I thought I would do a post about some of the books I am reading at the moment. Most of you would be unaware that I live across from a library. The Central Library of Toyohashi in fact. Still it has taken me the last two months to find out what might be in there that interests me. Firstly there is the English language newspaper that when I feel inspired I go and read. Secondly there are language dictionaries that I will find useful in the future. Then there are a select few and I mean at most two shelves of English language books (fiction and non-fiction). Unfortunately most of these are translations of Japanese classics some of which I have read. There are no really good English authors there. If only I read Portuguese, there is a whole section for them! Anyway I selected a few and aim to finish the whole section by Christmas. With the hope of moving on to Japanese langauge children's books. So here are three of the books I have just read.
Perhaps my favourite of the three. Its one of those generational fictions. Where there are three parts to the story, starting with the grandmother, mother than daughter. I generally find this style of novel to be a nice read if not particularly in depth. This novel has the same characteristics as others of the same style.
It begins with the grandmother, Hana's life at the beginning of the 20th Century, a changing time in Japan. Soon after the Meiji restoration. The story continues into the post-war period of Japan with the mother, Fumio who embraces all things modern and does her best to abandon traditional Japanese culture. Then there is Hanako her daughter who becomes a bridge between Hana and Fumio, connecting all the generations.
There are many historical events mentioned in the book so if you want to read a fictional account of these times in Japan it is quite interesting. Because it was set in an area of Japan that I had lived in for a long time it was also interesting for me.
I did enjoy this novel. It was a glimpse into the lives of women in Japan at that time. Although I thought that it rushed through the war period and the second half of the book felt to me to be moving at a lot faster pace. I found this a bit disappointing. I think the author would have been better to expand the second half to be similar in length and as in depth as the first section. Overall however if you want something that is reasonably light but still contains interesting insights into Japanese culture and history you will enjoy this book.
This is a historical novel. Set in the period of the Warring States before the Edo Period. It starts in 1543 and ends in 1600. So it spans a large period of time. The main character Tama who later becomes known as Lady Gracia is growing up in a turbulent time. While the book follows her life it also describes many of the main events happening at the time. There are many wars and Tama's family is influential and heavily involved in a lot of what occurs.
What I liked about this book was that there were not many characters who could be placed in "stereotypical" roles. While reading the novel I found myself growing to like a character who would then do something I detested and then I would be unsure if I still liked them. This made the story feel more realistic. I also thought that the translation was well done and informed the reader of historical events they may not have been aware of, without taking away from the storyline.
If you are not able to read about horrific massacres and other events like this then you should avoid this book. Although not many of them are described in detail as they occurred there are many mentions of atrocities committed by central characters. This of course is a reflection on what Japan was like at the time. It was sometimes hard to keep track of who was who as there are many characters. Although the translator provides a handy character guide in the front of the book, I still lost track of side characters sometimes.
As mentioned in the forward by the translator the author herself became a Christian part way through her life and Tama also becomes a Christian during the novel. Reading about the arrival of Christianity in Japan is interesting however sometimes I feel the author focused too much on pushing her message across that Christianity is good.
This is not a feel good tale. Everything does not end happily every after. However I found this book to be well-written and a little bit different from other historical novels I had read previously. It is a chaotic time in Japanese history and I think the novel was able to accurately portray this.
This is a Japanese crime novel. Although written a while ago it deals with relationships on the internet and in real life and how sometimes they can cause problems. To begin with I thought this story had the potential to be interesting but in the end I found it to be disappointing.
Firstly it was clear from within the first third of the book who had committed the crimes and what the ending of the book would be. Yet the author still had to drag out the story. To be honest I am not really sure why I kept reading. Maybe Japanese readers have not watched as many episodes of Law and Order or NCIS as I have and therefore are less capable of easily guessing who the murderer is but I don't think this is the case. Therefore I am left wondering why this book was selected as one of the few to grace the shelves of the English section in the library. According to the cover it seems to have had many accolades in the Western media but frankly I cant see why.
Secondly what annoyed me constantly throughout the entire novel was the translation style. All the "Japaneseness" had been removed from the language. Words as simple as Soba (a type of buckwheat noodle) were translated to "buckwheat noodle" and I thought this made the book less interesting for me. Also the speech was changed I think (although I will have to consult the Japanese original to confirm) to be very Americanised. The teenage characters spoke in a way that seemed like an American teenager rather than a Japanese one. The names of all the characters might as well have been changed to those of American names and the location changed to that of somewhere in America.
I would not go out of your way to read this book. If you have only two shelves of English books at your disposal then perhaps you should go ahead and read it but otherwise there are better books out there. Go read Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, if you haven't already.
So this is it for now. There will definitely be more exciting things to come and many pictures with my new camera. :-D
