The Girl Who Played Go
Read this book in Russian and didn't realize how much the title reminds Stig Larsson's saga till I saw it in English...
No, I am not showing off posting in English, but it happens that I don't have much work and I do have time for my LJ (hate the word blog and blogger), and my keybord as you know is not cyrillic...Ah yeah, I hate translit as well)))
So yep, back to the book. I honestly have never read Japanese authors. Well, not counting Murakami's "Hunting for sheep" (not sure it is the right translation to English cause again, read it in Russian)...I have always been fascinated by the culture...Have always been interested, watched a lot of films, even read some articles about its history, I think that a certain distance and calmness inhered in the Japanese make them mysterious and all the more alluring to us, plain European race people. Anyways, I heard a lot of nice staff about this book, including that it has got a Gonkur prize and that the author actually moved to France long time ago, wrote the book in French actually, but with Japanese style, technique and color. Somehow the book ended up in my iPod and since it was short I wasn't afraid to read it.
What can I say? Apparently deep, sensitive, feeling, delicate - these words describing a reader are not about me...I was touched and deeply moved by a kind of straightforwardness and at the same time mysterious veil, surrounding the book. But it seemed abrupt...as if a part of your life story has been ripped out of context and circumstances and told by a narrator, who doesn' t know you, never seen you, doesn't give a damn about you. The book is said to be, apart from everything else, about a big love, impossible love. Well, yeah, if they meant that this impossible love-story is gonna be in the last small chapter - yeah, probably...I must own that it is difficult to stop reading it once you have started. It reminded me of the case with Cunningham - didn't much like the plot or the story, but kinda couldn't stop reading.
Definitely, the book is very different to what I have read before. And definitely in its atmosphere it is much like Murakami. Some kind of something left unsaid, undone, making the main hero invisible - with no name, with no face, with no feeling. Everything is seen and described as if you are looking from aside, so you are not different from other heroes of the book, you don't know anything about the main hero, you are a part of a crowd, a spectator.
The Girl Who Played Go describes war time between China, Japan and Manchzhriya (not sure again I got the translation right). And in once of the cities of Manchzhuriya a girl like to play go. That is what makes her different from the other heroes of the book. I won't tell you the story, which can be found in any review.
I think that what attracted me while reading is the easy style of the book, the light atmosphere, movement forward. It was full with a lot of shocking sex and war scenes. Well, not so shoking-shocking, but definitely described with much detail and frankness, without any euphemisms.
Now that I look back and remember it I am not sure I understood it completely. I am not sure I got all ideas that the author wants to express.
Do I recommend it? Well, who am I to recommend a book, I mean I am no authority. I definitely wouldn't read it the 2 time. And I don't think your world will ruin if you don't read it. My personal opinion - if you don't like reading in general, but do it occasionally, that might not be the best and the most entertaining choice. For those like me just trying to get a taste - yes, read it. It is definitely worth spending your time.
And the picture of the author...
No, I am not showing off posting in English, but it happens that I don't have much work and I do have time for my LJ (hate the word blog and blogger), and my keybord as you know is not cyrillic...Ah yeah, I hate translit as well)))
So yep, back to the book. I honestly have never read Japanese authors. Well, not counting Murakami's "Hunting for sheep" (not sure it is the right translation to English cause again, read it in Russian)...I have always been fascinated by the culture...Have always been interested, watched a lot of films, even read some articles about its history, I think that a certain distance and calmness inhered in the Japanese make them mysterious and all the more alluring to us, plain European race people. Anyways, I heard a lot of nice staff about this book, including that it has got a Gonkur prize and that the author actually moved to France long time ago, wrote the book in French actually, but with Japanese style, technique and color. Somehow the book ended up in my iPod and since it was short I wasn't afraid to read it.
What can I say? Apparently deep, sensitive, feeling, delicate - these words describing a reader are not about me...I was touched and deeply moved by a kind of straightforwardness and at the same time mysterious veil, surrounding the book. But it seemed abrupt...as if a part of your life story has been ripped out of context and circumstances and told by a narrator, who doesn' t know you, never seen you, doesn't give a damn about you. The book is said to be, apart from everything else, about a big love, impossible love. Well, yeah, if they meant that this impossible love-story is gonna be in the last small chapter - yeah, probably...I must own that it is difficult to stop reading it once you have started. It reminded me of the case with Cunningham - didn't much like the plot or the story, but kinda couldn't stop reading.
Definitely, the book is very different to what I have read before. And definitely in its atmosphere it is much like Murakami. Some kind of something left unsaid, undone, making the main hero invisible - with no name, with no face, with no feeling. Everything is seen and described as if you are looking from aside, so you are not different from other heroes of the book, you don't know anything about the main hero, you are a part of a crowd, a spectator.
The Girl Who Played Go describes war time between China, Japan and Manchzhriya (not sure again I got the translation right). And in once of the cities of Manchzhuriya a girl like to play go. That is what makes her different from the other heroes of the book. I won't tell you the story, which can be found in any review.
I think that what attracted me while reading is the easy style of the book, the light atmosphere, movement forward. It was full with a lot of shocking sex and war scenes. Well, not so shoking-shocking, but definitely described with much detail and frankness, without any euphemisms.
Now that I look back and remember it I am not sure I understood it completely. I am not sure I got all ideas that the author wants to express.
Do I recommend it? Well, who am I to recommend a book, I mean I am no authority. I definitely wouldn't read it the 2 time. And I don't think your world will ruin if you don't read it. My personal opinion - if you don't like reading in general, but do it occasionally, that might not be the best and the most entertaining choice. For those like me just trying to get a taste - yes, read it. It is definitely worth spending your time.
And the picture of the author...