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Posts tagged with ‘Japan’

INVITATION-ONLY ZONE: THE TRUE STORY OF NORTH KOREAS ABDUCTION PROJECT by Robert S Boynton

January 27, 2016

NORTH KOREA’S ABDUCTIONS of Japanese citizens, explored in historical context. Fascinating and disturbing. B PLUS

INVITATION-ONLY ZONE: THE TRUE STORY OF NORTH KOREAS ABDUCTION PROJECT
Farrar Straus Giroux
2016

Grade: B PLUS

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THE GUEST CAT by Takashi Hiraide

April 23, 2014

A SIMPLE, ELEGANT NOVEL set in a quiet Tokyo quarter traces a couple’s growing affection for a neighbor cat. B PLUS

THE GUEST CAT
New Directions Publishing Corporation
2014

Grade: B PLUS

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THE INCENSE GAME, by Laura Joh Rowland

November 3, 2012

MURDER AND COURT INTRIGUE play out against a vivid backdrop of feudal Japan; well-crafted historical whodunit.

Grade: SOLID B

THE INCENSE GAME: A NOVEL OF FEUDAL JAPAN
St. Martin's/Minotaur
2012

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A SENSE OF DIRECTION, by Gideon Lewis-Kraus

November 2, 2012

A YOUNG US WRITER’S memoir of three pilgrimages (including the famed Camino de Santiago) has wit, lacks oomph.

Grade: B MINUS

A SENSE OF DIRECTION: PILGRIMAGE FOR THE RESTLESS AND THE HOPEFUL
Penguin
2012

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PEOPLE WHO EAT DARKNESS, by Richard Lloyd Parry

June 15, 2012

THE HEADLINE-GRABBING ABDUCTION OF a young Englishwoman in Tokyo in 2000, explored in thoughtful complexity.

Grade: SOLID B

PEOPLE WHO EAT DARKNESS: THE TRUE STORY OF A YOUNG WOMAN WHO VANISHED FROM THE STREETS OF TOKYO--AND THE EVIL THAT SWALLOWED HER UP
Farrar, Straus and Giroux/FSG Originals
2012

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THE THIEF, by Fuminori Nakamura

June 9, 2012

TENSE JAPANESE THRILLER, told from the perspective of a master pickpocket at the mercy of a crime kingpin.

Grade: B PLUS

THE THIEF
Soho Press
2012

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