Tokyo Fiancee by Amelie Nothomb. book review

Tokyo Fiancee

Amelie Nothomb writes this as a work of fiction, though the main character has her name and Belgian background.

Tokyo Fiancee begins in 1989 when Amelie, who was born in Japan and lived five years there, returns to Tokyo to learn the language and reacquaint herself with the country.

What better way to accomplish this than to get a Japanese boyfriend? Though this was not a plan, Amelie becomes involved with her student, Rinri, a university student whom she tutors in French. The book covers Rinri's cross-cultural friendship with Amelie, and his courtship, which includes trips to different tourist sites in Japan, including a climb of Mt. Fuji to watch the sunrise, and several luxurious days on the island of Sado.

Only age 21 when she returns to Japan for the first time since her childhood, Amelie has all the vigor and impatience of youth and tells Rinri she is energized by tall mountains and heights. Thus her solo foray into snowy mountains, where she gets lost and barely survives an overnight blizzard.

How does this show of independence sit with Rinri, who has given her an engagement ring and gotten the approval of both sets of parents for their eventual marriage?

I enjoyed the insights into Japanese culture and food, the depiction of the gentlemanly Rinri, and the way that Amelie is able to handle cultural differences while at the same time trying to become more Japanese. There is a lot of good natured humor and the book is easy reading. I finished it in three sittings. I enjoyed it but the ending left me wondering a little....

The descriptions of her mad rush up and down Mt. Fuji, the natural beauty of Japan, and her frankness about the culture also make the book worthwhile.

"While I waited, I was witness to an extraordinary sight. After midnight, luminous processions began to climb the mountain. Apparently, there were people courageous enough to attempt the ascent at night, no doubt to avoid spending too much time waiting for sunrise in the cold air. For no one should miss the ceremony of the sunrise."(p. 81)

(The novel is translated from the French by Alison Anderson, Europa editions).

Submitted for the Lost in Translation Reading Challenge.

Review: After Dark by Haruki Murakami

Title: After Dark by Haruki Murakami
Paperback: 256 pages; Kindle; Audiobook
Publisher: Vintage (April 29, 2008)


Haruki Murakami's latest novel, After Dark, begins just before midnight in Tokyo and ends just before 7 a.m. The focus is Tokyo in the dead of night, after the trains have stopped running and the only public transportation out of the city is by cab.

Some of the people left in the city are college students and office workers. They are in the bars, hanging out in all night restaurants, in game parlors, or working late in the office.

The book follows a young college student, Mari, who decides to stay reading in a Denny's restaurant rather than go home. She meets another college student there, a musician who is in the city to practice with his band. At his suggestion, Mari leaves the restaurant to help a foreign woman who has been injured, and in the course of events, comes across unusual situations and makes some unlikely friends, including the manager and maid of an all night hotel. Long conversations during the night with the musician, who has met her older sister, help her come to terms with the reason she has avoided going home.

When morning arrives and the trains are running, Mari goes home to the suburbs, where she knows she will find her older sister, Eri Asai, still in a deep sleep. A beautiful and well-known model, Eri Asai has been sleeping steadily the past three weeks, getting up occasionally to eat, though no one has seen her when she is up.

Remembering how protective Eri Asai had been of her when they had been trapped in an elevator as children, Mari tries to empathize with her sister, in tears hugging her as if willing her to wake up out of her long dream. There is a glimmer of a response. Mari finally goes to sleep.

The novel only hints at the reason for Eri Asi's withdrawal. There is a suggestion that it involves the sinister office worker Shirakawa, whom Mari is unaware of though their paths overlap during the night in the city.

The novel has many levels of meaning. Murakami reveals the flip side of the city, after dark, at times with humor. The city at night also reveals the dark aspect of some of the characters he explores. Mari and the musician walk about the city and among these people but remain unscathed.

Submitted for the Lost in Translation Reading Challenge. and resubmitted for the 2012 Haruki Murakami Reading Challenge.

© Harvee Lau of Book Dilettante. Please do not reprint without permission.