by Ruth Ozeki
First published 2016
Ruth Ozeki sits before a mirror and begins an unusual experiment. She will stare at her own face for three uninterrupted hours, recording every thought and observation. The Zen Buddhist priest draws on an ancient koan about discovering your face before your parents were born. As the minutes pass, her reflections expand beyond what she sees in the glass. Her mixed Japanese and Caucasian heritage surfaces alongside memories of growing up in post-World War II America. She considers her public identity as an author, her studies of Japanese Noh masks, and her ordination as a priest. The aging faces of her parents appear in her thoughts. Self doubt creeps in, then fades. What starts as a simple meditation on physical appearance becomes a journey through identity, family, race, and the passage of time. This lyrical memoir captures how three solitary hours can unlock a lifetime of understanding about who we truly are.
Genres: autobiography, memoir, non-fiction, biography-memoir, personal-development, cultural-studies
Vibes: emotional, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, self-reflection, unreliable-narrator
Setting: America, Japan
Period: Post-World War II
144 pages · Paperback · Restless Books