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A review by dylankakoulli
A True Novel by Minae Mizumura
4.0
I still can’t believe I put off reading this for sooooo long
Fellow readers do not, I repeat do NOT, let the mighty page count (854 pages to be precise) put you off!
I know it may look daunting, but believe me when I say, this book is worthy of every page.
Bridging time, class, culture, geography -and even genre, Mizumura has skilfully crafted an utterly engrossing, multilayered narrative, that both (loosely) retells a classic gothic epic (Wuthering Heights), as well as providing an astute examination of Japan’s westernisation (particularly post war) and the emergence of a middle class, gender roles and the effects of time, memory and truth.
I’ve never read Wuthering Heights, so won’t even try to draw comparisons. But, if Brontë’s writing is anything like Mizumura’s, you can bet your bottom dollar that it’s next on my list!
Her prose is elegant and effortless (no thanks I’m sure, to the wonderful translation skills of Juliet Winters Carpenter), and her characters -though flawed in their own way, feel real, and add an elevated element of intrigue -especially with the eerily interspersed black and white photographs, AND, within the confines of the context prefaced; “I-Novel”, where our story (A True Novel) is clearly a “story” heavily reliant (and based on) multiple stories and/or remembered “truths”.
Beautiful and bittersweet -quite frankly, I think I’m still way too caught up (as I literally just finished it an hour ago) inside the novel, to truly express (let alone articulate) how I feel (if that makes sense!)
4.5 stars
Fellow readers do not, I repeat do NOT, let the mighty page count (854 pages to be precise) put you off!
I know it may look daunting, but believe me when I say, this book is worthy of every page.
Bridging time, class, culture, geography -and even genre, Mizumura has skilfully crafted an utterly engrossing, multilayered narrative, that both (loosely) retells a classic gothic epic (Wuthering Heights), as well as providing an astute examination of Japan’s westernisation (particularly post war) and the emergence of a middle class, gender roles and the effects of time, memory and truth.
I’ve never read Wuthering Heights, so won’t even try to draw comparisons. But, if Brontë’s writing is anything like Mizumura’s, you can bet your bottom dollar that it’s next on my list!
Her prose is elegant and effortless (no thanks I’m sure, to the wonderful translation skills of Juliet Winters Carpenter), and her characters -though flawed in their own way, feel real, and add an elevated element of intrigue -especially with the eerily interspersed black and white photographs, AND, within the confines of the context prefaced; “I-Novel”, where our story (A True Novel) is clearly a “story” heavily reliant (and based on) multiple stories and/or remembered “truths”.
Beautiful and bittersweet -quite frankly, I think I’m still way too caught up (as I literally just finished it an hour ago) inside the novel, to truly express (let alone articulate) how I feel (if that makes sense!)
4.5 stars