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A review by paul_cornelius
A Quiet Place by Seicho Matsumoto
4.0
For the most part, A Quiet Place is a not so subtle criticism of Japanese officialdom and bureaucracy. It centers on the story of an agricultural civil servant, Tsuneo Asai, a man in a loveless marriage whose only obsession is his work. The sudden death of his wife causes his world to crumble, albeit not in the way a normal person might imagine. Instead, Asai's world dissolves into a mania to restore his honor and, when that fails, to escape from the career threatening consequences of his once grand scheme.
There is an inevitability to this story from the very first. It plays out exactly as most readers will expect it to. So from the standpoint of a pure mystery, A Quiet Place will not meet most expectations. In place of them, comes the portrayal of a man undergoing a mental breakdown, all caused explicitly by the crushing oppression of the social system he lives within. Even the very last "quiet place," the one within his own soul, is no escape. Nothing is there to save him. And not all his plotting can reverse things. Asai outsmarts and condemns himself to his own punishment.
This novel is not quite as good as the other Matsumoto I have just finished, Inspector Imanishi Investigates. Part of the problem may be the translation. A Quiet Place is often ragged, especially in transitions between paragraphs. And there is quite bit of unnecessary repetition. Sometimes, a translator needs to take the knife to the original material, and I fear this particular one lacked the will to do so, here. Inspector Imanishi, on the other hand, not only flowed smoothly but seemed to capture more of the subtle mannerisms of Japanese conversation and commentary. For that reason alone, I think Imanishi is the better work. But both novels are well worth the time to explore their world of haunting crimes and murders.
There is an inevitability to this story from the very first. It plays out exactly as most readers will expect it to. So from the standpoint of a pure mystery, A Quiet Place will not meet most expectations. In place of them, comes the portrayal of a man undergoing a mental breakdown, all caused explicitly by the crushing oppression of the social system he lives within. Even the very last "quiet place," the one within his own soul, is no escape. Nothing is there to save him. And not all his plotting can reverse things. Asai outsmarts and condemns himself to his own punishment.
This novel is not quite as good as the other Matsumoto I have just finished, Inspector Imanishi Investigates. Part of the problem may be the translation. A Quiet Place is often ragged, especially in transitions between paragraphs. And there is quite bit of unnecessary repetition. Sometimes, a translator needs to take the knife to the original material, and I fear this particular one lacked the will to do so, here. Inspector Imanishi, on the other hand, not only flowed smoothly but seemed to capture more of the subtle mannerisms of Japanese conversation and commentary. For that reason alone, I think Imanishi is the better work. But both novels are well worth the time to explore their world of haunting crimes and murders.