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I wasn't ready to take this book seriously. But I kept turning pages. I encountered jokes ranging from corny to laugh-out-loud. The writing possesses an endearing sloppiness. The book makes use of a convoluted pulp plot, and tantalizing suggestions of intriguing avenues never explored. It tosses off far-flung ideas, congealing in a narrative soup, through slippery internal monologue, conjuring chaotic and mesmeric recountings of dreamy events.Finally, I came to the conclusion that I had found an...
I've never read anything quite like this. It seems to be mostly a sequence of character portraits and encounters, between people passing in and (especially) out of each others' lives, except along the way Shimada manages to examine identity in relation to capitalism, sexuality, history, mythology, and so much else. Then along the way he verges from realism to dreams, and occasionally to almost SF territory. There are similarities to Murakami, but Shimada is a much intellectual author (more along...
Matthew/Masao was kidnapped by his father at the age of 5 and taken from Tokyo to New York. Once there, his father dies and the child is taken in by a couple who raise "rental children," who they rent out to people who have lost their own children. Twenty-five years later, Masao's birth mother hires someone to track him down, sending her to New York to dig up information about his past. For many readers in the U.S., contemporary Japanese literature begins and ends with Haruki Murakami and it is
I didn't really get the gist of what the writer wanted to say. There were some good quotes along the way, though. Maybe just like in a dream.
As I read this, I kept thinking that surely Haruki Murakami was influenced by this writer. This book was published in Japan in 1989, before most of Murakami’s most famous novels were published, and it has quite a bit of the magical realism we have come to expect from Murakami. In any case here’s the basic story: a three-year old Japanese kid is kidnapped away from his mother by his father and taken to New York. But the father dies almost immediately and the kid ends up being raised as a foster c...
I enjoyed singing "Dreeeeeam Weaver, I believe you can get me through the ni-iight" a la that scene in Wayne's World (2?), where he goes all misty-eyed at Cassandra rocking out with her band.And it has inspired me to re-read Coin Locker Babies.So, yeah, not a bad experience. It's more Ryu Murakami than Kobo Abe. There's a very brief appearance of a character called "Masahiko Shimada" ... does anyone not roll their eyes when this happens? I think I remember it working in a Martin Amis, but otherw...
Starting off strong -- witty, original, laugh-out-loud funny, actually -- Shimada's novel thus proceeds to become worse with every single page. A major problem is that his protagonist, despite his "superpower" and interesting life, is a complete dullard, and his bland philosophizing is akin to the sort of thing you'd hear from a college kid sucking on a bong (probably with Bob Marley in the background). His lack of personality may be intentional and can be explained away, but it doesn't make for...
Absolutely ridiculous. I quite liked the first half, and the whole novel is bursting with ideas, good and bad, but it completely falls apart midway.
3.5 stars. Strange and compelling, but a bit too formless in a way that made it too easy to put down. I wish more books by Shimada were translated into English, though.
I quite liked Shimada's characters; certainly moreso than reviewers who say he tries to hard to be hip. I thought the story was quite modern (of the 21st century), but often times reflecting back to some of the most basic issues of identity originating from the turn of the 20th century. The characters all grapple with identity and each finds a type of resolution, in as much as they move on to the next internal phase for themselves. Though not as intense or dark as The Sound of Insects (of which
I bought this book when I was about... 14 years old, if I remember right. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it then but I thought it was brilliant. Now, having read it a second time, I think it was more of a culture shock than anything else. There was a certain frankness and humor to this book that most American novels just don't have!
murakami can suck it(because I much prefer shimada`s magical realism)
