On Edge...

In Japan, when a person mysteriously disappears they attribute it to kamikakushi. Kamikakushi "most often takes place in the springtime, usually at dusk. Before the disappearance takes place, a strong wind always blows. If the person who is spirited away is lucky enough to return home, he or she never retains any memory of where he or she has been. Naturally, that leads people to concoct all sorts of explanations for the mysterious experiences."

Saeko is a free-lance journalist whose father went missing in 1884. Now, eighteen years later, she and TV director Hashiba are investigating several new disappearances. What do these missing persons have in common? They all disappeared near an active fault line on a day with unusually high sunspot activity. That's not the only strange phenomena occurring; the value of Pi has mysteriously changed overnight, and it looks as if the stars are starting to disappear one by one.

"If the world as we know it ever begins to collapse, then our first signal would be a small shift in mathematics."

Koji Suzuki's novel Edge is not only unusual, it's unusually cool. As Saeko and Hashiba begin to put together all the pieces of this puzzling mystery, it just gets stranger and stranger. But I think that's why I liked it so much. There's a little bit of everything in this novel from number theory to quantum mechanics. Saeko's relationship with her father is also a key component. There's so much to this novel! It's complicated, haunting and completely unique. Suzuki does a masterful job of creating tension out of nothing. And you'll never guess the ending.

Happy Reading!

 

A Tale For the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

I'm not sure how to describe this book.  On the surface, it looks straightforward and simple, but there are layers and overlaps to this story.  (Think Schrodinger's Cat.)  I've never read Ruth Ozeki before, but I'm glad I stumbled onto this book when I was at the library.

It begins with Nao Yasutani, a 16-year-old Japanese teen, and her diary; she is contemplating suicide, but wanting to write the life story of her great-grandmother, Jiko, first.  Jiko is a Zen Buddhist nun who claims to be 104.  She teaches her great-granddaughter what it means to be a time being.

"A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and every one of us who is, or was, or ever will be."

Then there's Ruth, a middle-aged Japanese American woman living on an island in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, Oliver.  One morning she finds a red Hello Kitty lunchbox washed up on the shore.  In the lunchbox?  Nao's diary.

Here's where the overlapping begins:  between Nao writing her story, and Ruth reading it.  They are years and miles apart, yet somehow their lives intersect.  I loved how Ozeki intertwines their narratives. Talk about creative. And so well-written. This is an unexpected, and unique novel; one I won't soon forget.

 "If you do decide to read on, then guess what?  You're my kind of time being and together we'll make magic."

Happy Reading!