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tontu00's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5
nyeran's review against another edition
2.0
“If you're beset on by unhappiness, it isn't unreasonable to expect happiness to have its turn in the future”
É una deformazione giapponese quella di scrivere novelle per poi unirle in un 'romanzo', sono scritti tutti così i libri. Però è leggibile - sicuramente meglio della Yoshimoto -.
✿ Però raga il titolo - come al solito - non è tradotto correttamente. In Giapponese si chiama 冥土めぐり (Meido Meguri) dove meido sta per inferi e meguri sta per giro. Non si parla di gente morta, gli inferi del titolo sono metaforici. E invece niente, leggendo il titolo pensavo fosse un libro sul lutto, sul superamento di una perdita o che comunque - appunto - si parlasse di morte ma no. Il titolo originale ha senso con la storia di Natsuko che ha avuto una vita di merda con la madre e il fratello. Ha meno senso l'inserimento della seconda novella che è completamente scollegata non solo dalla prima storia ma da tutto il contesto del libro.
É una deformazione giapponese quella di scrivere novelle per poi unirle in un 'romanzo', sono scritti tutti così i libri. Però è leggibile - sicuramente meglio della Yoshimoto -.
✿ Però raga il titolo - come al solito - non è tradotto correttamente. In Giapponese si chiama 冥土めぐり (Meido Meguri) dove meido sta per inferi e meguri sta per giro. Non si parla di gente morta, gli inferi del titolo sono metaforici. E invece niente, leggendo il titolo pensavo fosse un libro sul lutto, sul superamento di una perdita o che comunque - appunto - si parlasse di morte ma no. Il titolo originale ha senso con la storia di Natsuko che ha avuto una vita di merda con la madre e il fratello. Ha meno senso l'inserimento della seconda novella che è completamente scollegata non solo dalla prima storia ma da tutto il contesto del libro.
phoebe912's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
kingarooski's review against another edition
2.0
I found the premises for both the stories interesting and enjoyed Touring the Land of the Dead more than Ninety-Nine Kisses. But both felt flat to me and did not live up to the expectation.
clare_tan_wenhui's review against another edition
3.0
She had no other way of expressing herself. It was pitiful, really. She would finish off that episode the same way, sobbing, forever, without ever having learned anything from it. And what was even more miserable about it was that she herself wouldn't realise that fact at all... She no doubt still thought that she could be treated like a princess. She believed that the age of her own father, that time when she had been given everything, for free, as much as she wanted, would no doubt return. And if that certainty was ever to be thrown into doubt, she would end up sobbing all over again.
Her brother also thought of himself as unhappy. However for him, it was that very sense of unhappiness that had convinced him that he was one of the chosen few, that he was destined to accomplish great deeds far beyond those of the average man. For him, unhappiness was belonging to a family that had no money...
He didn't understand. That those things that he ruminated over vaguely - a wonderful version of himself, a wonderful world - existed only in his imagination. Certainly there was probably an element of truth to the saying that life is made up of waves. If you are beset on by unhappiness, it isn't unreasonable to expect happiness to have its turn in the future. However those waves would not come in any way that would satisfy him. The happiness of high tide wouldn't bring the wonderful little world he was waiting for.
For him, who yearned for things that didn't exist, he was in the right, and it was nothing short of injustice that he couldn't have them.
pg 51-52
Despite a fairly conventional plot of a protagonist looking back on her strained dynamics with family members, its short length and subdued matter-of-fact prose, "Touring the Land of the Dead" is spot on in capturing the precise the toxic psychology which ensnares us from living life to the fullest, and illuminates the reader to the presence of one's own freewill no matter the circumstance, garnering the author her Akutagawa Prize in 2012.
Meanwhile 'Ninety-Nine Kisses' provocative plot and homoerotic symbolism alluding to the complexities of female solidarity and rivalry, may prove too much to stomach for most conventional readers, thus unfortunately pulling down the overall rating of this collection.
Her brother also thought of himself as unhappy. However for him, it was that very sense of unhappiness that had convinced him that he was one of the chosen few, that he was destined to accomplish great deeds far beyond those of the average man. For him, unhappiness was belonging to a family that had no money...
He didn't understand. That those things that he ruminated over vaguely - a wonderful version of himself, a wonderful world - existed only in his imagination. Certainly there was probably an element of truth to the saying that life is made up of waves. If you are beset on by unhappiness, it isn't unreasonable to expect happiness to have its turn in the future. However those waves would not come in any way that would satisfy him. The happiness of high tide wouldn't bring the wonderful little world he was waiting for.
For him, who yearned for things that didn't exist, he was in the right, and it was nothing short of injustice that he couldn't have them.
pg 51-52
Despite a fairly conventional plot of a protagonist looking back on her strained dynamics with family members, its short length and subdued matter-of-fact prose, "Touring the Land of the Dead" is spot on in capturing the precise the toxic psychology which ensnares us from living life to the fullest, and illuminates the reader to the presence of one's own freewill no matter the circumstance, garnering the author her Akutagawa Prize in 2012.
Meanwhile 'Ninety-Nine Kisses' provocative plot and homoerotic symbolism alluding to the complexities of female solidarity and rivalry, may prove too much to stomach for most conventional readers, thus unfortunately pulling down the overall rating of this collection.
benrogerswpg's review against another edition
3.0
Reading the Land of the Underwhelming
I thought these two stories were surprisingly underwhelming.
I didn't honestly find either of them very interesting.
Not my type of read.
2.9/5
I thought these two stories were surprisingly underwhelming.
I didn't honestly find either of them very interesting.
Not my type of read.
2.9/5
aradhyatrivedi's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
betweenbookends's review against another edition
2.0
Touring the Land of the Dead by Maki Kashimada is a collection of two novellas. The first and titular novella follows a married couple, Natsuko and Taichi who head to a spa resort (formerly a luxury hotel). Taichi suffers from a neurological condition and has been disabled for almost a decade, and Natsuko remains his primary caregiver. Touring the Land of the Dead is really a reference to Natsuko revisiting her bottled-up memories of her past life before getting married, her very dysfunctional family, her egotistic, unreasonable, and irresponsible mother, and her male-chauvinistic, sycophant brother. Both of them look down on her marriage, never missing a chance to insult Taichi. The trip to the spa resort kindles memories and stories from her childhood when her mother and grandparents visited the same hotel, an exclusive luxury retreat in those times. The untimely death of her father lands the family in huge debts. They are forced to forego their lavish lifestyles for more frugal ones. A change, her mother and brother never quite get accustomed to. Taichi in his reduced, simple-minded condition lives in the moment, completely accepting and happy in his circumstances without questioning the motives of others. Towards the end, Natsuko comes to accept that the true toxic presence in her life is her own troubled family, her mother, and her brother, while her disabled husband though in need of constant attention is her special and most worthy companion.
Ninety-nine kisses, the second novella, models itself on Junichiro Tanizaki’s The Makioka Sisters and it follows 4 unmarried sisters in contemporary Tokyo. The arrival of a new stranger S in the neighborhood garners the attention of the older 3 sisters, each obsessed with him and trying to win him over. The narration is entirely from the youngest sister’s perspective who has no interest in S. But it's surprisingly edgy and creepy in that the youngest sister feels unnaturally close to her sisters. Almost describing them as one organism that she’s part of. Her admiration of them veering on something borderline incestuous. The family dynamics between the single mother and the 4 sisters are slightly off-kilter, unnatural as well.
The common theme tying the two novellas is unstable, dysfunctional family dynamics. The translation by Haydn Trowell is very well done. While both stories were intriguing premises on their own, the execution of it didn’t entirely work for me. I didn’t feel like the full potential of either story was realized.
Ninety-nine kisses, the second novella, models itself on Junichiro Tanizaki’s The Makioka Sisters and it follows 4 unmarried sisters in contemporary Tokyo. The arrival of a new stranger S in the neighborhood garners the attention of the older 3 sisters, each obsessed with him and trying to win him over. The narration is entirely from the youngest sister’s perspective who has no interest in S. But it's surprisingly edgy and creepy in that the youngest sister feels unnaturally close to her sisters. Almost describing them as one organism that she’s part of. Her admiration of them veering on something borderline incestuous. The family dynamics between the single mother and the 4 sisters are slightly off-kilter, unnatural as well.
The common theme tying the two novellas is unstable, dysfunctional family dynamics. The translation by Haydn Trowell is very well done. While both stories were intriguing premises on their own, the execution of it didn’t entirely work for me. I didn’t feel like the full potential of either story was realized.