樱树抽芽时,想你!

Title: 樱树抽芽时,想你
Author:歌野晶午
Translator: 蔡憶雲
Publisher：商周出版

It has been a while since a book has this ability to surprise me. And what a surprise. The clues were laid throughout the book. Yet, one is still resoundingly astonished at the end. Its like being hit by a thunderbolt when the light is cast and the seemingly impossible facts revealed one by one.

I finally understood why the novel opened with that quote from famed chinese writer Lin Yu Tang:

人生的黄金时代藏在未来的老年里,
而不藏在过去的青春和天真的时期.

扮鬼臉

Title: 扮鬼臉
Author: 宮部美幸
Publisher: 獨步文化 出版

Another Miyabe novel that I cannot help but love. It is at once a historical play, a family drama, a ghost story, a crime thriller. Yet, the spirit (or should I say spirits?) of the entire story is about love and tenderness.

A young girl coming of age, poised between childhood and womanhood. A young soul with the sensitivity to see beyond into the metaphysical. She sees ghost. But there is little fear involved. Instead she develops affection for them and they reciprocate.

Aptly titled "making ghost faces", this novel is set in the historical capital city of Edo. It evokes nostalgic longing for a time long past, a time when life was simpler. Miyable brought the past to us in a tale that appeared to be juxtaposing romance, revenge and love. Yet, the twist at the end tells us this novel is all that and more.

Title : Deeper
Author: Jeff Long
Publisher : Atria Books

I first read Jeff Long's The Descent, the prequel to Deeper many years ago. It took a while for the story to settle in before I truly understood the parable. Then I read his Year Zero which I actually like.

And now came Deeper. Aptly titled for Long has certainly gone deeper. Not just underground. But in pursing the barely concealed track of politico commentary and his literally obsession with the devil. And I suspect China. Why else single out China as the only country to mention in a novel besides the United States. This is not a horror thriller, its a politcal horror book.

A dark book and not just because the protagonists were mainly underground.