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A review by readingpanda
Crossfire by 宮部 みゆき, Miyuki Miyabe
3.0
Crossfire is a Japanese novel that I read because it is on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list. I was a bit skeptical about why it would be on the list, since it looked like just a run-of-the-mill mystery novel. Usually the mysteries that make it onto the list, though, are there because they provide a certain kind of insight into a culture or a time period, so I had that in mind while I read.
Junko is our main character, and we find out early on that she has a supernatural power: pyrokinesis. Once that fact is established, the novel concerns itself with the role or responsibilities of a person with powers like that, Junko's self-image as a result of her power, and the experience of being "other" in society. It also covers the major bases of a suspense novel. The Tokyo of this book isn't really the one I tend to visualize, full of modern skyscrapers, clean but crowded streets, bright neon signs. The parts of Tokyo Miyabe presents us with are remote, sparsely inhabited at night, decidedly middle-to-lower class.
I think that this view of Tokyo is part of the reason the book is on the list. Other than providing a look at the underside of Japan's public face, I'm not sure what new ground is really covered here. The writing is serviceable, but not striking (though I'm reading in translation, of course). The emotional part of the story doesn't have many twists and turns, and the mysteries that are not revealed to the reader right away comprise a pretty small piece of the overall puzzle. It was a decent read, but not a page-turner.
Recommended for: believers in vigilante justice, people interested in seeing another view of Japanese society
Quote: They were all raised to think of themselves as special, as better than others, and they needed to find something to prove it to themselves, to justify their sense of entitlement. But what if they never found that "something"? All they were left with was their enormous conceit. They were like flower bulbs raised in water, floating in a transparent, colorless pool of nihilism. Surrounding the bulb was nothing - nothing that could give them a true sense of themselves.
Junko is our main character, and we find out early on that she has a supernatural power: pyrokinesis. Once that fact is established, the novel concerns itself with the role or responsibilities of a person with powers like that, Junko's self-image as a result of her power, and the experience of being "other" in society. It also covers the major bases of a suspense novel. The Tokyo of this book isn't really the one I tend to visualize, full of modern skyscrapers, clean but crowded streets, bright neon signs. The parts of Tokyo Miyabe presents us with are remote, sparsely inhabited at night, decidedly middle-to-lower class.
I think that this view of Tokyo is part of the reason the book is on the list. Other than providing a look at the underside of Japan's public face, I'm not sure what new ground is really covered here. The writing is serviceable, but not striking (though I'm reading in translation, of course). The emotional part of the story doesn't have many twists and turns, and the mysteries that are not revealed to the reader right away comprise a pretty small piece of the overall puzzle. It was a decent read, but not a page-turner.
Recommended for: believers in vigilante justice, people interested in seeing another view of Japanese society
Quote: They were all raised to think of themselves as special, as better than others, and they needed to find something to prove it to themselves, to justify their sense of entitlement. But what if they never found that "something"? All they were left with was their enormous conceit. They were like flower bulbs raised in water, floating in a transparent, colorless pool of nihilism. Surrounding the bulb was nothing - nothing that could give them a true sense of themselves.