Michael Pronko's The Last Train is a fun new detective series set in Tokyo. Hiroshi Shimizu is a detective who studied at university in the US and isMichael Pronko's The Last Train is a fun new detective series set in Tokyo. Hiroshi Shimizu is a detective who studied at university in the US and is often called to work on cases for the police department involving foreigners due to his linguistic skills. This case takes place among the elite in the finical institutions of Roppongi and the denizens of illicit after dark haunts. It is a "why dunnit' vs." who dunnit "and has lots of local flavor. I definitely want to continue the Hiroishi Shimizu series of books and read all of Pronko's mystery novels, so looking forward to more Tokyo-based mysteries in the near future....more
I have been reading the short novels and novellas of Jim Harrison ever since a friend recommended them to me and that was seconded by an article by NYI have been reading the short novels and novellas of Jim Harrison ever since a friend recommended them to me and that was seconded by an article by NY Times critic Dwight Gardener writing a piece lauding the short novels of Harrison. Dalva is the most complete novel that I have come across to date. It is the story of the beautiful and headstrong 45 year old Dalva, a part-Sioux woman who has lived a full and varied life. it is clear that the author holds this beautiful survivor in high regard-she is a survivor and a beautiful free spirit. She had a child as a teenager that she was forced to give up for adoption, went to college, later worked as a counselor for at risk teenagers, and has mostly lived on a farm in Nebraska with her kin folk. She is presently obsessed with tracking down her son from a former part-Sioux lover she had as a teenager who died of wounds from Vietnam many years before. Something about her life has felt incomplete and she hopes this will fill the void. The novel is narrated by Dalva in the first and last sections of the novel. However, the second (middle) section is narrated by the cynical and somewhat erudite historian Michael, who is researching Dalva's family history and dating her. Thus, there is a third story within the story aside from Dalva and Michael and that is the story of Dalva's missionary grandfather who settled these parts of Nebraska a hundred years before and is revealed through his journals that Michael is studying. It is not clear what Michael is searching for, but he gets his comeuppance swiftly and violently once the narration returns to Dalva's point of view. From there we have a bittersweet conclusion where things come full circle for Dalva, but not in a overly dramatic way. This is a powerful portrait of a modern American woman and a snapshot of America culture at a certain age....more
At a loss for reading material lead me to this, the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Far from an original idea, but well-executed with a compelling naAt a loss for reading material lead me to this, the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Far from an original idea, but well-executed with a compelling narrative. I had previously seen the film (most likely on a flight) and reading the book makes want to re-watch it and see how closely it follows the plot and details from the book I think there several things missing in the film. Overall, better than I expected....more
I have read a couple of books by Nobel Prize winning Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red and Istanbul: Memories and the City, and enjoyed both.I have read a couple of books by Nobel Prize winning Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red and Istanbul: Memories and the City, and enjoyed both. So it should be no surprise that i also enjoyed The Red-Haired Woman from 2017. It is a fable-like story of fathers and sons in Istanbul. It starts out in 1987 and ends in the present. It begins when an adolescent boy with an absent father, Cem, becomes the apprentice to a father-like well digger where he meets a beautiful traveling actress-The Red-Haired woman who will change the course of his life. Pamuk draws on two ancient myths Sophocles' Oedipus Rex-in which the the son kills the father and marries his mother (unknowingly) and Ferdawsi's Rustam and Sohrab taken from the The Persian Book of Kings Shahnameh, which is the inverse of Oedipus Rex in which the father kills the son (unknowingly). These become obsessions for Cem and something of an oracle for his life. It feels quite different in tone and style than the previous novel I had read-My Name is Red. Overall, another enjoyable novle from the Turkish master....more
I am a big fan of the non fiction of Paul Theroux, however, his fiction has always been hit or miss with me. That being said, Burma Sahib is a big hitI am a big fan of the non fiction of Paul Theroux, however, his fiction has always been hit or miss with me. That being said, Burma Sahib is a big hit. I think it is one of his most accomplished novels to date and is an imagined story of the life of a young Eric Blair (aka George Orwell) lived for five years as a policeman in colonial Burma at the turn of the century. Also, one of my favorite authors, so I was a built in audience for this sort of undertaking. Theroux is limited to the imagined inner life of one of literature's great writers. He has a lot of research materials at his disposal to fuel the story-especially Orwell's literary works. Theroux is working from the idea that "There's a short period in everyone's life when his character is fixed forever." And Theroux imagines this to be Orwell's experience as a colonial policeman created his ever lasting hatred of oppression that would direct him in his life and in his writing. Theroux fictionalizes significant events such as the episode where Blair shoots an elephant at he behest of the local populace that he would use for a metaphor in his classic celebrated essay "Shooting an Elephant." And he recreates the plot of Orwell's first novel, Burmese days that concerns a timber merchant, John Flurry, who runs into trouble between two local natives who are vying against each other to gain prestige by joining the local European Club. Theroux also imagines Blair's inner life reading the novels of contemporaries such as Lawrence, Wells, Maugham, and Jack Kerouac, whose book, The People of the Abyss, about living in the East end of London with the poor working class inspired Orwell's own adventures in Down and Out in London. In fact he sort of gives a foreshadowing of the events by suggesting he may atone for his sins in Burma as a dishwasher, a job he was fated to undertake in London and Paris. It is a realistic and compelling portrait of a man establishing hsi character through his experiences as a young man....more
I have been meaning to read a book by Nobel Prize winning author Alice Munro for some time and since she recently died (May 13, 2024), I decided it waI have been meaning to read a book by Nobel Prize winning author Alice Munro for some time and since she recently died (May 13, 2024), I decided it was high time. A few years back I came across The Best American Short Stories 1993 and Munro had an interesting story "A Real Life" about Albanian Virgins in the early 20th century who were treated like males as long as they didn't have sex. So I somewhat randomly chose Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories from 2001, it seemed to be one of her more popular collections. My favorites in this collection were the title story, "Queenie," and "The Bear Came Over the Mountain." These are largely stories about Canadian men and women and their lives lived in a variety of situations, time periods, yet all ring true to life. Even before I chose this book I figured I would read multiple volumes of her stories after reading an article in the NY Times that highlighted her writing,however, this solidifies the notion that Munro is an artist worthy of attention. Incidentally, Sarah Polley made an adaptation of "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" with the 2006 film Away from Her and "Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage" was adapted as Hateship, Loveship by Liza Johnson in 2014....more
I read Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Sympathizer around the time it was published and also read his nonfiction book Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the MemorI read Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Sympathizer around the time it was published and also read his nonfiction book Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War. I was inspired to finish this series since I have been watching Park Chan-wook's adaptation of the The Sympathizer. I enjoyed Nguyen's novel, but I did have some reservations about it. However, I found The Committed almost flawless. There may have been some stereotyping of the Captain's aunt as a typical Parisian intellectual hold a salon like gathering in her apartment. But this book seems more concerned with intellectual theories than the previous book in the series, The Sympathizer. Nguyen name checks such theorists as Adorno, Althusser, de Beavior, Cixous, Derrida, Gramsci, amd Kristeva, among other revolutionary theorist such as Marx, Che Guevera and Ho Chi Minh himself. I also found it interesting that the Captain was earning his keep as a drug dealer with his fellow blood brother Bon-surely one of the more American occupations of the last 60 years. And it does give him pause as to whether it is morally right to do, but many of his past actions come under review of the moral complexity that has plagued his life as a spy. But it was inevitable for France to be deconstructed by Nguyen as the most dominant colonizers of the Vietnamese (least we not forget the US and Japanese). Furthermore, the Captain is half French-the son of French priest father he never knew. His struggle with his two sides is an existential struggle and a metaphor for post WWII Viet Nam itself....more
A friend gave me a copy of The Best Asian Short Stories 2022 edited by Darryl Whetter. I found it to be something of a hit and miss collection for me.A friend gave me a copy of The Best Asian Short Stories 2022 edited by Darryl Whetter. I found it to be something of a hit and miss collection for me. Some stories came across as amateurish and juvenile. However, some of the other stories came across as professionally polished and illuminating about the lives of the characters. for the most part, it was the Singapore-based writers that impressed me the most in this collection: "Kochi" by Sahib Nazari, "Pineapple Fengshui" by Sarah Soh, "The Shadow" by Prachi Topiwala-Agarwal, "Mei-Mei" by Joanne Tan, "Transplanted Love" by Vicky Chong, "We Morners" by Nash Coblundalur, and "First Draft: David in Singapore, Maureen in Wales" by Peter Morgan....more
Life is Elsewhere, Burn Your Flag is the first fiction book I've read by Japan resident Iain Maloney I really enjoyed his previous nonfiction books ThLife is Elsewhere, Burn Your Flag is the first fiction book I've read by Japan resident Iain Maloney I really enjoyed his previous nonfiction books The Only Gaijin in the Village and The Japan Lights. I think a lot of that had to do with the voice in those books which is also apparent in these two stories about a marriage coming apart amidst the pandemic. The first part, Life is Elsewhere is from the Irish husband Cormac's point of view, while the second part is from the Japanese wife Eri's point of view. It more a long short story/novella than proper novel, but manages to get both points of view across in establish the breakdown of a relationship during a stressful time in world. This should encourage me to seek out some of Maloney's other fiction novels....more
I stumbled upon Cindy Fazzi's novel My MacArthur while researching books to read for my planned vacation to the Philippines (my second visit). Also, sI stumbled upon Cindy Fazzi's novel My MacArthur while researching books to read for my planned vacation to the Philippines (my second visit). Also, since I have been living in Asia for a long time I have developed an interest in the Pacific War so Mac Arthur is a big part of that and a fictionalized version of the love affair between the famous general and his Filipino mistress Isabelle Rosario Cooper was compelling. I also saw that Fazzi was a former journalist, so I knew she would do her homework as far as the historical details were concerned, and felt satisfied that she did. The Author Notes are as compelling as the novel itself to me....more
Lovd, etc. is Julian Barnes' 2000 sequel to an earlier novel, Talking It Over from 1991. For some reason, I stopped reading Barnes' novels when they cLovd, etc. is Julian Barnes' 2000 sequel to an earlier novel, Talking It Over from 1991. For some reason, I stopped reading Barnes' novels when they came out once I moved to Japan. Perhaps, because they were becoming infrequent compared to his glory days of the 80s and early 90s. This one came out eight years after his last, Porcupine-which was the last one I had read until recently. So it has been some time since I read the first book, but that didn't prevent me from enjoying this sequel. It seems to re-create the love triangle between Gillian and Stuart's best friend Oliver, who took away Gillian the first time around. It's as if these two characters have traded personalities and things play out differently this time. The book is told from the main three characters as well as others involved in the story from their (self-serving) points of view....more
Back in my university days I was a big fan of Julian Barnes-especially the innovative novels such as Flaubert's Parrot and The History of the World inBack in my university days I was a big fan of Julian Barnes-especially the innovative novels such as Flaubert's Parrot and The History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters. But I haven't read a book of his in years, so I thought I'd start where I left off with England, England which came out in 1998. I was happy to find that I enjoyed it as much as I did. It is something of a dystopian satire of being British. Barnes suggests that much of current English identity is based on a romanticized version of history. But the characters seemed plausible and were well drawn. The story is seen from the point of view of Martha Cochrane who is on a personal search for her identity and what it means to be English. She rises up in the empire of Sir Jack Pitman, a Rupert Murdoch type, who establishes a miniature England of the Isle of Wright which grows successful with Cochrane at the helm. After a scandal she is exiled from the island to "Anglia" -the former England that is deindustrialized and is closed off from the rest of the world by banning new technology and tourism-a regression to an agrarian society. I'm looking forward to catching up on his other more recent well-received novels....more
Inside Story is a curious book. It reads like a memoir, but Martin Amis has included bits of fiction in the book-particularly the over-the-top hyper sInside Story is a curious book. It reads like a memoir, but Martin Amis has included bits of fiction in the book-particularly the over-the-top hyper sexualized Phoebe Phelps who I think may have been added so that he could do a post mortem on his earlier love life with out naming names as many of them were probably still alive. That being said, it is very enjoyable for an Amis complete-ist, like myself, to read about the effects of the deaths of Philip Larkin, Saul Bellow, and Christopher Hitchens on the artist in question as well as hear his opinions on world events and art and such. Furthermore, his meditations on death also encompass the fictional Phoebe Phelps and later his step mother, Elizabeth Jane Howard, and his own mortality comes into question. I find it curious that he felt so strongly about 9/11 as the event that defined his life rather than the Vietnam war or some other event closer to his youthful years rather than those preceding his American years. But hat might be answer that he may have felt more American in the end. This book published in 2020 would be fated to be his last. I am somewhat wary that I did not wait until "after" reading the his last true novel-Lionel Asbo. I would have preferred to end on this high note. The best novel he's written in years in my opinion, probably because it is not a proper novel after all....more
Another impressive collection of short stories from Spokane's Jess Walter. My favorite stories were the two long ones, "Angel of Rome" and "The Way thAnother impressive collection of short stories from Spokane's Jess Walter. My favorite stories were the two long ones, "Angel of Rome" and "The Way the World Ends." (That being said there wasn't a dud in the bunch) The former is a story of a college student studying Latin in Rome stumbles on a movie set and becomes the go-between between a washed up American TV star and an equally washed-up Italian screen idol. The later is, inexplicably, a "climate-change" story (makes me wonder if he has any climate-denying fans-which seems unlikely as those types probably don't read much literary fiction) about the self-discovery of a group of people who meet in Mississippi for a job interview session for a science position at the university that changes all of the participant's lives there after. Walters tries on a variety of personas in the other stories: ranging from a prepubescent girl's first (negative) sexual experience to a middle aged gay man coming to terms with his father's decline. As per usual several stories are set in our shared hometown of Spokane, Washington which is appealing in a shared recognition of a certain place and time in the stories....more
I believe it took Peace 10 years to write this installment and it might be my favorite in the series. (Truth be told I read it over a longer period ofI believe it took Peace 10 years to write this installment and it might be my favorite in the series. (Truth be told I read it over a longer period of time than I usually do but I don't think that had anything to do with the prose or content). I was familiar with the the historical crime-as I was with the previous two novels. But that being said I am always impressed with the amount of research he does to make the novel as authentic as possible to the time period it takes place in. For me that is a major attraction to his novels, I find postwar Japan a fascinating period as it was a kind of rebirth in Japan-certainly one of the defining periods of the country's history. This novel seems more conventional stylistically, thus, easier to follow and the most accessible of the trilogy in my opinion. And I like the fact that he included a hybrid character based on Edward Seidensticker and Donald Richie as well as other foreign characters to give the outsider perspective on the event....more
Author Jess Walter has set The Cold Millions in the stunning natural environment of the Pacific Northwest, specifically Spokane, Washington at the turAuthor Jess Walter has set The Cold Millions in the stunning natural environment of the Pacific Northwest, specifically Spokane, Washington at the turn of the 20th Century. It was considered as one of the last frontiers of the western USA, and something of a wild place. It was an exploitive and violent time for workers. Robber barons put workers into dangerous and poorly paid work. And private detective agencies and local cops violently suppressed unions. The novel focuses on two fictional characters, brothers Rye and Gig Nolan and a real one, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn-fictionalized. Rye and Gig are orphans in their late teens. They ride the rails and do any work they can find. They simply struggle to survive. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn is a militant trade unionist and socialist, not much older than Rye. She’s a legendary speaker and promoter of the early trade unions, free speech, and women’s rights. She’s a slightly built, young, but very charismatic person. Walter’s chronicles the lives of Rye and Gig as they ride the rails through the Northwest. Gig’s character is molded by hard physical labor, confrontations with corrupt and violent cops, imprisonment, and the temptation of bribes from a private detective. His relationship with Elizabeth Gurley forms his character, as they organize meetings of the International Workers of the World (IWW), commonly considered a radical early union. I liked how Walters weaved real history into his story written as entertainment....more
Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje is a story of Anil Tissera,a Sri Lankan, who returns to her home country to work as a forensic pathologist to uncoverAnil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje is a story of Anil Tissera,a Sri Lankan, who returns to her home country to work as a forensic pathologist to uncover atrocities that took place during the civil war after getting an education abroad. She teams up with archeologist Sarath Diyasena, and discover the skeleton of a recently murdered man in an ancient burial ground which is also a government-protected zone. They come to believe that the murder was politically motivated. They set out to find the identify the victim, nicknamed Sailor, and find justice for the nameless casualties of the war. Ondaatjie focuses on the effects of the long brutal civil war on individuals, families, and the overall society. Too many families have been torn apart because of the kidnappings or because of the stress of war that upsets and traumatizes people....more
I think I was avoiding reading American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis because I was so familiar with the 2000 film version starring Christian Bale as thI think I was avoiding reading American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis because I was so familiar with the 2000 film version starring Christian Bale as the protagonist Patrick Bateman. However, in the past I have enjoyed many Ellis novels (Less Than Zero, The rules of attraction, Luna Park, etc.), so I decided to give a try. I'm glad I did since it is a sly creation that Mary Harron follows quite closely in her adaptation. Bateman's obsession with appearances and the shallowness of consumerist society is established and then he falls into a habit of acting out on violent urges, or does he? It ends very ambiguously and was well-crafted. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would....more
I think I was first introduced to Mario Vargas Llosa via book reviews by John Updike about his novels in the essay collection Odd Jobs. So I was eagerI think I was first introduced to Mario Vargas Llosa via book reviews by John Updike about his novels in the essay collection Odd Jobs. So I was eager to read him, and I have found much joy in reading many of his novels such as The Bad Girl, Feast of the Goat, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, Death in the Andes, Who Killed Palomino Molero? among others. But for some reason this one didn't jibe with my sensibilities as much. Perhaps it was because the historical inspiration, The War of Canduos (a conflict between the First Brazilian Republic and the state of Bahia in the late 19th century), was obscure to me. Vargas Llosa introduces a huge number of characters and stories caught during a time of discord, connecting them so that it gives the reader an idea of what it was like to live in that era. This one felt more like a slog than the novels I mentioned previously....more
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