Fushima Dreams by Zelda Rhiando

What a monkey puzzle of a book.  Part crime, part psychological thriller, part mystic dream this intense book defies categories.  Set in modern Japan around the time of the tsunami, and centered around the main characters of Harry and Sachiko.  The birth of their son Tashi has ripped their life apart, Sachiko suffers from postpartum psychosis and Harry is failing appallingly to cope with this and their child.  He turns in on himself as much as Sachiko absences herself mentally, and then the tsunami - what happens to them in the aftermath unfolds painfully.

The author Zelda Rhiando came to our book club and answered our many questions about the book.  She traveled around Japan for a month, absorbing the character of the Japanese people, enabling her to write with a delicacy of the innate 'politeness' of Japanese society, the rules that govern people's actions and interactions. It was interesting to hear Zelda's perception of her characters and how a story often has a life of its own. It must be terrifying to come to a book club, we really appreciated Zelda coming and talking so frankly about being an author and the process of not only writing but publishing a book.  Great evening with a fascinating author.  Thank you for coming to Zelda. PS. Wine may have been involved!

Marks out of 10:  between 7 - 9  so highly marked

Words used to describe it:  softly shocking, intriguing, fascinating, mystic, intense

Next Book

If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino

Next Meeting

Christmas Do - starting at Olivia's then on for supper and dancing

Friday 20th December

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Having read Persuasion at different times in my life, I have always found this gentle, harsh, claustrophobic novel one of her best.  It may not have the romping breath of Sense and Sensibility, or Mr Darcy, Pride and Prejudice, but I do think that the arch of the story, the minutiae of a woman's life, hemmed in by society's constructs of what a woman of a certain stratum of society can and cannot do is so well illustrated in this novel.  It is of its time and yet still pertinent today.  I won't precis the novel as it is so well known.  Having said all this many did not enjoy this novel as much as they have enjoyed others by Jane Austen.  

Marks out of 10 between 5 - 8

Words used to describe it:  Mills and Boon, predictable, engaging, refreshing revisited, social nuance

Next Book

Fushima Dreams by Zelda Rhiando