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A review by michellehenriereads
The Great Passage by Shion Miura
5.0
I picked up The Great Passage as part of my summer reading to try more foreign authors. It's been interesting to read from perspectives other than the American point of view. For some reason, I did not expect to find this book from Japan to be humorous. Too often humor doesn't seem to translate across cultures. However, I was proven wrong and was laughing so hard at different moments through this book - for that reason alone I would recommend it.
This is one of those silly moments where Majime is reading the instructions for making noodles:
"Five hundred liters of water will reach the boiling point." "You should break noodles after throwing them in.""Enjoy eggs, green onion, ham, and so forth." Five hundred liters of water seemed altogether too much, but Majime liked the earnest tone of the instructions, and lately he'd been eating a lot of Nupporo Number One." (Page 24)
Here is another funny moment that tickled me:
"Of course he'd never been a junior high school girl, so this was pure supposition." (Page 63)
The overarching theme of The Great Passage would be passion. What is our passion? How does our passion change us? What is life without passion?
"Reading the dictionary could awaken you to new meanings of commonly used words, meanings of surprising breadth and depth." (Page 2)
"A dictionary is a ship that crosses the sea of words," said Araki, with a sense that he was laying bare his innermost soul. "People travel on it and gather the small points of light floating on the dark surface of the waves. They do this in order to tell someone their thoughts accurately, using the best possible words. Without dictionaries, all any of us could do is linger before the vastness of the deep." (page 20)
Several people discover passion while working on creating the new Japanese dictionary. Majime connects with others through the power of words which drives his quest in finishing the new dictionary. His wife loves him because of his passion for the dictionary, while he also respects her for her passion in becoming a chef.
Human being had created words to communicate with the dead, and with those yet unborn. (page 200)
They had made a ship. A ship bearing the souls of people traveling from ancient times toward the future, across the ocean rich with words. (page 200)
The salesman, Nishioka, who didn't seem to fit in the dictionary department, discovered it had changed him and even when he was sent to a different department, he retained the desire to help the dictionary in anyway possible. He left a "guide" for the next person, had exerted pressure - some would say blackmailed - contributors and marketed the project when it was ready from his new department. I didn't like Nishioka at first because he seemed so shallow, so it was interesting to see how he changed, but retained his core personality.
"No woman had ever praised Nishioka for his sincerity. He lied when the occasion called for it, and he was tender, or not, depending on his mood. Wasn't that being truly sincere," (page 74)
The newest member of the team, Midori Kishibe, who arrives after Majime has worked on the dictionary for over 12 years, doesn't believe she is the right person to help. Over time, she too discovers a passion for the work. Perhaps one of the lessons learned is that when working with passionate people we discover more about ourselves and want to emulate them in discovering our own passion to live.
I loved The Great Passage for it's quirky nature, delving into multiple meanings of words, the intense descriptions of working on a dictionary with such dedicated passion, the people who find their life's purpose and the funny moments that made me laugh. It was like I had stepped into a different world. I recommend this book because it is intelligent and thoughtful.
There are discussions about how to include definitions of love, and how to be politically correct with gays, there are a couple of love scenes, but not graphic and a little cursing.
To see other recommendations go to www.talesuntangled.wordpress.com
This is one of those silly moments where Majime is reading the instructions for making noodles:
"Five hundred liters of water will reach the boiling point." "You should break noodles after throwing them in.""Enjoy eggs, green onion, ham, and so forth." Five hundred liters of water seemed altogether too much, but Majime liked the earnest tone of the instructions, and lately he'd been eating a lot of Nupporo Number One." (Page 24)
Here is another funny moment that tickled me:
"Of course he'd never been a junior high school girl, so this was pure supposition." (Page 63)
The overarching theme of The Great Passage would be passion. What is our passion? How does our passion change us? What is life without passion?
"Reading the dictionary could awaken you to new meanings of commonly used words, meanings of surprising breadth and depth." (Page 2)
"A dictionary is a ship that crosses the sea of words," said Araki, with a sense that he was laying bare his innermost soul. "People travel on it and gather the small points of light floating on the dark surface of the waves. They do this in order to tell someone their thoughts accurately, using the best possible words. Without dictionaries, all any of us could do is linger before the vastness of the deep." (page 20)
Several people discover passion while working on creating the new Japanese dictionary. Majime connects with others through the power of words which drives his quest in finishing the new dictionary. His wife loves him because of his passion for the dictionary, while he also respects her for her passion in becoming a chef.
Human being had created words to communicate with the dead, and with those yet unborn. (page 200)
They had made a ship. A ship bearing the souls of people traveling from ancient times toward the future, across the ocean rich with words. (page 200)
The salesman, Nishioka, who didn't seem to fit in the dictionary department, discovered it had changed him and even when he was sent to a different department, he retained the desire to help the dictionary in anyway possible. He left a "guide" for the next person, had exerted pressure - some would say blackmailed - contributors and marketed the project when it was ready from his new department. I didn't like Nishioka at first because he seemed so shallow, so it was interesting to see how he changed, but retained his core personality.
"No woman had ever praised Nishioka for his sincerity. He lied when the occasion called for it, and he was tender, or not, depending on his mood. Wasn't that being truly sincere," (page 74)
The newest member of the team, Midori Kishibe, who arrives after Majime has worked on the dictionary for over 12 years, doesn't believe she is the right person to help. Over time, she too discovers a passion for the work. Perhaps one of the lessons learned is that when working with passionate people we discover more about ourselves and want to emulate them in discovering our own passion to live.
I loved The Great Passage for it's quirky nature, delving into multiple meanings of words, the intense descriptions of working on a dictionary with such dedicated passion, the people who find their life's purpose and the funny moments that made me laugh. It was like I had stepped into a different world. I recommend this book because it is intelligent and thoughtful.
There are discussions about how to include definitions of love, and how to be politically correct with gays, there are a couple of love scenes, but not graphic and a little cursing.
To see other recommendations go to www.talesuntangled.wordpress.com