Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
I liked it but not as much as I thought I would.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Mild Vertigo made for interesting leisurely reading. As others are saying, the book is written as a stream of consciousness of a Japanese housewife. I understand that it’s supposed to be about nothing, but unfortunately it was about nothing and wasn’t really engaging. It would be a good book to pick at if you’re not looking to read anything serious.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
No
While I was reading Mild Vertigo, I couldn't help comparing it to Lucy Ellmann's Ducks, Newburyport: both are about a housewife's musings about day to day domestic duties and also there's the use of long sentences. Obviously there are differences and I'll go into that.
Natsumi has moved into a new apartment and it is full of modern devices, this leads to her describing the kitchen and how it differs from the how Japanese houses were structured in the past. This is a launching pad of sorts as each chapter then focuses on different aspects of her life, from shopping, recipes, marriage, divorce, cinema and pet cats, just to name a few but the clever thing is by describing these mundanities, the reader is seeing getting a deeper picture.
Mild Vertigo is a book about capitalism, the materialism that is seeping into Japanese society, the embracing of western traditions. The book is also a feminist novel as there are passages about the shunning of divorced women (something also expanded on in Yuko Tsushima's Territory of Light) and the actual role of a housewife in Japan.
One cannot ignore Polly Barton's translation in this book either, the fluidly labyrinthine sentences are a joy to read and, at times, are poetic. As I know a translator is supposed to replicate an author's voice and, as I have read that this is difficult to achieve with Japanese so definitely a big round of applause here.
Mild Vertigo, despite it's external simplicity, is the kind of novel that sticks with you. It is not the easiest of reads but definitely an enriching and rewarding one.
Natsumi has moved into a new apartment and it is full of modern devices, this leads to her describing the kitchen and how it differs from the how Japanese houses were structured in the past. This is a launching pad of sorts as each chapter then focuses on different aspects of her life, from shopping, recipes, marriage, divorce, cinema and pet cats, just to name a few but the clever thing is by describing these mundanities, the reader is seeing getting a deeper picture.
Mild Vertigo is a book about capitalism, the materialism that is seeping into Japanese society, the embracing of western traditions. The book is also a feminist novel as there are passages about the shunning of divorced women (something also expanded on in Yuko Tsushima's Territory of Light) and the actual role of a housewife in Japan.
One cannot ignore Polly Barton's translation in this book either, the fluidly labyrinthine sentences are a joy to read and, at times, are poetic. As I know a translator is supposed to replicate an author's voice and, as I have read that this is difficult to achieve with Japanese so definitely a big round of applause here.
Mild Vertigo, despite it's external simplicity, is the kind of novel that sticks with you. It is not the easiest of reads but definitely an enriching and rewarding one.
I liked the idea of stream-of-conscious but it was hard for me to follow. The idea was so cool — a housewife in 1990s Japan dealing with everyday stream-of-conscious thoughts, but I just couldn’t stay fully into it.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Natsumi is a housewife and mother, we follow her internal monologue as she goes about the minutiae of her daily life - laundry, shopping, talking to neighbours…
This is a stream-of-consciousness novel where the plot is simply the narrator going about her everyday life, and the writing is skilfully immersive without being overwhelming. But ultimately I was never really gripped by the writing or the story (insomuch as there is a story - not something that necessarily bothers me). In fact, at times it made for rather dull reading…which, as a story of the mundanity of the everyday, is perhaps the point, but it does make for a bit of a humdrum read and I was never itching to pick it up.
I did enjoy the little details of everyday life, such as the things sold in the supermarket, the way the beds are set out or the dispatching of young kids unaccompanied on trains - I’m always fascinated by such cultural insights (and it’s something I love about translated fiction). It was also fairly interesting to see the societal expectations and experience of a housewife and mother in 1990s Japan. It’s tempting to think how different (or not, in some aspects) Natsumi’s life would be now with the connectivity afforded by mobile phones and the internet.
An immersive, if slightly dull, internal monologue of a Tokyo housewife and mother’s mundane everyday life.