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sausome 's review for:
Tokyo Ueno Station
by Yu Miri
This was, as many others have said, an interesting concept. More of a contemplation of what it means to be homeless and poor in Japan, surrounded by salarymen, wealth, and the constant drumbeat of work-to-make-money-to-live-to-work, etc. Poverty equal invisibility in most places, and that contrast with wealth is never more striking and deeply troubling in large, bustling cities like Tokyo (or New York City), where people walk over you to get where they're going. The only kindnesses we see are homeless treating their found stray cats like indoor royalty, finding comfort from their loyalty and striving to care for something outside of themselves. This is clearly a commentary on society and what is considered important - men ultimately lose their families struggling to work to care for their families, sometimes being away from home more often than home. Is this really living? Is this really worth it? The most striking thing about this book for me, an American, is how universal this feels - capitalism and the money machine more important than all else. We've certainly moved a far way away from feeling the connection to land and home and place and family.
The book itself was a bit disjointed for me, and I suppose I felt a bit like a floating ghost myself, flitting here and there, tuning in to pieces of history, the past, the present, all in an ad hoc kind of way, and perhaps that was a purposeful representation of a ghostly existence?
The book itself was a bit disjointed for me, and I suppose I felt a bit like a floating ghost myself, flitting here and there, tuning in to pieces of history, the past, the present, all in an ad hoc kind of way, and perhaps that was a purposeful representation of a ghostly existence?