Strangers

Product Information

Yamada's manner of stripped-down storytelling leaves much to the reader, but he manages tempo very subtly, as Harada moves between fear and elation, and his reacquaintance with his parents is deepened in nicely pitched snatches of dialogue and imagery: "I could see the mannerisms of a dashing artisan in the way my father swung his arms and strutted along, and I found it quite endearing." David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas) said "highly recommended, a cerebral haunting ghost story" & Bret Easton Ellis describes this as "an eerie ghost story written with hypnotic clarity, intelligent & haunting with passages of acute psychological insight into the relationship between children & parents". The cleverness of Yamada's novel is in its final twist, when it turns out that Hideo's choice leaves him still ensnared in a dangerous position. Hideo doesn't quite know what to make of the uncanny resemblance -- and he's even more confused when he finds the man's wife to be the spitting image of his mother, looking just as she had when she died at age 35.

Ijintachi to no Natsu" a aparut in 1987 si il are ca protagonist si narator pe Hideo Horada ce traieste in Tokyo-ul anilor '80 fiind un scenarist de seriale de televiziune de succes. Ramas singur, divortat de sotie si cu finantele imputinate acesta incearca sa-si continue viata cum poate. Ajunge sa locuiasca in cladirea de birouri unde isi face si meseria. Acolo cunoaste o femeie stranie cu o cicatrice pe piept pe care incearca s-o evite dar care il si intriga.Taichi Yamada este unul dintre cei mai cunoscuti scriitori si scenaristi japonezi. A avut succes si a fost rasplatit cu premii pentru activitatea la studioul de film Shochiku, dar si ca scriitor. A scris romane ca "N-am mai visat de mult ca zbor", "In cautarea unei voci indepartate" ori "Straini". stata una bella sorpresa, ho scelto questo libro "a caso" fidandomi solo della mia simpatia per i giapponesi, ed a conferma ho incontrato una storia Kafkchiana con la tipica venatura ironica giapponese (possono narrare qualsiasi argomento che io li percepisco come un po' frivoli, autoironici, che in fondo la prendono alla leggera, non danno molto peso alla cosa, non so spiegarlo bene questo atteggiamento, comunque mi piace). A) story that pens in spare strokes a portrait of urban alienation. (...) Less subtle, unfortunately, are the vagaries of the translation into American English. (...) What survives, however, is a memorably uncanny tapestry, and a powerful atmosphere, of heat and rain and sorrow." - Steven Poole, The Guardian This terse novel by Taichi Yamada, a successful scriptwriter for Japanese television, is a ghost story that pens in spare strokes a portrait of urban alienation. The narrator is 47-year-old Hideo Harada, also a TV scriptwriter: he is working, he tells us wryly, on "a comedy of manners about men and women who spent a hell of a lot of time playing billiards and tennis". Harada is divorced from his wife and hasn't spoken to his 19-year-old son in a long time. He lives in his office and hardly sees anyone, and doesn't want to. Until one night when, looking up at his building from outside, he notices another lit window. As the story fairies would have it, there lives an attractive younger woman, with whom he starts a desperate affair. The reliance on the supernatural -- which is occasionally simply too clumsy or simplistic -- is irritating, but for the most part Yamada does tell his story effectively.

The surprising additional twist to the story also isn't at all believable (even allowing for some of the supernatural effects the actual occurrences are too unlikely and unreal) -- but it's eery and effective enough that one makes allowances for it. Pe de alta parte, daca acceptam supranaturalul, atunci putem afirma ca prin suferinta, prin divort, Hideo a devenit un fel de "felinar", un "magnet" pentru spiritele care mai aveau ceva de spus in lumea noastra. Acesta este un concept des intalnit si in filme, indeosebi cele japoneze, cand eroul devine un portal pentru spiritele de dincolo. Eu as tinde spre aceasta explicatie, mi se pare mai pe gustul meu. :)Ocr tesseract 4.1.1 Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 0.9824 Ocr_module_version 0.0.7 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA400055 Openlibrary_edition