Book Review Footprints in the snow by Kenjiro Tokutomi

Book Review – Footprints in the Snow by Kenjiro Tokutomi

Author: Kenjiro Tokutomi


Translator: Kenneth Strong


Publisher: Tuttle Publishing, Tokyo, Japan, 1971


ISBN: 0293-000247-4615


Pages: 371

A novel about growing up in the Meiji Period

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A novel set in the Meiji period between 1860 and 1900 that reveals the hardships of the time where families lost their fortunes easily and the impact this had on people families and lives.

We learn the about the good and bad sides of relatives, the social impact of dramatic change in society, we gain insights into men’s and women’s worlds, social interactions including arranged marriages, the importance of education in order to get ahead and get noticed. Clothing, food, fashion and social customs of the period. Politics and its impact on everyday people, the need for guarantors for accommodation and the complexity of love in an open environment where people had little privacy.

The tale of one man’s struggle to rebuild his family’s name and wealth.

  

Book Review – Footprints in the Snow by Kenjiro Tokutomi

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Book Review: Five Women Who Loved Love by Ihara Saikaku

Book Review – Five Women Who Loved Love by Ihara Saikaku

Author: Ihara Saikaku


Translator: William Theodore De Bary


Publisher: Kodansha Amer Inc (February 1993)


ISBN: 978-4770016904


Pages: 248

A collection of short stories on women who love love

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 A collection of five short stories by Ihara Saikaku who live in the period 1642 to 1693. Each story tells of a couple who love each other but who cannot be together and their ensuing struggles to keep their love.

The reader gets transported back to the time period in which the stories are written and gains great insights into the lifestyle and social norms of the period, plus get to meet the characters of each story and how they met, lived and challenges they faced to find love.

The stories include: The story of Seijuro in Himeji, The Barrelmaker Brimful of Love, What the seasons brought the Almanac maker, The Greengrocers daughter with a bundle of love and Gengobei, the mountain of love.

A very light, humorous and historical book that sheds light on the social conditions for love in the period.

       

Book Review – Five Women Who Loved Love by Ihara Saikaku

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Book Review Kangaroo Notebook by Kobo Abe

Book Review – Kangaroo Notebook

Author: Kobo Abe

Translator: Maryellen Toman Mori 

Publisher: Alfred. A. Knopf, New Yoork, USA, 1996

ISBN: 0-679-42412-1 Pages: 183

A wild ride from start to finish

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This is the last novel by Kobo Abe before his death in 1993. It takes the reader on a fantastic journey from everyday life to a deep dream like state where we get to learn more about the main character who is an employee for an office supply firm who has recently suggested a new product, a Kangaroo Notebook which management like and want to reward him if he can put the idea into reality.

As he contemplates the idea he discovers he has a medical problem to deal with and the novel takes us along for the ride as he tries to discover the cause and gain a solution. We meet a host of interesting characters, places and recollections. He finally ends up in hospital with an unrelated condition where he gets some help from some unlikely strangers. 

A fun, crazy and creative dive into to the subconscious!

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Book Review – Kangaroo Notebook