Spring Garden, by Tomoka Shibasaki translated by Polly Barton. Pushkin Press, 2014

This is a rather odd little book. Divorced Taro, who seems to have no friends, lives in a rundown apartment building, which will be torn down once the leases all run out. Over a concrete wall, he can see the top of the house next door from his balcony. It’s a big, expensive, house, with a sky blue roof. One day, he sees one of his neighbors trying to climb up the wall. She’s not a robber; she’s obsessed with the house. Years before, she found a book of photographs called “Spring Garden”- the house the photos were taken of is the sky blue house next door. She wants to see the house, inside and out. The photo book, that is all interior shots some of which show the home owners, has given the house a kind of mythic beauty for her. As she schemes to get inside the house, Taro finds himself drawn into her obsession.

Not much happens in the book. They see the house. He sees the current house under laid by the photos in the book, just like he sees signs of the rivers and streams that have been tamed and forced into culverts underground all over the city. The whole world is a palimpsest.

Despite the lack of action, I sped through the book. I, too, became enamored of the beauty of the house, and how the now overlays the past. Four stars, even though it is, as I said, odd. 

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Inheritance From Mother, by Minae Mizumura. 2012; Other Press English translation 2016

 

The Katsura sisters have long had an embattled relationship with their mother. Noriko Katsura, is an egotistical and selfish woman with a taste for the finer things in life, and little, if any, feelings for people. The sisters dream of the day when their mother will finally die, and her demands on them will stop.

This sounds horrible, especially in a society where children are expected to love, revere, and care selflessly for their parents. But for Mitsuki, the daughter on whom the majority of the burden falls on, it’s a chance to finally live her own life. As a child, she was neglected in favor of Natsuki, her more beautiful and talented sister. As an adult, her life is pretty much run by her husband, a fellow college instructor who wants a luxury condo- and is having (another) affair with a younger woman. What would Mitsuki do if she could make decisions without having to consider either of these people?

The first half of the book revolves around Noriko’s final hospitalization and death, and fills us in on the history of the Katsura family. The second half is what Mitsuki does after her mother’s death as she figures out what she really wants out of life. It’s fascinating reading the history of her family and how it was shaped by Japanese culture, as that culture itself changes through modernization and influences from the West. While told in third person, Mitsuki is the main focus of the tale. Mother/daughter relationships, marriage, aging, and sister relationships are all treated here with sensitivity and depth. 

The above is an affiliate link. If you click through and buy something- anything- from Amazon, they will give me a few cents. 

I received this book from the Amazon Vine program in return for an unbiased review. 

Neither of these things influenced my review.