An off-kilter, darkly ironic novella from a Japanese literary star – part of Pushkin’s second Japanese Novella series. Isolated in his Tokyo apartment, seventeen-year-old Haruo spends all his time online, researching the plight of the endangered Japanese crested ibis, Nipponia Nippon. Living on an allowance from his parents, he drops ever further into a fantasy world in which he alone shares a special connection with the last of these noble birds, held at a conservation centre on the island of Sado. His conclusion is simple: it is his destiny to free the birds from a society that does not appreciate them, by whatever means necessary. With his emotional state becoming increasingly erratic, he begins to source weapons and prepares for a reckoning.
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HARUO TOYA narrowed his options down to three: breed them, free them, or kill them.
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(Pushkin Press, 27 July 2023, e-book, 160 pages, ARC from the publisher via Edelweiss)
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I tend to really like Japanese literature so was looking forward to reading Nipponia Nippon. This is one crazy book. I mean that a compliment of course. It’s quite dark at times as Haruo becomes more and more delusional and verge on the path of becoming dangerous in the grip of his intense fantasies. I also found the book funny and surreal. You are in Haruo’s head a lot, experiencing his madness first-hand. There’s something about this I really enjoyed. He swings from madness to clear eyed sanity with chilling precision. I thought this was a great book.
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