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Forgiveness
- A Gift from My Grandparents
- Narrated by: Geoff Sugiyama
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
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Forgiveness
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Publisher's Summary
When the Second World War broke out, Ralph MacLean chose to escape his troubled life on the Magdalen Islands in eastern Canada and volunteer to serve his country overseas. Meanwhile, in Vancouver, Mitsue Sakamoto saw her family and her stable community torn apart after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Like many young Canadian soldiers, Ralph was captured by the Japanese army. He would spend the war in prison camps, enduring pestilence, beatings and starvation as well as a journey by hell ship to Japan to perform slave labor, while around him his friends and countrymen perished. Back in Canada, Mitsue and her family were expelled from their home by the government and forced to spend years eking out an existence in rural Alberta, working other people's land for a dollar a day.
By the end of the war, Ralph emerged broken but a survivor. Mitsue, worn down by years of backbreaking labour, had to start all over again in Medicine Hat, Alberta. A generation later, at a high school dance, Ralph's daughter and Mitsue's son fell in love.
Although the war toyed with Ralph's and Mitsue's lives and threatened to erase their humanity, these two brave individuals somehow surmounted enormous transgressions and learned to forgive. Without this forgiveness, their grandson Mark Sakamoto would never have come to be.
What listeners say about Forgiveness
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Faegi
- 2018-05-05
A very deserving winner!
I loved this book. So proud of CBC for selecting this for the Canada Reads award
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Susie
- 2019-07-10
Excellent!
Haunting and sad but an excellent example of racism even in Canada pre Canada’s involvement in WWII and of the terrible ordeal suffered by the young men who went to war to protect our nation.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2019-04-21
Food for thought
A true story of strength, courage, endurance and a will to move forward. I hold these families and others high in my regard. thank you for sharing.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Angela Hendry
- 2018-06-19
A GIFT FOR EVERYONE
Canada Reads 2018 pick. From the moment I heard Jeannie Becker talk about this book I knew I would love it. I was not wrong. Mark Sakamoto has touched on so much in the human experience and this book will have a lasting impression on me forever. It evokes of history lessons not often told in the classrooms and anyone from western Canada will find themselves lost in the memories. Great material and one of my favourite books of all time.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- NThums
- 2019-01-10
Loved the vivid discriptions and raw emotion.
Such a moving and inspiring story through the beautiful way the author describes things. The narrator did a fabulous job and drew me into the story from beginning to the end.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Paula Dvernichuk
- 2019-02-23
Fantastic story of love
This story captures the struggle of a family coming together and forgiving all its shortcoming to become something so much more. It has been an honour to hear. Thank you
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Blayne Beacham
- 2019-01-19
Wow
I can see why this won Canada Reads. What I thought was going to be a story about two sets of grandparents experiencing WWII from two very different circumstances wound up being so much more. I think this should be read very broadly, by Canadians mostly, but really anyone who wants to hear a touching, powerful story about three generations of families who have helped to build a great nation into what it is now (worts and all). Highly recommended!
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2018-09-19
A Canadian Story
I really enjoyed this wartime story and the ability of Mark's grandparents to forgive the atrocities they experienced at the hands of the Canadian and Japanese governments. A must read in this era of reconciliation.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Meghan Ricketts
- 2020-07-08
Moving and enlightening
Well narrated and engaging. This non-fiction tale covers the entire scope of human emotion- amazing.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Claudine
- 2021-11-23
A story of human strength and forgiveness
I could not put it down. I listened on and on. A story of real people, real situations, who were controlled by the decisions of others, put in unimaginable circumstances they lived through with strength and forgiveness. A five star book for sure!
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