Obedient to a fault, Nori accepts her solitary life for what it is, despite her natural intellect and nagging curiosity about what lies outside the attic's walls. Though her grandparents take her in, they do so only to conceal her, fearful of a stain on the royal pedigree that they are desperate to uphold in a changing Japan. The illegitimate child of a Japanese aristocrat and her African American GI lover, Nori is an outsider from birth. And she will not resist the scalding chemical baths she receives daily to lighten her shameful skin.
She will not fight her confinement to the attic of her grandparents' imperial estate. She will not question why her mother abandoned her with only these final words. Do not resist." Such is eight-year-old Noriko "Nori" Kamiza's first lesson.
"If a woman knows nothing else, she should know how to be silent. What do you think Nori’s Obaasama (grandmother), Yuko, means when she says "Many, and none" in response to Nori’s question about whether she has any regrets?ġ0.Kyoto, Japan, 1948. Do you see any parallels between the views in the book and those of today, especially about our attitudes toward women and other marginalized people?ĩ. This is a book about family, love, duty, and isolation.
What inspired those changes within her? Are those changes reflected in the rest of society?Ĩ. How does Nori transform throughout the book? In one regard, she moves from not fighting her confinement to resisting other people’s control over her life. What does Nori learn from reading her mother’s diaries? How do you think this influences her own trajectory?ħ. How do these women’s relationships reflect and resist Japanese culture in the 1950s?Ħ. Look at how Nori interacts with her mother, her grandmother, Alice, Kiyomi, and Miyuki. There are many examples of female relationships in the book. Why do you think they are able to be close? How does their relationship change the course of their lives?ĥ. Despite the vastly different ways they are treated, they form a very powerful bond. Have you previously read a World War II novel set in Japan? How does setting a story outside Europe change the way you think about this period? What are some of the lasting effects from the war that you see in the book?Ĥ. Why do you think music has such a strong effect on Nori? Aside from, bringing her and Akira closer, what does playing the violin mean to Nori?ģ. For Nori, watching Akira play the violin is captivating, and she wants to be able to make people feel that way too.
What do you think the title "Fifty Words for Rain" means? What role does nature play in Nori’s life?Ģ.
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