Japanese Lit 401

Over the past few weeks I have picked up my two-book-a-week reading habit again. Needless to say, enough to talk about. And for those of you less interested in literature, too bad. Recently I have been devouring a lot of novels by Japanese authors and judging from what I have read, I will probably continue to do so seeing as this is an exhilarating horizon that I haven’t yet thoroughly explored.

The first novel I read, made me speechless and trust me that rarely happens. The gem in question is Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro who is from Japanese descent but is currently living in the UK. Another one of his books might ring a bell for those who aren’t familiar with his work, namely The Remains of the Day due to exceptional film adaptation starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. Anyway, Never Let Me Go tells the story of three kids in a secluded boarding school somewhere in the English countryside. It is a touching coming-of-age tale with a twist seeing as these kids aren’t your run of the mill adolescents. A poetic and unsettling mystery gradually unfolds that is quite out of the ordinary and makes the cover and the initial expectations it produces vanish into thin air. In the end it is a luscious sci-fi tale which looks into the heart of humanity and that will take your breath away.

Secondly, In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami which was something completely different. Twenty-year old Kenji guides tourists through the underbelly of the Japanese nightlife, namely the sex industry. His next customer is Frank, a middle aged American with bad skin and a few lose wires (although Kenji’s suspicions start of a bit dubious). Tension rises along with the body count in this short disturbing (seriously, not for the fainthearted) but interesting look into some unsuspecting aspects of Japanese culture. This gruelling little adrenaline rush can almost be labelled as Patrick Bateman (American Psycho) does Tokyo. Ryu’s style is simple, to the point and very vivid while making and interesting comparison between East and West.

Then another Murakami, not Ryu but Haruki. They may share the same last name and nationality but that as far as it goes. The narrator of Sputnik Sweetheart is “K”, a man who has been in love with his outlandish best friend Sumire for a while now but alas, at a wedding reception she falls head over heals with an older woman named Miu. As Sumire accompanies Miu on a trip to Greece, a random event changes the course of the character’s lives. The book delves into the concepts of identity, alienation, loneliness and how to find happiness in a world where everyone is together yet at the same time isolated. One of Haruki’s trademarks is a hint of surrealism which takes on the form of an alternate mirror-world suggesting that we only see what we want to see. In the end he manages to keep a few balls in the air, contributing to the idea that true knowledge is elusive.

I liked all three books (especially Never Let Me Go) a lot. Each novel was a refreshing Eastern joyride with a very distinctive feel to it. Whether you like it

a) strange, sad and poetic

b) violent, simple and vivid or

c) surreal, existential and lovely

you’ll surely find it here.