Author: Yoko Tawada
# of Pages: 138 (paperback)
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopia
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Synopsis: Japan, after suffering from a massive irreparable disaster, cuts itself off from the world. Children are so weak they can barely stand or walk: the only people with any get-go are the elderly. Mumei lives with his grandfather Yoshiro, who worries about him constantly. They carry on a day-to-day routine in what could be viewed as a post-Fukushima time, with all the children born ancient—frail and gray-haired, yet incredibly compassionate and wise. Mumei may be enfeebled and feverish, but he is a beacon of hope, full of wit and free of self-pity and pessimism. Yoshiro concentrates on nourishing Mumei, a strangely wonderful boy who offers “the beauty of the time that is yet to come.”
Review: Even though this book is so short, it took me FOREVER to get through it.
Like many dystopian science fiction, this alternate version of Japan experience environmental disaster where many food sources are contaminated, the youth are sickly, and the elderly live forever. This quirky story is told in the third person (and a couple of times switched to first person without warning) that does third POV switching quite often. To make it more confusing, there is a decent amount of time skipping as well, especially at the end.
All the characters have some sort of stream of consciousness where they reflect on themselves and the world around them in most artful and, to me, drawn out and boring way possible. There wasn't much of a plot; it's more like a slice of life with no clear direction on where the story is going, which in term made me very disinterested in the book in general.
I was debating on whether to give this book three stars just because I feel like I am missing something here. But based on a single pass through alone (and how long it took me to finish the book), I was not entertained, and this book was overall burdensome for me to read. I would not recommend this book.
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