Lead Review (plus the author’s top tips for foodies in Tokyo)
- Book: Rainbirds
- Location: Japan
- Author: Clarissa Goenawan
The novel is set in fictional Akakawa a small, unremarkable town that boasts none of the delights of hot spas, beautiful temples and landscape that one might associate with Japan as a visitor. It is an average place in Japan, where Keiko Ishida is found murdered.
The book opens with Ren Ishida, her much younger brother, clutching the urn containing her ashes. He has travelled from Tokyo to tie up the loose ends of her life. Their parents don’t really figure in their lives as there are many family issues. He soon finds himself following in the footsteps of her old life, in that he is offered accommodation in her old room, within the eccentric Katou household, where the parents are mourning the loss of a child. He also takes up a temporary job at the crammer where she worked, also teaching English.
As he settles into his new life, he starts to be plagued by dreams which – as dreams often do – offer an insight into the overworked mind and plaguing his waking thoughts with a surreal quality, blurring reality.
Ren visits the site of her killing and stumbles upon a half smoked cigarette, which was being smoked by one of his future students, the enigmatic Seven Stars (that is a brand of cigarette), who is also a serial bubble gum thief! It may seem a bizarre hobby, but many things in Japan feel very different to those of us more familiar with Western culture. The author even takes her characters to a Love Hotel in Tokyo (a common, purpose-built facility where couples can hang out by the hour and often modelled on the Disney themes). And it is the essence of strangeness that the author conjures up so well in the, novel, overlaid with a touch of melancholy.
The author feeds in some unusual themes into the narrative and the story progresses at a gentle and reasonably satisfying pace.
On this link, the author shares her top tips for foodies in TOKYO
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