I Want To Go Home
by Wesley Leon Aroozoo

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BOOK SUMMARY
On the 11th of March, 2011, Yasuo Takamatsu lost his wife to the tsunami during the Great East Japan earthquake. Since that fateful day, he has been diving in the sea every week in search for her.

Compelled and inspired to share his story, I Want To Go Home is a journey from Singapore to Onagawa through the lens of the intrigued to meet him. Of unlikely friendships across borders and languages; to share a man’s loss, recovery and determination to reunite with his wife.

The novel’s feature film (also titled I Want To Go Home) has also been selected for the 2017 부산국제영화제 Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). This book also includes a Japanese translation by Miki Hawkinson.

BOOK REVIEW

3.5 STARS

This was one of the few books that I knew I would enjoy just from reading the first paragraph.

I Want To Go Home is a haunting read about losing someone who you love very much. There are many accidents, natural disasters and many lives being lost every day, leaving their loved ones behind and to hear it from Mr. Takamatsu’s perspective of how his days are after losing his wife to the Japan tsunami in 2011 caused by the earthquake, it was heartbreaking.

Wesley Leon Aroozoo was a great narrator. Despite this being about Mr. Takamatsu’s story, Wesley made it his own with his narration and his thoughts. The way he wrote really made me feel as if he was a journalist and I was watching a documentary, which I enjoyed. Through his writing, I was able to relate to him quite a bit. How he worded his anxiety of the radiation, meeting Mr. Takamatsu and his messy thoughts were great things to include since it not only help us to understand the narrator’s true feelings but also made it more believable.

I liked that it was also informative about the earthquake in case some people may have forgotten about it or not known about it and the traditions in Japan. There were many things he could’ve just skipped out on but would have not had the same effect on the reader. That was a great move on his part.

For most of the part, the narrator added his own two cents and related to his own life which may have not sat well with some of the readers. However, I really liked the personality of the narrator and he made it so much more than just non-fiction book centered around Mr. Takamatsu. It was about his own story and that was what made it interesting.