Here's the url to a review of, TOKYO YEAR ZERO, by
David Peace.
In the New York Times book review of last Sunday:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/books/review/Sorrentino-t.html?pagewanted=1
This looks about as noir as they get, I think rara-avians
might be interested in it because the review notes:
"While contemporary crime writers are capable of more than
tossing new garnishes on the dish known as "noir," too often
the mystery today seems ossified, its authors still working
changes on precendents well established in the middle of the
last century by the good firm of Hammett, Chandler, MacDonald
& Co."
He adds later:
"The resulting effect owes little to Raymond Chandler -
Peace's masters would seem to be Dostoyevsky; postmodern
collagists like William S. Burroughs and Kathy Acker; and
practitioners of the French nouveau roman like Alain
Robbe-Grillet, who borrowed from the conventions of American
detective fiction to draw the reader into the ratiocinative
process."
And concludes:
"While Peace implies that the fragile renaissance of Japanese
society in the months after the nation's surrender relied
upon formal behavior and conventions, which offered a way for
a damaged people to maintain honor and dignity as they
adapted to the humiliations and indelible changes brought by
occupation, he also suggests that such behavior obscures
much: at the heart of the novel is the strong insinuation
that Kodaira's crimes - and Minami's own secret
- offer the more telling glimpse of the human soul."
This doesn't seem to be my kind of book--for whatever reason
I'm not crazy about foreign settings--but as I said, it sound
about a noir as book can get. It's about a serial killer and
is based on a true, post-WW II case.
(Someplace on the NYTimes site is also the first
chapter.)
Jack Bludis
http://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JackBludis
http://jackbludis.com/
Recent Story at http://backalleywebzine.com/
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