Natsuhiko Kyogoku, Summer of the Ubume

[sub_divided]

You should probably just read manticore's reviews, here and here (spoilers). But since I'm doing a bit of housecleaning around here, I'll post my notes on this book:

First in a Japanese mystery novel series which is (in)famous for the way it was originally published: Natsuhiko Kyogoku wrote the book first, then went around shopping it to publishers. Which sounds pretty normal, but I guess the standard for genre novels in Japan is for the publisher to commission an author, and to assign him/her an editor, and for the story to be serialized in a genre magazine, all before the chapters are collected into a published book? Does anyone know?

Back to the novel: the gimmick is that the "detective," Kyonyouji, is an omyouji (faith healer specializing in possession) who does not believe in god(s) or the supernatural. He DOES, however, believe in possession, which he explains in anthropological or folklore terms, with some input from the narrator, Sekiguchi, a neurologist (and extremely disturbed person). Kyonyouji is a great character - the kind you need to carry a detective series. Sekiguchi being disturbed allows the author to explore themes of perception and memory, and to withhold crucial information from the reader. Possibly Sekiguchi becomes less disturbed in subsequent books - this one was about events that happened in his past, so Natsuhiko Kyogoku might've had to go the "biased narrator" route to keep up the suspense.

The philosophical asides in this book are probably the best part. They tend to be on a wide range of topics, to present complex concepts in simple language, and to be just slightly off from the usual way the topics are discussed. And Natsuhiko Kyogoku is pretty into weird medical conditions you've never heard of, too. ^^ manticore, who is a doctor, had nothing bad to say about any of the medicine in this book. I noticed that some of the physics is off, or at least is missing the point (quantum mechanics is just a set of equations designed to more closely model reality under special conditions, there's no real greater meaning to be gleaned here).

The book is halfway between mystery and horror. I talked to my friend Joni about a book she read - can't remember the title - about a rich Japanese family that is actually a cult, and ends up brainwashing the protagonist who marries in. This book is kind of like that, but set in the 1960s, not the present day. The "old" family has always been shunned by the public, and are in some ways victims of provincial prejudice, not just creepy cultists doing unspeakable things to innocent outsiders. But in both cases you get the feeling that Japan's old aristocracy really hasn't sold itself to the public. So there are these old compounds owned by the (formerly) wealthy, and they have a reputation as being places where really weird shit goes down. In this case (spoiler, highlight to read): the people who own them are so inbred and insular they literally have freaky genetic defects and look like frogs! Someone needs better PR!

One last thing I'll say about Summer of the Ubume is that it relies a lot on conventions from anime, and will make very little sense if you don't like anime. There's "special eyes" and Chinese martial arts masters, etc. (Loups-Garrous is the same way, but better. Did I talk about Loups-Garrous? This review on amazon pretty much nails it. It's an even better book than that, though. Probably my favorite of all the books I read last year.)

Comments

[charmian]

I haven't read the other books, but actually the others aren't all told from Sekiguchi's perspective. Mouryou no Hako is 3rd person.

BTW you might try also watching the Mouryou no Hako anime. It's 13 eps. Unfortunately they haven't translated other books from that series.

[sub_divided]

Thanks for the info! Yeah, I heard the anime was good.

I wonder if being a light novel writer is like being a comic book writer or scriptwriter in the US, and you want your books to be optioned because TV anime is where the money is. I wonder if that's why there are anime-like elements in so many light novel series: not because the authors are inspired by anime, but because they are hoping to inspire one. Except that anime isn't making so much money these days. ^^ Anyway, it's just a thought.

[charmian]

I have no idea? Maybe it is, but then again, I don't know how much money they make from TV. In any case, this series also has movies based off of it.