PositiveComplete ReviewAn inspired premise ... It all makes for both an interesting tease of a novel -- Shibata\'s pregnancy seems to become increasingly real -- as well as commentary on Japanese society and attitudes towards work, women, and motherhood ... There\'s a neat mix of illusion and reality here, and Yagi draws Shibata into this ever-more tangible fantasy very nicely ... A sly piece of work.
Halldor Laxness, trans. by Philip Roughton
RaveComplete ReviewLaxness\' novel is a rich portrait of this simple -- and not so simple -- girl and woman, a remarkably stable pole -- and, in many ways, a model -- for and in a changing world ... But Laxness also emphasizes her very human side, not least in her concern for the welfare of children ... Laxness\' small-town tale depicts a world where life is difficult, but the novel never sinks into deep gloom; there\'s a variety of resilient spirit here -- with Salka Valka\'s particularly pronounced and strong (and really only her mother a truly resigned figure). It\'s hardly an upbeat tale, but there\'s a surprising buoyancy to it, with even most of the sadness coming across as an accepted part of life. Of course, there is then that absolutely crushing ending ... Salka Valka is a big and very fine novel, and wonderful character-portrait of a remarkable figure.
Mieko Kawakami, trans. by Sam Bett and David Boyd
RaveComplete ReviewKawakami doesn\'t go for the simple happy endings of fairy-tale romances; her characters are too real for that ... Deeply melancholy, All the Lovers in the Night isn\'t sad or depressing ... In typical Kawakami fashion, the book does close on the smallest of hopeful notes ... It\'s all very nicely done, without the easy satisfactions of and-they-lived-happily-ever-after fiction and instead offering deeper and more lasting ones; it aches with real life.
Geoffrey Roberts
MixedComplete ReviewAlas, in Stalin\'s Library Roberts can not offer a close analysis of the entire holdings of Stalin\'s personal library, as: \'the dictator\'s books were dispersed to other libraries\' ... At times Stalin\'s Library feels like there\'s a bigger book about Stalin trying to burst through. Mostly, however, Roberts does return to his main focus -- showing just how central books were to Stalin, throughout his life ... One of the consequences of Stalin\'s focus on ideas and ideology was that it ignored the human side—as Roberts also arguably does, in not considering very closely many of the horrific consequences that resulted from Stalin\'s policies and fixations ... Discussion of Stalin\'s own writing and, especially, his editing—which can also be seen as an extension of his inveterate annotation of texts—is also quite illuminating, neatly presented by Roberts ... Roberts makes a convincing case for the central role of books in Stalin\'s life—not merely in his formative period ... Unfortunately, the book\'s index is very thin...disappointing, given that it is a book referring to so many authors and people; an exhaustive index would have been helpful.
Hugo Hamilton
PositiveThe Complete ReviewThe Pages has a clever and appealing conceit: it is narrated by a book—a 1924 first edition of Joseph Roth\'s novel Die Rebellion ... The book-as-narrator idea has a lot of potential, and Hamilton invests his volume with considerably more than just its nominal contents; it has a history, experience accumulated over nearly a century, and its own voice; it has a personality of its own ... Hamilton struggles a bit with how to make this physical object a plausible narrator and character ... At its worst, the pseudo-dramatic presentation completely undermines the weight of the message ... It\'s quite a few threads Hamilton weaves together here, and arguably he strays rather far with some of them. They do (mostly) tie together in the end—but it does all feel rather forced ... The novel is also simply too schematic. The author had a clever idea, but the blueprint of how he then mapped the whole story out is still all too evident beneath the narrative ... a decent quick read.
Kazuo Ishiguro
PositiveComplete ReviewIshiguro unfolds his story in a series of neat feints. From the reader\'s worry, early one, that Klara won\'t find a buyer, he advances the story in a series of steps where things could go different ways. The central question throughout, of course, is whether Josie is doomed, or whether she will be cured. Ishiguro nicely adds to the tension by making clear that Josie\'s mother is contemplating a Plan B, in case Josie doesn\'t make it, and so throughout there\'s the question of which way things will go ... Neatly developed, Klara and the Sun is agreeably unsettling. Ishiguro plays quite expertly with expectations, slow and careful in what he reveals -- aided by the use of narrator who is limited in perception and understanding. He captures the parent-child dynamic well ... A moving novel, Klara and the Sun effectively addresses quite a variety of big issues.
Hiroko Oyamada, tr. David Boyd
PositiveThe Complete ReviewThe Hole is effectively atmospheric, and Asa a well-drawn figure, a woman at sea in a world where expectations and possibilities ... It makes for a fine little story, with Oyamada particularly good at keeping the story unsettling.
