[Shas F]

I have started reading The Water Trade by Rob Smith and the story is progressing well enough for me. It is about three people caught up in events leading to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II and the repercussions on them afterwards. They are Arashi, aka Yoshimura, a nearly genius-level spy of the Japanese military sent to Hawaii, who suffers from bipolar disorder; Miyuki, a young English-speaking Japanese bookkeeper and migrant to Hawaii; and Dan Smith, an American soldier. The story is humming along quite nicely towards a twist. For me, it's a new take on the war as it is two-thirds written from the perspective of two main characters who are Japanese. We get to see Hawaii in the days before the Pearl Harbor attack and learn a thing or two about its history -- that there were already many Japanese migrants to the island at the time and they were all eventually caught up in the war.

I have been introduced to the book by two well-written OnlineBookClub.org reviews, one by CatinTheHat and the other by MarisaRose; and the Amazon sample and plot synopsis. I suggest a tweak to the Amazon summary though because according to MarisaRose, while Arashi/Yoshimura indeed suffers from bipolar disorder, it is not pivotal to the story. CatinTheHat does not even mention it in her review. I thought it led to the unraveling of Yoshimura's and even the whole story itself, making me more interested to read the book. Be that as it may, the first 10 chapters of the book have hooked me as they steadily build up to the Pearl Harbor attack. I'm curious about the "mystery" to be solved in the latter chapters that would lead to a "mind-blowing end to their stories." CatinTheHat says that nothing is what it initially seems to be. MarisaRose critiqued the writing style: she says the set-up of the story or the premise is solid but the unraveling of the mystery could have been better. CatinTheHat, however, finds the narrative to flow as well as it can, leading to a surprising and satisfying conclusion. Both agree that lovers of World War II stories will enjoy the book.