A review by alundeberg
A Quiet Place by Seicho Matsumoto

4.0

I've associated many things with Japan, but sex is not one of them. Apparently lots of people are having a lot of sex on that island. I noticed this trend in Murakami's Norwegian Wood, but I refrained from forming a conclusion about the country based on one book. Now I've read A Quiet Place, a very different kind of novel written by a very different author-- but the amount of sex is the same. Japanese culture reminds of the Victorian Era because everyone seems prim and proper and keeping to their place, but pull back the shoji and WOW. This mystery novel is just about as surprising as that fun fact I just gave you. At first we follow the over-thinking, proper, and deferential Tsuneo Asai as he tries to piece together his wife's mysterious death as he thinks and thinks and thinks about it while at the same time thinking about his role and everyone else's role at work. As an over-thinker myself, Matsumoto does an excellent job portraying the neurosis of someone caught up in his own mind. There was so much thinking I began to get bored, but here is where the surprise kicks in: the novel morphs into a Japanese version of Poe's "A Tell-Tale Heart" and the pace picks right back up and it's over-thinking on overdrive as you try to figure out how this story is going to end. Matsumoto does a great job making Japanese culture work to meet his ends. Ultimately, a fun and satisfying read.