Just Finished Reading: Four Seasons in Japan by Nick Bradley (FP: 2023) [325pp] 

Her friend Makoto was right; it's always a bad idea to achieve your dream. Flo Dunthorpe was living in Tokyo, had mastered the language and had just had her first translation of a collection of obscure Japanese science fiction stories published. But now what? Her indecision was driving everyone around her crazy. Her fellow workers at the publishing house couldn’t understand her, her girlfriend couldn’t understand why she wasn’t willing to move back to the US with her. What to do? Travelling home on the subway on the verge of a nervous breakdown Flo noticed a book left behind by careless passenger. Picking it up she began reading and automatically translating the text into English. Struck by the power of the narrative she began to wonder if she had found her next project completely by accident. But who was the author? She had never heard of him and the book itself gave very little detail of who had even published it. Before she made any move to translate further, she needed to know more. Maybe the text itself would help? As she delved deeper, she lost herself in the story of the struggle between a grandmother with a tragic past and a grandson living with the shame of failed examinations, a talent for art and the desire to know more about a father he never knew and no one ever talked about. 

As usual with these things, I picked up this novel because it ‘looked different’. Being published by Penguin and having a cat on the cover certainly helped though! Going in I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. I certainly had no idea that I would LOVE the story (actually stories) so much. It was, I must say, a bit of a weird one. Although the (arguably) main character is the American translator Flo most of the narrative – around two-thirds I would think – is her translation of the mysterious found book. That story revolves around 19-year-old Kyo who had been sent to stay with his grandmother far from Tokyo in order to attend a local crammer so that he could pass his university entrance exams on the second try. I honestly didn’t like Kyo very much to begin with but, after a while, I began to understand why he was SO unsure of himself and overthought EVERYTHING. His grandmother Ayako was fantastic. Hard as nails (with VERY good reason) and very demanding she was the core of the story and I really liked how we, the reader once removed, slowly found out more about her life and the life (and death) of Kyo’s father – her son. Every time I opened the book I FELL into the story and lost all sense of time and place. You could almost smell the cherry blossom... 

To say that I loved this book would be an understatement. Although definitely not my usual read – by a long way – I found myself totally absorbed by both Flo’s and Kyo’s journey, both figuratively and literally. Even the rather annoying Kyo grew on me (eventually) especially when he delivered one of the best put-downs I’ve heard in many a year! This was definitely another highlight of the year and is, of course, very highly recommended. Be warned however, the more sensitive amongst you will need a tissue or two handy at times.