Gone to the Forest

Katie Kitamura, 2012

(April 2017)

  

Bouncing into this straight off The North Water is not something I’d necessarily advise to anyone else, as both are short but well crafted stories about unpleasant people in unpleasant places doing unpleasant things. I’m also not entirely sure what either book was trying to say.

  

Hotel Iris

Yoko Ogawa, 1996 [Stephen Snyder, 2010]

(March 2017)

Odd little Lolita-esque novella about a bored and repressed high school dropout getting into a sadomasochistic relationship with an elderly man. Divertingly uncomfortable in and of itself, but to be honest the thing that sticks in my mind the most is how the blurb on the back gives away plot points that don’t occur until three pages before the end. I get that the constant cry of “Spoilers!” can be pretty tedious, but really. Three pages from the end.

The Goddess Chronicle

Natsuo Kirino, 2008 [Rebecca Copeland, 2012]

(July 2015)

  

As I write this it’s mere hours after the Nadeshiko have been rather freakishly drubbed in the World Cup final, so it’s fitting that we return once again to the subject of gender relations in Japan, and especially so that we do it in consideration of a book whose notionally feminist message I am decidedly ambivalent about.

Lagoon

Nnedi Okorafor, 2014

(May 2014)

In many ways this is quite a traditional SF story. Which is a shame, because the traditional parts are some of the weakest; when it goes its own way it’s pretty damn good. The upshot though is that, like Who Fears Death, Lagoon is a book which is easier to admire than to enjoy.

The Quest

...for the perfect date cake continues. Dunno that the prunes or marmalade were really necessary, but not a bad effort when all's said and done. Might try a bit of jiggery pokery with the spices and 'other' fruit next time around, but one to keep on file I think.