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komorebi_reader's review
3.0
3.5★
After reading the Japanese version of Where the Wild Ladies Are earlier this year, then following with Polly Barton’s English translation, I was so enthralled by her adaptation that I was eagerly awaiting her debut novel that came out last month, Fifty Sounds. Written as a personal memoir, Barton spotlights her years living in Japan during her twenties, and through the use of fifty selected Japanese onomatopoeia shares various cultural reflections.
To preface this review, I want to mention that as someone in my twenties living in Japan for the past six years, my approach to this book feels somewhat more personal than my other reviews.
Overall, this was such an interesting read and I devoured it within a few days. Although saying that, I find it difficult to decide how I feel about this book.
Starting with the positives, Barton only solidifies herself as an excellent writer. Her prose is delicate and revelations insightful. She encapsulated how each event affected her so beautifully and with such melancholy that we are right there with her on an emotional level.
Unfortunately, there is a certain underlying sense of self-inflicted torment that flows through the book. I think that this is something that Barton aims to address personally, but it ends up bleeding into many of her interactions throughout her time in Japan. Her disdain towards aspects of Japanese society and other foreigners like herself in Japan became difficult to read after a while. I understand this is her personal encounters, however with Barton’s long experience living in Japan I would have loved to see more of the exceptions to the stereotypes she portrays: for all the “avoidant” and “impassive” people she mentions, I wanted to see the compassionate and loving individuals that I know to live and work in this country, both native and foreign.
In other areas, she focuses on language theory through Wittgenstein’s works that felt a little overwhelming and I ended up skipping in order to get back to the main memoir.
In the end, if a book can bring out a strong reaction, whether it be positive or negative, it is a success in my opinion. I'm looking forward to see what Barton writes next, with hopeful trepidation!
After reading the Japanese version of Where the Wild Ladies Are earlier this year, then following with Polly Barton’s English translation, I was so enthralled by her adaptation that I was eagerly awaiting her debut novel that came out last month, Fifty Sounds. Written as a personal memoir, Barton spotlights her years living in Japan during her twenties, and through the use of fifty selected Japanese onomatopoeia shares various cultural reflections.
To preface this review, I want to mention that as someone in my twenties living in Japan for the past six years, my approach to this book feels somewhat more personal than my other reviews.
Overall, this was such an interesting read and I devoured it within a few days. Although saying that, I find it difficult to decide how I feel about this book.
Starting with the positives, Barton only solidifies herself as an excellent writer. Her prose is delicate and revelations insightful. She encapsulated how each event affected her so beautifully and with such melancholy that we are right there with her on an emotional level.
Unfortunately, there is a certain underlying sense of self-inflicted torment that flows through the book. I think that this is something that Barton aims to address personally, but it ends up bleeding into many of her interactions throughout her time in Japan. Her disdain towards aspects of Japanese society and other foreigners like herself in Japan became difficult to read after a while. I understand this is her personal encounters, however with Barton’s long experience living in Japan I would have loved to see more of the exceptions to the stereotypes she portrays: for all the “avoidant” and “impassive” people she mentions, I wanted to see the compassionate and loving individuals that I know to live and work in this country, both native and foreign.
In other areas, she focuses on language theory through Wittgenstein’s works that felt a little overwhelming and I ended up skipping in order to get back to the main memoir.
In the end, if a book can bring out a strong reaction, whether it be positive or negative, it is a success in my opinion. I'm looking forward to see what Barton writes next, with hopeful trepidation!