Twenty-one-year-old Lucie Blackman, from England, disappeared in Japan in 2000. She'd been working as a hostess in a nightclub and had gone with an unTwenty-one-year-old Lucie Blackman, from England, disappeared in Japan in 2000. She'd been working as a hostess in a nightclub and had gone with an unknown man to the seaside. Her father, Tim, worked hard to keep her disappearance in the newspaper headlines, until finally her body was discovered buried in a cave some months later. This is the story of what kind of person Lucie was, how her disappearance and the search for her unfolded, and what happened after she was discovered. Lloyd Parry is a master at giving us all the details but without any sensationalism, yet still in a way that the story is told as a full narrative that makes us want to read on. Utterly compelling, and highly recommended if you like true crime. I'm not sure if I want to watch the Netflix documentary, given this is so good. If you've read this and watched the documentary, should I? ...more
When I read a book, I write a little review on Goodreads and I give it some categories, just to help me find it more easily later, or collect togetherWhen I read a book, I write a little review on Goodreads and I give it some categories, just to help me find it more easily later, or collect together with books that cover similar themes, and The Anniversary fits into so many, and that's what's interesting about this book. Genre-defying, subject-defying - once I was prepared to just go with it, I really enjoyed it. JB is a successful writer up for a big prize. She's been married for a long time to Patrick - a successful screenwriter and film director much older than her. For a long time they've helped each other with their work, but they've recently been drifting away from each other and so JB persuades Patrick to go on a cruise with her to celebrate their anniversary. But in the middle of a storm, Patrick falls overboard. JB continues to Japan, and then back to the UK and then to America to collect her prize, and then to Australia and finally back to the UK where Patrick's death is questioned. Is this a murder mystery? No, but almost. A literary thriller? Well, definitely literary. A courtroom drama? A little bit. A family drama?All those things and more. It's a slow unravelling of a marriage by an unreliable narrator, stopping on the way to think about art and artists and writers. I really enjoyed it. ...more
Although I enjoyed the writing and the voice of the narrator and her internal thoughts, I wasn't completely sure about the story. I felt like I'd readAlthough I enjoyed the writing and the voice of the narrator and her internal thoughts, I wasn't completely sure about the story. I felt like I'd read many similar things before (although the narrator almost acknowledges the cliche she's falling into): Mizuki is unhappy at home looking after young children and with her a silent over-worked husband, and she embarks on an affair with Kiyoshi. I didn't feel the story explored new ground, except that it was set in Tokyo, and it was wonderful when we got glimpses of the city. We never 'see' Mizuki and Kiyoshi have sex and I never really felt the passion between them, so it was hard to understand what kept them together for so long (plus I was confused that Mizuki seems to introduce Kiyoshi - a restauranteur who has been in the city for twenty years - to many different areas and restaurants). And conveniently, towards the end of the book, Mizuki's husband suddenly decides to try a bit harder at the marriage. ...more
For eighteen years, 36-year-old Keiko Furukura has worked in a convenience store. It is her whole life; even at home she only eats and sleeps so that For eighteen years, 36-year-old Keiko Furukura has worked in a convenience store. It is her whole life; even at home she only eats and sleeps so that she is at her best at work. Furukura is that odd oddball: she gets that she doesn’t fit in, and she does everything she can to make herself pass for ‘normal’, copying the speech patterns of her colleagues and even their facial expressions. But eventually the questions about marriage and children from her friends and relations wear her down and she attempts to rectify this situation. In Convenience Store Woman the people who don’t fit into society’s norms are called foreign objects, and in this book more than any others on my list, the fact that they exist is completely out in the open. It’s bizarre and completely refreshing....more
African-American, Benson and Japanese-American, Mike have been seeing each other for four years, but it seems like the end of their relationship is apAfrican-American, Benson and Japanese-American, Mike have been seeing each other for four years, but it seems like the end of their relationship is approaching. As the novel opens Mike decides to travel to Japan to find his ill father, at the same time as Mike's Japanese mother comes to the US to visit. Benson is left to look after her in the one-bedroom apartment the men share together. The novel looks at how these men have to deal with race and racism and navigate their families who haven't accepted their queerness. I enjoyed the parallels that Washington set up: Mike with his father in his tiny Japanese apartment and Benson with Mike's mother in theirs; the two families accepting their sons are queer (although this felt a little too easy); the cooking that Mike does in his father's bar and the cooking that his mother teaches Benson back in Houston. But I liked the Mike / Japan sections more, and both men's dialogue was a little too similar. 3.5 stars rounded up. ...more
I only picked this up because someone left it in the free little library outside my house. It just didn't appeal to me, mostly because of the jokey caI only picked this up because someone left it in the free little library outside my house. It just didn't appeal to me, mostly because of the jokey cartoon jacket. 'Unexpectedly funny' it says on the cover: another two words which are likely to put me off a book. Will these things mean more people pick it up, or like me, fewer (or should I say Less?), because that would be shame - I really enjoyed it. Arthur Less is a middling writer who decides to go on a trip around the world, accepting various literary invitations, in order to avoid the wedding of his former lover. It's about his travels and the things that make him remember his loves of the past, and a little bit about how he learns something of his privilege. It is an easy read, while being well written. I especially enjoyed Greer's metaphors: when eating 'Tuscan Chicken' on a plane, the "ravishing name reveals itself, like an internet lover, to be mere chicken and mashed potatoes." And, when there is a turbulence on a flight: "On and on the plane convulses in the moonlight, like a man turning into a werewolf." So my advice: don't let this jokey cover put you off. ...more
It's odd when you come across a book that you really enjoy, that you've never heard of before. How many other books like this are there out there? ThoIt's odd when you come across a book that you really enjoy, that you've never heard of before. How many other books like this are there out there? Thousands and thousands. I had the good fortune to be interviewed by Alison Jean Lester at the Salisbury Literary Festival and she gave me a copy of her novel Yuki Means Happiness. (But despite that, this is an honest review.) Diana, a young American woman, goes to Japan in 1996 to be nanny to a 3 year old Japanese girl, Yuki. The voice in this novel is so disarming and genuine, Diana was so completely real to me. We see Japan through her eyes as she finds her way around, and we feel the love she has for Yuki, and for her new boyfriend she's left behind. It almost reads like a memoir. But then the novel takes a darker turn and there's a puzzle for Diana to sort out, and a rescue. Highly recommended. ...more
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