Light on literary value, this is an informative snapshot of a moment when the violent shock of exposure to Western values...
A married salary man watches his male authority crumble amid seismic cultural shifts in postwar Japan in Kojima’s 1966 novel, translated into English for the first time.
In late-’40s Tokyo, GIs teach schoolgirls the finer points of the Charleston, department stores stock Western-style bathtubs and Miwa Shunsuke, who had spent some time in the U.S., earns a living by lecturing his countrymen on the American way of life. His own household, in the meantime, spins out of control: Wife Tokiko has taken to openly mocking her husband in front of their snickering children, with even the maid joining in the defiance. When Tokiko admits an affair with an American boarder, Shunsuke stifles his rage and plunges instead into the kind of self-flagellating introspection the reader will recognize as very Western. Metaphorically and literally impotent, he proceeds to seethe throughout most of this slim novel, as the travails of cuckoldry give way to an immeasurably more terrifying ordeal—Tokiko's breast cancer. Shunsuke's is a book-length loss of face, exacerbated by cutaways to disapproving onlookers (sentences to the effect of “Everyone turned and stared” form a pulsing refrain). Tokiko, her side of the story left untold, comes across as an entirely unpleasant nag, in sickness and in health. The unblinking, methodical manner in which Kojima ushers a somewhat blank hero through gauntlets of tragedy is reminiscent of Yukio Mishima's Death in Midsummer. Kojima, however, takes the taut minimalism that permeates much of ’60s Japanese prose to its logical endpoint. His writing, unaffected to the point of being scrubbed clean of anything resembling style, dissipates into a screenplay-like list of things characters did, said and felt. The boxy translation, which has one character casually remarking, of another, “He feels sheepish and obliged,” is of no particular help.
Light on literary value, this is an informative snapshot of a moment when the violent shock of exposure to Western values was impacting every aspect of Japanese life.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2006
ISBN: 1-56478-405-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Dalkey Archive
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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