Month: May 2015

2014 Books in Translation Other Prizes

Colorless Tsukuru and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami

Post author By Jackie
Post date May 9, 2015
10 Comments on Colorless Tsukuru and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami

Shortlisted for the 2015 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize

Translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel

Five words from the blurb: friends, school, death, connections, reason

Tsukuru is 36, but as a teenager he was part of a group of five friends. One day they stopped talking to him and he felt abandoned. He hasn’t seen them for 16 years, but continues to be haunted by the mysterious way he was ostracised from the group. His girlfriend sees the pain this is causing and persuades him to track down his friends to discover the real reason that they blocked him out of their lives all those years ago.

I think I read this at exactly the right time in my life. I am also 36 and, coincidentally, was also part of a group of five in school. I married one of them, so am well aware of the way relationships effect the dynamics within a group. Last week we went to a wedding and the five of us were together again for the first time in fifteen years (although we have seen them all individually occasionally since then). Colorless Tsukuru and His Years of Pilgrimage perfectly captures the feelings of meeting people that you were once very close to. Discovering how old friends have changed is a strange thing, and imagining how small decisions from the past could have changed the course of your life is hard to get your head around.

Murakami delves into a range of emotions, explaining them beautifully:

Jealousy – at least as far as he understood it from his dream – was the most hopeless prison in the world. Jealousy was not a place he was forced into by someone else, but a jail in which the inmate entered voluntarily, locked the door, and threw away the key. And not another soul in the world knew he was locked inside. Of course if he wanted to escape, he could do so. The prison was, after all, his own heart. But he couldn’t make that decision. His heart was as hard as a stone wall. This was the very essence of jealousy.

The first 80 pages of this book were very slow, but then Tsukuru started to meet his friends and the plot picked up pace. I was completely absorbed by the mystery and loved the way each character had a slightly different relationship with the others – I don’t think I’ve read many other books that have captured teenage group dynamics with this realism.

This book didn’t contain any of the strange mythology that Murakami is famous for, but it provides an insight into the lives of ordinary Japanese people. It isn’t necessary to know anything about the culture before reading this book, so is a good choice for those looking to try Japanese literature for the first time.

Overall, this is a strong book that deserves its place on the IFFP shortlist. The ending was perfect and I highly recommend it to anyone who has lost touch with old friends.

Tags Japan, Japanese

2015

The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall

Post author By Jackie
Post date May 7, 2015
4 Comments on The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall

Five words from the blurb: Lake District, wolves, eccentric, project, family

Haweswater is one of my favourite books so I was looking forward to reading this one. Sarah Hall perfectly captures the atmosphere of the Lake District and this book is no exception – the beauty of the hills and lakes shines through. Unfortunately other details of this book failed to engage me.

The Wolf Border is set in the fictional valley of Annerdale, where an eccentric Earl is plotting to reintroduce the wolf. Rachel Caine has been tracking wolves in Idaho for many years, but is lured back to the Lake District to run the project.

My main problem with the book was that it appeared to have a feminist agenda. The male characters were all weak, invisible, or poorly rendered. I became frustrated by the lack of balance – not all men are stupid, bumbling idiots and not all women are amazing, talented individuals. There needed to be some blurring of these lines as it didn’t feel realistic.

The book also followed a fictional version of the Scottish Independence referendum. I wasn’t sure whether it was a re-imagining of last year’s referendum (in which case it made the book feel dated) or a possible future one (which didn’t feel right as there was no reference to the last one) but either way it didn’t sit well with the rest of the plot and I was unsure as to why it was included.

On a positive note, the writing was fantastic and I admired many individual passages. The wolves were well researched and the book raised interesting questions about whether they could ever be released in the UK. The problem was that the wolves didn’t have a high enough priority. Their story-line seemed to become sidetracked, just when it was getting interesting. The book tried to deal with too many different issues and I think it would have benefited from focusing on the natural world instead of Rachel and her frustrating family.

He takes a fleece hat out of the rucksack and she puts it on. They continue upward, into the cold, fast-moving currents. The effort is double, with the wind hoving against them. The latter part of the route is incredibly difficult, almost beyond her limit. Rachel’s legs shake; the undersides of her toes burn. The dense sedge grass vibrates all around and blurs her vision. There are no birds, just the occasional ravaged-looking sheep, bleating uselessly in the wind. They push on over the false brow.

Overall The Wolf Border was too fragmented. There were many wonderful sections, but the plot failed to come together as a whole. Go and get a copy of Haweswater instead.

The thoughts of other bloggers:

I’ll be on my soapbox if it isn’t on the Man Booker Prize longlist in the summer. The Writes of Woman

Good start but disappointing in the latter sections, perhaps even preposterous. Alan on Good Reads

Extraordinary writing and clever storytelling make this undoubtedly a novel that will appear on my best of the year list. Shiny New Books

Tags Lake District

2015 Books in Translation

Out in the Open by Jesús Carrasco

Post author By Jackie
Post date May 5, 2015
1 Comment on Out in the Open by Jesús Carrasco

Translated from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa

Five words from the blurb: boy, hiding, violence, landscape, goatherd

Out in the Open is a short, but powerful book about a boy who runs away from home. Whilst avoiding a search party, he meets an old goatherd and the two form an unlikely friendship. They begin to rely on each other for survival; showing how love and respect can span the generations.

The story takes place in a drought-ridden country where society appears to have broken down. The lack of any real reference means that it could be set in any time or place and this gives the book the feel of a timeless classic – further reinforcing its brilliance. The boy’s reasons for leaving home are eventually revealed, but they almost don’t matter. The focus is on how the boy survives and learns who he can trust in this harsh landscape.

Much of the book reminded me of The Road – the only real difference being that the central relationship is with a stranger. It was slightly lighter in tone, but should still be avoided by anyone looking for a happy story.

Again he tries to open his eyes, but without success. His eyelids weigh as heavy as curtains made of embossed leather. Infernal screams push the walls of his brain inwards. He feels a pounding in his translucent temples and his eyes bob about in their sockets like ice cubes in a glass. The person sitting inside his brain is searching for alternatives. He travels through his hollow body as far as his fingertips. He sends an electrical charge through them, even kicks them, but there’s not a flicker of movement. He’s clearly trapped inside his head, and the only option now is to wait for death.

The writing quality was excellent. The text initially appeared quite simple in structure, but a lot was happening beneath the surface and more is revealed with each re-read. The translation was excellent and it didn’t feel Spanish at all. It had a universal quality that means it should appeal equally to everyone, no matter which country they come from.

My only criticism is that the book was relentlessly bleak. I’d have liked to see a bit more happiness, or even hope, woven into the story. Despite this, I’m still glad I read Out in the Open and will remember this little boy for a long time to come.

Recommended to anyone who enjoys stories about the darker aspects of life.

Tags Spanish

Other

April Summary and Plans for May

Post author By Jackie
Post date May 1, 2015
10 Comments on April Summary and Plans for May

I haven’t read much in the last month as I’m going through a non-fiction phase and these books don’t have the narrative drive required to persuade me to read for long periods of time. Instead I’ve just been dipping into them for the odd chapter here or there, learning lots but not reading for the entire evening. I’m going to try to read a more varied selection of books next month, so hopefully I’ll be back to my usual reading levels.

My stand-out read in April was The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanigahara. If you like to delve into the minds of the more unsavoury members of our society then this is for you – it is guaranteed to make you feel slightly uncomfortable!

Book of the Month

Books Reviewed in April:

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanigahara

My Age of Anxiety by Scott Stossel

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder

Do No Harm by Henry Marsh

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell

Plans for May

I’m lucky enough to have been invited to the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize Award Ceremony, so I plan to read as many of the shortlist as possible before the winner is announced on 27th May.

The shortlist is: