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Spirit Unbroken: The Two Sides of Love

Rick & Alice Garlock
Inkwater Press (2008)
ISBN 9781592993314
Reviewed by Kam Aures for RebeccasReads (8/08)

When you sit down to read “Spirit Unbroken: The Two Sides of Love,” be sure to set aside a nice sized chunk of uninterrupted time, because this is a book that you are not going to want to put down.  Luckily for me, I had just that, and stayed up well into the night because I was so involved in the story, and there was no way that I was going to go to sleep until I finished it. 

In the Prelude we learn that Alice’s mother was “a Japanese Korean War bride.”  Alice’s father deceived her into believing that if she came to America she would be better off, live a prosperous life, and have everything she ever dreamed of.  The life that waited for her in America was a full 180 degrees from the life that she had anticipated.

The memoir is co-authored by Rick & Alice Garlock, and told through Alice’s eyes.  The story alternates between Alice’s life as a child and Alice’s visit to Japan to reclaim her heritage as an adult.  Her childhood is rampant with abuse, fear, and pain, and her adulthood is filled with hope, love and acceptance.

The stories of abuse that Alice’s father inflicted on her, her mother, and her siblings are absolutely horrifying.  I found many of the instances so disturbing that I had difficulty even getting through them.  One particular passage that sticks with me is when Alice was around four years old and is eating breakfast.  She has an aversion to eggs but her dad makes her eat them anyway.  She threw up while gagging on her eggs and her dad made her bend over her plate and “lap up my own vomit like a dog.”  She threw up a few more times and was made to continue to eat it. 

I have a son this age, and to think of him being put in that same situation completely sickens me.  It is repulsive to me to think that a father could treat his daughter in that manner.  Unfortunately this instance was just the tip of the iceberg in a long string of physical, mental, and emotional abuse.      

The other, more cheerful part of the book focuses on Alice’s visit to reclaim her Japanese heritage.  She had not met any of her Japanese relatives, and as an adult she returns to her mother’s homeland to learn about the family and history that she was never allowed to know.  Unsure of how she will be received, she is anxious, but finds that her Japanese family welcomes her with love and acceptance.

“Spirit Unbroken: The Two Sides of Love” is an emotional, heart-wrenching memoir, but also shows just how strong we are capable of being.  The book is very well written and the transitions between Alice’s childhood and her visit to Japan are skillfully bridged.  I highly recommend this incredible story.

  

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