My copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair review.

I've been interested in Japan for a long time. Certainly since early high school and I think even before that. Although I've studied Japanese off and on, I've only traveled there twice for a total of 5 weeks. I'm particularly intrigued by the geisha and maiko culture who learn classical dance, singing, and music. In this book, the author comes to Japan to teach English and ends up finding a woman who's teaching the shamisen to westerners (any non-Japanese). It becomes clear that "sensei", as Pocorobba calls her teacher in the book, is in some ways, a ground-breaking nonconformist, but in other ways still bound to Japan and the Japanese way of learning. Sensei won't take Japanese students but continually accepts non-Japanese students who often take lessons for only a few days or weeks.

It's worthwhile to see how the training is often very rote. You learn whole songs right from the beginning by imitating the teacher. On the other hand, Sensei tells her students not to bother memorizing the songs--not worth it--even though Japanese students who are learning traditionally must do so.

Ms. Pocorobba uses some allusions and makes philosophical statements that I sometimes found odd or that I didn't agree with. I think part of it is due to my STEM background. I did go to a liberal arts university, but didn't study philosophy or sociology beyond the required courses. One part that I remember was about how Japanese students are frightened to death before they ever perform for the first time...but that, to me, sounds much more like how an adult (of any culture) feels. Kids, to me, particularly prodigies, are fearless. They haven't realized how easy it is to mess up, to be injured, and so on. It's when they get a little older that you see them begin to struggle. Maybe she's right and the training is different leading to different outcomes there.

Overall, I still enjoyed the book and read it cover-to-cover which is unusual for me and a nonfiction book. Read it to learn more about the shamisen and drums and how the expat community mingles and interacts with the arts in Japan.

A lovely memoir and interesting insight into Japanese culture, with a particular emphasis on the performing arts. "The Fourth String" is informative and a fitting tribute to what seems to be a very private and complex woman who has made an impact on the lives of her students in the pursuit of her own contentment.

This memoir of Janet Pocorobba’s time spent in Japan when she learned to play the Shamisen from her Japanese teacher, Sensei, is sensitively and emotionally written. Not only is this a description of a musical journey, but a psychological and spiritual one too.
The book brings Japanese daily life and customs to life with all of the writer’s descriptive force, and encourages the reader to feel part of this journey.
The book absorbed me as a reader to learn about the contained and secretive world of Japanese customs and traditions, in contrast to the crassness of Western society.
The memoir also portrays the inner life of the author’s personal development, as well as her absorption into her music lessons, her attempts to integrate into Japanese society and her complex relationship with her teacher.
The book, for me, was over-long and too intense in its’ soul-searching, and I would have liked more depth in the descriptions of the secondary characters, as well as knowing what happened to them in the end.
All in all, I felt I had been on a musical and geographical journey and learned a little more about another culture and the mechanics of learning a new instrument . Thank you to the publishers for allowing me this experience.

WoW...........This Book was Just amazing and so beautifully written. The Fourth String by Janet Pocorobba it was a great find and I am so glad I found a quiet corner of my farmhouse to sit and read it. I read this book in two sittings and just sat back and was just amazed.

Big 5 stars for this amazing Book.

Big Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an eARC.

I found this book difficult to read, the style was not smooth. I am interested in Japanese culture and was looking forward to reading the book. However, it did not flow and it felt disjointed and made it difficult to read. There was no flow between describing the authors experience in Japan with the shamisen teacher and other details regarding playing and information on the instrument.

So beautiful so involving a memoir a young woman who leaves her boyfriend their relationship to start a life in Japan learn music from the woman she calls her Sensei.An emotional memoir of a time in her life where she devoted herself to growth learning her musical instrument and a way of life.A lyrical memoir that will stay with me.#netgalley #stonebridgepress.

This memoir spoke to me on so many levels. This is simply a hidden gem that I discovered on Netgalley by accident.

As a music lover and Japan fan, I had to get my hands on this.
Janet, the author, studies shamisen and other traditional Japanese instruments like the drums under her sensei in Tokyo.
We follow her on her journey to find herself and how she lives as gaijin in Japan.
I had to look her up on YouTube and found this fantastic video about her talking about her novel and playing the shamisen.
I love this book so much.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eARC.

I'm not really sure what I think about this book. It's a memoir of the 3+ years Pocorobba spent in Japan, largely to learn the shamisen from an intriguing woman who only taught foreigners. The shamisen is difficult to play and performing with it is uncomfortable at best.

Certainly the author is realistic about this and about her compelling need she had to continue to learn. But I feel as if the book was ambiguous. I didn't feel as if Pocorobba really learned about herself from this experience. It's almost as if the book ended but didn't really conclude.

She left Japan and her sensei but did she change, did she grow? I don't know.