by Yōko Ogawa
The Diving Pool Author: Yokō Ogawa Translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder In Yokō Ogawa’s first major English translation, three stories present a brutally honest and fearless picture of obsession and desire. A cursory glance at the everyday lives of the characters presents the startlin...
She is actually quietly sadistic... O.o
These three tales offer a quiet horror, the cruelty is silent, the terror subtle, haunting us by the beauty of Yoko Ogawa's writing. She shows us individuals, unaware of a connection to their fellow beings, with no discernable anchor to the society they live in, the cruelty displayed is dislocated ...
2.5 stars, I loathed the first story.1. The Diving Pool - a bored teenage girl tortures a toddler2. Pregnancy Diary - a woman poisons her sister during pregnancy3. Dormitory - a disappearing tenant story with a novel ending
The cover, which most closely relates to the opening story, is probably one of my favorite parts of this book. The stories were well-written, with a eerie and unsettling vibe that never really panned out. I wouldn't say they were great. I do think the author is talented, so I'll probably give her an...
Ogawa deserves the Akutagawa she received, but I'm not sure about her chosen genre. The novel is it's length for a reason: a prose work long enough to capture an entire life or failing that an entire viewpoint about a human life. A short story gives one brief effect or emotional trick, without any a...
Well, if I ever want acid indigestion, I know just the book to turn to. I've been very lucky this past year with contemporary Japanese authors, and Yoko Ogawa has been one of the top on that list. This novella features three standalone stories, all united by recurring themes. In each story, the main...
This is the second book I have read by this leading Japanese author. After recently reading her wonderful book “The Housekeeper and the Professor” I started looking for her other translated works. This is a collection of 3 novellas, all marked by her simple elegant prose. My favourite was the tit...
Strange, peculiar stories... certainly makes you think to understand them.Proper review to come...
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