Strangers

by Taichi Yamada | Horror |
ISBN: 1932234039 Global Overview for this book
Registered by quinnsmom of Hobe Sound, Florida USA on 5/13/2004
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1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by quinnsmom from Hobe Sound, Florida USA on Thursday, May 13, 2004
will read in June, then decide to keep or let go

Journal Entry 2 by quinnsmom from Hobe Sound, Florida USA on Tuesday, July 6, 2004
keeping in my collection of ghost stories

Very brief, this reads quickly & it is easy to read as well. If, like myself, you are a fan of Japanese ghost stories, you're going to see the end coming on this one right away so that kind of spoiled it for me, because this story is very much in line with the old traditional type of ghostly tale from Japan.

A brief summary:

Harada-san (Hideo) is in his mid 40s, is a scriptwriter for television who isn't working all that much any more and lives alone, having been recently divorced and never taking enough time to see his college-age son. He lives in Tokyo, in an apartment which is an office building by day but which during the night has maybe one or two lit windows that one can see from the outside. He is just a drab little man with a blah life. Many years ago, when he just a boy (I think he was 12), he was waiting for his parents to return home but they never did. His mom and dad were doubled on a bike when they were hit from behind in a hit-and-run accident. He was sent to live with his grandmother, but then she died, then sent to live with his uncle, who sent him to college and then died. Well, as it turns out, one day it was Hideo's birthday and he got a bee in his bonnet to go to his birthplace of Akasuka. When he arrived, he walked into a mediocre comedy club pretty much kept going by tour bus crowds, and there he saw a man that looked just like his father. It looked so much like his dad that he couldn't help but to keep looking at the guy. At the end of the performance, the strange man invited Harada-san to come home with him for a beer so Hideo goes. When he arrives, the strange man's wife is there and she is the spitting image of his mother. From there, the tale gets stranger and stranger and Hideo Harada finds himself in great danger from the other side.

I liked this book. Again, it was somewhat stilted and formalized in translation but that's easily overcome. The dialogue sometimes was kind of silly, with little annoying things like money being called "dough" etc which seems out of context in the story. Kind of simplistic in tone, although it does delve into the whole search of self by Harada-san and why he feels like he must continue to see his "parents." Harada is a very tragic figure to begin with, and by the end of the book I was really pulling for him. When a book does that for me, then it's a good read.

Overall recommended, but don't look for something along the lines of a Noel Hynd or James Herbert type of ghost...the Japanese really have a great way of ghost story telling and this book fits into the tradition. If you are interested in Japanese ghost stories, check out those written by Lafcadio Hearn. You will so not be sorry.

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