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8797999's review
3.0
A decent read, I think this is a book for me where I will need a few read throughs to truly appreciate it. Whilst I enjoyed it I think there is some depth to it which I didn't quite get.
I have given it a 3 but I think 3.5 is more accurate. I will say it is a beautiful edition by Pushkin Press, I like the design and feel of the book. I will certainly be purchasing more of their books in the future.
I have given it a 3 but I think 3.5 is more accurate. I will say it is a beautiful edition by Pushkin Press, I like the design and feel of the book. I will certainly be purchasing more of their books in the future.
benrogerswpg's review
3.0
It was okay.
I found out particularly dry and surprisingly uninteresting.
Not a big fan of animal cruelty that this book dictates either.
2.8/5
I found out particularly dry and surprisingly uninteresting.
Not a big fan of animal cruelty that this book dictates either.
2.8/5
qas242m's review
3.0
This isn't a book I have strong feelings on one way or the other. All in all it was a decent short read, but not one I'll remember for long.
It's a novella about a newspaper editor organising a bullfighting event, set in post-war Japan. But really it isn't about any of that. The focus is on the personalities at play between our central characters, what it means to gamble, and of the struggles Japan will face in recovering from WWII.
It's introspective and insightful, centred on the mindsets and thoughts of those in the story, rather than the events themselves. Yasushi Inoue writes with this brilliant simplicity, yet even so there's a sense of coldness throughout.
3.5 stars.
It's a novella about a newspaper editor organising a bullfighting event, set in post-war Japan. But really it isn't about any of that. The focus is on the personalities at play between our central characters, what it means to gamble, and of the struggles Japan will face in recovering from WWII.
It's introspective and insightful, centred on the mindsets and thoughts of those in the story, rather than the events themselves. Yasushi Inoue writes with this brilliant simplicity, yet even so there's a sense of coldness throughout.
3.5 stars.
jakeyjake's review
5.0
A short, crisp novel about a newspaper editor trying to save his paper by putting on a bullfight in Osaka in post-war Japan.
In some ways, as other reviewers have written, the book is the subtle story of Sakiko, his lover, and her relationship with Tsugami throughout the build up to the bullfight.
In some ways, as other reviewers have written, the book is the subtle story of Sakiko, his lover, and her relationship with Tsugami throughout the build up to the bullfight.
johncenaskneecap's review
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
mariafloret's review
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
realagnetha's review
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
arirang's review against another edition
3.0
Firstly thanks to Tony Malone and his wonderful website https://tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/ and to Pushkin Press for providing this copy of the book to me. And indeed thanks to Pushkin Press and the translator Michael Emmerich for making it available to English speaking readers generally, in this beautifully produced edition.
Bullfight was Yasushi Inoue's 2nd novella, albeit written aged 42, and won the Akutagawa Prize, establishing him as a major author in Japan, and was ably translated by the prolific Michael Emmerich.
The author himself describes, in an Afterword written 40 years later towards the end of his career, indeed of his life, his retrospective impressions of this novella and his first, Hunting Gun:
Putting the tournament together involves some rather convoluted dealing with the local and occupational authorities and with the black market, including a succession of memorably shady businessmen to whom the "schemer' Tashiro introduces Tsugami. But Tsugami is no innocent, indeed it is Tashiro that displays "naïve optimism" about the project. Tsugami had
Indeed, her knowledge of this secret side of Tsugami is the source of her love for him, as well as the cause of their constant falling out:
Sakiko's feelings about the project - and her relationship with Tsugami - are complex. His increasing enmeshment means he has little time for her, and she realises that she almost wishes the project to fail to create within him "an emptiness that only she can fill.". Indeed, at the lowest point in the saga, when the tournament appears doomed to spectacular failure, "an almost maternal sense of victory flickered within her. She felt a strange love for him, paired with a kind of cruel pressure".
Overall, despite its brevity, and the relative simplicity of the plot, Bullfight offers a wonderful character study of one man's obsession and a woman's love, while at the same time providing a subtle exploration of the rebuilding of post-War Japan both physically and in the attitudes of the people.
Recommended.
Bullfight was Yasushi Inoue's 2nd novella, albeit written aged 42, and won the Akutagawa Prize, establishing him as a major author in Japan, and was ably translated by the prolific Michael Emmerich.
The author himself describes, in an Afterword written 40 years later towards the end of his career, indeed of his life, his retrospective impressions of this novella and his first, Hunting Gun:
I find myself dazzled by the beginner's enthusiasm...works of a very green novelist...The Hunting Gun and Bullfight carry within them, alongside their youthful ungainliness, something fundamental from which I have never been able to break free. For this reason, I believe I am more fully present in their pages than in any other texts.Bullfight is set in post WW2 Osaka in late 1946-7. The post-War destruction forms a backdrop rather than being central, but over the course of the slim novella Inoue still manages to make several telling observations:
Close to the peak of Mount Rokko there were a few white streaks of lingering snow. Those few unmelted patches were the only thing that offered Tsugami any relief from his weariness. It seemed to him that something pure had managed to hold on there, something that had otherwise vanished from this defeated nation.The main character, Tsugami, is editor-in-chief of a start-up newspaper, the Osaka New Evening Post, described by a commentator as "a newspaper for the slightly unsavoury intellectual". Tsugami admits to himself that the paper has
a certain shadow of emptiness, of devil-may-care negligence, of loneliness...qualities that Tsugami, who gave the paper its editorial direction, carried within himself, although he kept them carefully concealed.He is approached by a country showman, Tashiro, with the idea of creating a "Bull Sumo" tournament, the local speciality of another area of Japan, to promote the paper, make some money and indeed to help overcome the post War torpor of the people: "just the sort of thing the Japanese needed if they were going to keep struggling through their lives...Just imagine it - tens of thousands of spectators betting on a bullfight in a stadium hemmed in on every side by the ruined city."
Putting the tournament together involves some rather convoluted dealing with the local and occupational authorities and with the black market, including a succession of memorably shady businessmen to whom the "schemer' Tashiro introduces Tsugami. But Tsugami is no innocent, indeed it is Tashiro that displays "naïve optimism" about the project. Tsugami had
made a fairly accurate assessment of his character as a showman when they first met - his cunning, his shamelessness, the likelihood that he would stray from the straight and narrow if it proved necessary to bring in a bit of money. He had no fear, despite all of this, that he would get burned in the course of their colloboration. In part this was because he sensed there was a limit to how deep these admittedly caution-inspiring traits went...but more reassuring still was the oddly pure enthusiasm Tashiro showed for his work on occasion, a sort of passion that made Tsugami think with a start that he himself probably had a lot more bad inside him that Tashiro.At its heart the novella is a character study of Tsugami, outwardly a respected newspaper editor, but with the concealed side referred to above. No one knows him better than his lover Sakiko, with whom he has a rather fractuous relationship. Indeed as soon as she hears about the plan she immediately and accurately observes:
'You'd love a project like that...You'd get totally wrapped up in it, I can tell. You've got that side to you. The unsavoury side.'She accurately predicts how Tsugami will become, willingly but inextricably caught up in "rather shady business dealings, the not-quite-right incidents, all so problematic of this confused age, fighting against the odds to make things work."
Indeed, her knowledge of this secret side of Tsugami is the source of her love for him, as well as the cause of their constant falling out:
'No one else knows you have this side to you', she would say when she was feeling happy, 'This sneaky, sloppy, unsavoury side. No one else, just me.' Her eyes would shine, as though that element of Tsugami's character were a trace of the love she had given.Tsugami's true character isn't quite as hidden as both he and Sakiko, for different reasons, hope and believe. As he gets more enmeshed in the project it starts to threaten the financial viability of the newspaper, but Tsugami deliberately avoids a number of easy opportunities to cut his losses on the paper's gamble in financing the tournament. His Chairman "noted with a certain unease that underneath his stern outer shell, this young reporter, reputed to be so sharp, so clearly fastidious, even picky, harboured a tendency to wallow half-wittedly in his desires that made it unwise to trust him too far."
On other occasions, however, she would utter the exact same words but as a criticism.
Sakiko's feelings about the project - and her relationship with Tsugami - are complex. His increasing enmeshment means he has little time for her, and she realises that she almost wishes the project to fail to create within him "an emptiness that only she can fill.". Indeed, at the lowest point in the saga, when the tournament appears doomed to spectacular failure, "an almost maternal sense of victory flickered within her. She felt a strange love for him, paired with a kind of cruel pressure".
Overall, despite its brevity, and the relative simplicity of the plot, Bullfight offers a wonderful character study of one man's obsession and a woman's love, while at the same time providing a subtle exploration of the rebuilding of post-War Japan both physically and in the attitudes of the people.
Recommended.
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