Tag: Japan

Advance Review Copy, Fiction, Translation

A True Novel by Minae Mizumura, translated from the Japanese by Juliet Winters Carpenter

A True Novel by Japanese author Minae Mizumura, translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter, received a lot of positive attention when it was released in 2013 by Other Press.*  Not least because it was released in a beautiful two-volume, illustrated and slip-cased edition. But the plot, itself, was always going to be catnip to a certain type of reader — the re-interpretaion of the beloved Bronte … Continue reading A True Novel by Minae Mizumura, translated from the Japanese by Juliet Winters Carpenter

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Advance Review Copy, Fiction, Sci-Fi / Fantasy, Translation

Paprika by Yasutaka Tsutsui, translated from the Japanese by Andrew Driver

The 2006 anime film Paprika, based on the Yasutaka Tsutsui Japanese novel and its subsequent manga adaptation, has a cult following.   Unfortunately, the original book contains the very elements in anime and manga which I find most distasteful:  the sexual objectification of women, homophobia and a hysterical prose style.  Add to this a plot built on a dubious pseudo-science – i.e. dream therapy based … Continue reading Paprika by Yasutaka Tsutsui, translated from the Japanese by Andrew Driver

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Advance Review Copy, Fiction, Short Story, Translation

Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales by Yoko Ogawa (translated from the original Japanese by Stephen Snyder)

Yoko Ogawa shares the same elegant, pared-down aesthetic of Kazuo Ishiguro and/or Akira Yoshimura.  Like them, she exerts remarkable control over her prose narrative.  And, like them, the fact that something significant is occurring is not always immediately apparent. Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales provides eleven intimate encounters with love, loss, desire and, yes, revenge.  The violence committed by Ogawa’s characters is particularly chilling, often presented … Continue reading Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales by Yoko Ogawa (translated from the original Japanese by Stephen Snyder)

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Fiction

Buddhaland Brooklyn by Richard C. Morais

Richard Morais’ first novel, The 100-Foot Journey, took his young hero from India to France on a quest for 3-Star Michelin glory.  His latest novel is about a Buddhist monk who leaves his tranquil Japanese life for Brooklyn, New York. Morais likes moving his characters out of their comfort zones.  Forcing them to explore (and eventually embrace) alien cultures.  He has a definite talent for … Continue reading Buddhaland Brooklyn by Richard C. Morais

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Fiction, History, Translation

Shipwrecks by Akira Yoshimura (translated from the Japanese by Mark Ealey)

The action of Shipwrecks takes place entirely in a small, isolated village on the coast of Japan.  The villagers are dependent on what the sea provide for sustenance. Every winter brings possible starvation with it.  There’s a village tradition of family members going into indentured servitude in order to earn money to buy grain.  This is what Isaku’s (the novel’s nine-year-old protagonist’s) father does.  His … Continue reading Shipwrecks by Akira Yoshimura (translated from the Japanese by Mark Ealey)

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