Book Review: Mokusei by Cess Nooteboom and Adrienne Dixon

Quote: Whether he had been asleep for a long time or not, did not know, only that he had dreamt that he was still in the aeroplane high above the ocean, on the way to her.

An eighty-five pages long tragic love story of Arnold Presser, a Dutch photographer and a Japanese model, Sakoto.

My soft spot of anything remotely related Japanese got me this. Originally written in Dutch, the book has a promising beginning. Opens with a conversation between a diplomat De Goede and Presser.

The conversation between both brings out the difference between observation, expectations, and reality. To Presser, Japan is the land of beautiful gestures, kimonos, Mt. Fuji, Basho's Haikus and Hokusai's paintings: a Japan devoid of pollution, consumerism and expanding modern cities. While De Goede explains this very idea of Japan and it's culture in the heads of visitors ends up repulsing them of Japanese culture as their expectations and experiences collide and create a disillusion of which they can't recover.

Presser also realises his passion for photography might only find an income through brochure-photography. The ones people glance once and discard twice. While on one such trip to photograph a beautiful Japanese girl in front of Mount Fuji for De Goede, Presser meets Sakoto, with whom he has a passionate and secret love affair for five years.

He gives her two names Snow Mask as her expressions are unreadable to him and Mokusei: one of the few of fragrant flowers Japan has.

The language of the book is beautiful and functional. The author-translator has bought out the balance between unbound unexplainable passion and controlled narrative. The conversation that opens the book aligns well with the suffering and internal torment of Presser. He can neither open up to his friends nor can he settle down with Sakoto.

The ending of the book is as predictable as it gets. A beautiful mysterious homely Asian girl refuses to leave her parents and decides to get married to look after her parents. I don't understand why couldn't Presser ever suggest to her, that he moves to Japan and lives with her instead of her leaving the country. Presser is like typical rootless creative head protagonist with hypersensitive heart, but he is not close to his family or friends so why not leave the Netherlands if his love was that intense?

I have nothing to take away from this book other than beautiful language. Overall it was an impact less read. The most beautiful aspect of the book is the lovely cover.

Comments

Book Review: The Tiny Wife by Andrew Kaufman and illustrated by Tom Percival

Book Review: The Tiny Wife by Andrew Kaufman and illustrated by Tom Percival Quote: The robbery was not without consequences. The consequences were the point of the robbery. It was never about money. The thief didn't even ask for any. That it happened in a bank was incidental. Can we take a moment and appreciate the cover! The only reason I picked this book from my friend Ashwin's bookshelf; the cover and the adorable illustrations inside. The Tiny Wife is a modern-day fable, it definitely is a weird and witty book! A perfect short distance read. It's the story of Stacey and David, Stacey gets robbed in a bank, where this flamboyant purple hatter robs an item of sentimental value from victims. David, Stacey's husband narrates the story, a smart narrative choice: a spectator and commentator. Each of the victims has their own 'shit' to deal with after the incident. Dawn's lion tattoo springs into life! Grace's husband turns...

Book Review: When The River Sleeps by Easterine Kire.

Book Review: When The River Sleeps by Easterine Kire. Quote: Perhaps the answer lay not in striving but in being. In simply accepting that the loneliness would never be eliminated fully, but that one could deal with it by learning to treat it like a companion and no longer an adversary. Ville a hunter wakes up from a dream, ventures out to search for the heart-stone; that holds the power of the river that's asleep. And this stone is guarded by wailing-angry-widow-spirits. Many attempts have been made at magical realism in Indian English writing, and I didn't like them. My personal opinion is that magical realism needs a deep connection with nature, maybe never explicitly explored in the text, but the traces of that connection always shows in the words written. And I have always argued that North East India is the most fertile ground to plant the seeds of magical realism in. Easterine Kire, pens our deep connection with nature for the national readership to gawk...

Webcomic Review: Fools by Yeongha and Bagdam

Webcomic Review: Fools by Yeongha and Bagdam Quote: If this were a relationship between a male and a female, wouldn't it be safe to assume that we were 100% attracted to each other? But because I'm a male and just an underclassman, Eungi Hyung would never consider anything like that, would he? Fools is a Korean Webtoon written by Yeongha and adorably illustrated by Bagdam. A weepy and heartbroken teen Choi Jeongwoo meets Kwon Enugi one night, where the latter ends up comforting and advising the teen. A few years later, Jeongwoo is a freshman in the university where Enugi has returned for his final year after completing his military service. Enugi comes off as a standoffish young man while Jeongwoo the pretty boy is always smiling and super friendly. After hearing Jeongwoo cry on his phone to his boyfriend during the welcoming party, Enugi can't stop but worry about him from then on. By the twist of fate they end up having breakfast tog...

KhepiAri

Search This Blog