Picked up this book at fopp for a bargain £1. Money well spent. I really enjoyed this translation of a japanese novel, it is written with such poetic language, and is nice and short. The story revolves around a widow and her young adolescent son. A son who, with friends, have formed a view on the futility of life as expressed by their parents (whether pre-teens actually sit around discussing Nietzche is another matter, but it is fiction). Along comes a sailor who seems to embody the carefree approach to life with no ties so longed after by this group of boys. However their illusion is dashed as he falls in love with the widow, leaving his nomadic lifestyle to 'settle down'. Angered by this action the boys have a macabre scheme to keep the image of the heroic sailor they wish to have.
Children of Men - PD JamesI got this after v told me about the film. I wanted to read it and check that it didn't cover ground that the book i'm writing covers. It doesn't. I was a little disappointed by this book, it's an interesting idea, the human race can no longer reproduce. In the novel it seems to be down to barren men and women, but the focus seems to be on defective sperm. To be honest the technology is around that obviates the need for sperm anyway, the most important thing is the ova. You can use some kind of cloning technique. Anyway, that is a flaw that is by the by. The novel is written part as the diary of the lead character and part as third person narrative. The diary entries I sometimes found too full of background setting information, the kind of things you really wouldn't put in a diary. The story continues and is punctuated with twists that are obvious a mile off, which added to my frustration of the read. It's an interesting story, but could've been told better, and I look forward to seeing the movie, which may well be better.
There'll be more later
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