Manchette books are always page turners and are usually funny. This one has its moments. I have read any Manchette that's been translated into English, and I will continue to do so. But this one, which has a lot of (too many?) characters and has less of the biting social critique of the other books, was kind of a bummer.
Kappa (Japanese: 河童, Hepburn: Kappa) is a 1927 novella written by the Japanese author Ryūnosuke …
An outcast escapes to a world that might make more sense
No rating
A patient in an asylum recounts his travels to the world of the Kappas, reptile-like creates from Japanese folklore. The patient meets poets, musicians, and many others, exploring the culture of Kappas. The social commentary here is interesting and makes me want to learn a bit more about 1920s Japan.
At one point, we learn that Kappas do not have the death penalty. They only need to name the crime and call out the perpetrator.
"And that's enough to make a Kappa die?"
"Absolutely. We Kappas have much more sensitive nervous systems than you do."
I loved this book. At moments, it's a very typical novel, and at others it's as if David Lynch took the wheel. The NYT review says it well:
"“Ah, a nice old-fashioned novel,” the reader thinks, gliding through the opening pages of “Carnality.” The author, Lina Wolff, begins in a conventional close third-person perspective and quickly dispatches with the W questions. Who is the main character? A 45-year-old Swedish writer. What is she doing? Traveling on a writer’s grant. When? Present day, more or less. Where? Madrid. Why? To upend the tedium of her life.
Premise established, we are safely buckled in for the ride, which rumbles along a scenic track for roughly five minutes before a crazed carnival operator assumes the controls and we take off at warp speed through loops, inversions and spins."
I am definitely going to read Wolff's earlier books, especially Bret Easton Ellis and Other …
I loved this book. At moments, it's a very typical novel, and at others it's as if David Lynch took the wheel. The NYT review says it well:
"“Ah, a nice old-fashioned novel,” the reader thinks, gliding through the opening pages of “Carnality.” The author, Lina Wolff, begins in a conventional close third-person perspective and quickly dispatches with the W questions. Who is the main character? A 45-year-old Swedish writer. What is she doing? Traveling on a writer’s grant. When? Present day, more or less. Where? Madrid. Why? To upend the tedium of her life.
Premise established, we are safely buckled in for the ride, which rumbles along a scenic track for roughly five minutes before a crazed carnival operator assumes the controls and we take off at warp speed through loops, inversions and spins."
I am definitely going to read Wolff's earlier books, especially Bret Easton Ellis and Other Dogs.
And because I'm a sucker for any moment in a book that talks about the torture of writing...
"It occurs to her that everything gets easier when she makes no attempt to write. Her should no longer aches and she no longer has to come up with topics for her columns. Somewhere deep inside her she knows she has never been a good columnist...In any case, she thinks, when you are writing you have to create the situations and the links between them yourself, but when you are living you get them for free. She says this to Mercuro, which is when he says that writing is the kind of occupation that consumes you. You pay for it with your soul, and one fine day your soul has been used up." (134-135)
Great writing, perfect for spy/mystery novel readers
No rating
This is my first time reading le Carre. I'm not not much of a mystery novel reader, but I love all of Jean-Patrick Manchette's books. After this encounter with le Carre, I learned that what I like about Manchette is his insistence on writing books about the police that are critical of the police. They mystery piece of it - figuring out the puzzle - is not my thing. But if that is your thing, le Carre is (obviously) for you.
