walkwithheroes (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
walkwithheroes) wrote2011-08-16 09:15 pm
walkwithheroes) wrote2011-08-16 09:15 pm
I've Read. . .
books!
This summer was going to be all about reading novels and writing stories. It didn't quite work out that way. I rarely wrote and I only read four novels. :(
I thought I'd share a bit about the two novels I enjoyed this summer. (I liked the other two, but. . .they are by Haruki Murakami, so, yeah)
The Summer of the Ubume: The novel is by Natsuhiko Kyogoku, a mystery writer with a love of Japanese folklore. So, of course, this novel deals with a possible case of folklore, that may or may not be easily explained. This novel is the first in a series of novels that have several characters dealing with mysterious events. The thing all these characters have in common? They are all childhood friends and they all know Akihiko "Kyogokudo" Chuzenji, the owner of a bookstore/exorcist with a twist: he doesn't believe in ghosts. The narrator of the novel is a writer, who gets involved with a family. The family has a unique problem: their daughter has been pregnant for twenty months and their son-in-law has gone missing. He was last seen going into a room that locks from the outside - so he couldn't have gotten out.
The novel deals with the narrator trying to figure out what the hell is going on; especially when he learns the missing man was his (and Kyogokudo)'s friend from high school. During the novel, the narrator teams up with a detective (another hs friend), who has the ability to see into people's memories and a cop - who (along with the narrator) was the only one to survive a bloody battle during WW II. The whole novels plays as a supernatural mystery, with elements of philosophy & crime.
I'll be honest - this novel has a slow and steady build-up. The characters are all colorful and brilliantly written. They capture post-WW II Japan perfectly. BUT, a lot of the novel is used to explain long forgotten Japanese folklore and different aspects of philosophy. This novel isn't for everyone, because it is slow and very wordy; at times it gives text book information. It's well translated, but there is a lot of wordy information, that may annoy some readers. I thought I wouldn't enjoy it, but forty pages it - I was hooked.
The Devil's Whisper: The novel is written by Miyuki Miyabe, who is apparently Japan's number one mystery writer. The story itself is rather simple: Three deaths come in quick succession: one girl jumps from the roof of a six-story building; another falls in front of a train; and a third is hit by a late-night taxi. But how are they related? And are they accidents, suicides -- or murder?
Slowly, the answers are uncovered by sixteen-year-old Mamoru, the nephew of the taxi driver currently being held by the police on charges of manslaughter for the death of the third victim.
Determined to help his uncle, Mamoru discovers that the girl killed by his uncle's taxi had participated in a devious scam to separate vulnerable men from their money, and that three of the four girls involved in the plot are now dead. When a powerful businessman reveals new evidence that could free Mamoru's uncle, Mamoru decides he must go all out if he is to save the last of the four girls being targeted by the real killer.
And then the killer contacts him.... - from Amazon.com
What follows are several games of cat and mouse: the last girl with the possible killer and Mamoru with several people who may or may not be the killer. If there even is a murder. The plot twists in the novel are many, and often have you questioning the true motives of the characters. What's really interesting about this novel is that it plays out like a film, which makes me wonder if a film isn't fore-coming.
There are tons of mysteries in this novel, not just about the girls, but about Mamoru's past as well. His father allegedly embezzled money from the company he worked and then abandoned Mamoru and his mother years before. And, now a strange man is watching Mamoru. Could it be his father? The murder? Both? There are several people watching Mamoru. And, that last girl? Well, she's got her own problems. . .
This novel isn't for everyone. I'm not a fan of mystery novels, but I enjoyed it. I think the avid mystery reader might get bored or think they've figured it out and put the novel down. But, trust me - you think you know who the killer is - if there is a killer - but, you don't.
Other two -
Dance, Dance, Dance: by Haruki Murakami follow surreal - and they are surreal - misadventures of the unnamed narrator protagonist. Quite suddenly he finds himself compelled to return to the Dolphin Hotel, a seedy place where he once spent time with an unusual lover. A lover whose name he never knew. The unnamed protagonist is guided by strange dreams; dreams in which is lover and an odd man appear. The dreams lead him to two very different mysteries. One is more about being and reality. While the second is very real - it involves the murders of call-girls, his middle school classmate turned "pure" actor, a clairvoyant teenager, a one-armed poet, and a receptionist whose found another world via the elevator in the Dolphin Hotel.
Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: also by Haruki Murakami. The story is split between parallel narratives. The odd-numbered chapters follow "Calcutec," a human data processor/encryption system who has been trained to use his subconscious as an encryption key. The even-numbered chapters follow a newcomer to 'the End of the World', a strange, isolated walled Town depicted in the frontispiece map as being surrounded by a perfect and impenetrable wall. (I found the even numbered chapters much more interesting) Residents of the town are told they do not have a mind, though it is hinted that their minds are merely suppressed. Toward the middle of the novel, the two storylines converge, exploring concepts of consciousness, the unconscious mind and personal identity.
This summer was going to be all about reading novels and writing stories. It didn't quite work out that way. I rarely wrote and I only read four novels. :(
I thought I'd share a bit about the two novels I enjoyed this summer. (I liked the other two, but. . .they are by Haruki Murakami, so, yeah)
The Summer of the Ubume: The novel is by Natsuhiko Kyogoku, a mystery writer with a love of Japanese folklore. So, of course, this novel deals with a possible case of folklore, that may or may not be easily explained. This novel is the first in a series of novels that have several characters dealing with mysterious events. The thing all these characters have in common? They are all childhood friends and they all know Akihiko "Kyogokudo" Chuzenji, the owner of a bookstore/exorcist with a twist: he doesn't believe in ghosts. The narrator of the novel is a writer, who gets involved with a family. The family has a unique problem: their daughter has been pregnant for twenty months and their son-in-law has gone missing. He was last seen going into a room that locks from the outside - so he couldn't have gotten out.
The novel deals with the narrator trying to figure out what the hell is going on; especially when he learns the missing man was his (and Kyogokudo)'s friend from high school. During the novel, the narrator teams up with a detective (another hs friend), who has the ability to see into people's memories and a cop - who (along with the narrator) was the only one to survive a bloody battle during WW II. The whole novels plays as a supernatural mystery, with elements of philosophy & crime.
I'll be honest - this novel has a slow and steady build-up. The characters are all colorful and brilliantly written. They capture post-WW II Japan perfectly. BUT, a lot of the novel is used to explain long forgotten Japanese folklore and different aspects of philosophy. This novel isn't for everyone, because it is slow and very wordy; at times it gives text book information. It's well translated, but there is a lot of wordy information, that may annoy some readers. I thought I wouldn't enjoy it, but forty pages it - I was hooked.
The Devil's Whisper: The novel is written by Miyuki Miyabe, who is apparently Japan's number one mystery writer. The story itself is rather simple: Three deaths come in quick succession: one girl jumps from the roof of a six-story building; another falls in front of a train; and a third is hit by a late-night taxi. But how are they related? And are they accidents, suicides -- or murder?
Slowly, the answers are uncovered by sixteen-year-old Mamoru, the nephew of the taxi driver currently being held by the police on charges of manslaughter for the death of the third victim.
Determined to help his uncle, Mamoru discovers that the girl killed by his uncle's taxi had participated in a devious scam to separate vulnerable men from their money, and that three of the four girls involved in the plot are now dead. When a powerful businessman reveals new evidence that could free Mamoru's uncle, Mamoru decides he must go all out if he is to save the last of the four girls being targeted by the real killer.
And then the killer contacts him.... - from Amazon.com
What follows are several games of cat and mouse: the last girl with the possible killer and Mamoru with several people who may or may not be the killer. If there even is a murder. The plot twists in the novel are many, and often have you questioning the true motives of the characters. What's really interesting about this novel is that it plays out like a film, which makes me wonder if a film isn't fore-coming.
There are tons of mysteries in this novel, not just about the girls, but about Mamoru's past as well. His father allegedly embezzled money from the company he worked and then abandoned Mamoru and his mother years before. And, now a strange man is watching Mamoru. Could it be his father? The murder? Both? There are several people watching Mamoru. And, that last girl? Well, she's got her own problems. . .
This novel isn't for everyone. I'm not a fan of mystery novels, but I enjoyed it. I think the avid mystery reader might get bored or think they've figured it out and put the novel down. But, trust me - you think you know who the killer is - if there is a killer - but, you don't.
Other two -
Dance, Dance, Dance: by Haruki Murakami follow surreal - and they are surreal - misadventures of the unnamed narrator protagonist. Quite suddenly he finds himself compelled to return to the Dolphin Hotel, a seedy place where he once spent time with an unusual lover. A lover whose name he never knew. The unnamed protagonist is guided by strange dreams; dreams in which is lover and an odd man appear. The dreams lead him to two very different mysteries. One is more about being and reality. While the second is very real - it involves the murders of call-girls, his middle school classmate turned "pure" actor, a clairvoyant teenager, a one-armed poet, and a receptionist whose found another world via the elevator in the Dolphin Hotel.
Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: also by Haruki Murakami. The story is split between parallel narratives. The odd-numbered chapters follow "Calcutec," a human data processor/encryption system who has been trained to use his subconscious as an encryption key. The even-numbered chapters follow a newcomer to 'the End of the World', a strange, isolated walled Town depicted in the frontispiece map as being surrounded by a perfect and impenetrable wall. (I found the even numbered chapters much more interesting) Residents of the town are told they do not have a mind, though it is hinted that their minds are merely suppressed. Toward the middle of the novel, the two storylines converge, exploring concepts of consciousness, the unconscious mind and personal identity.
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