Customer Reviews

Abandon the Old in Tokyo

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4 star:		(4)
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2 star:		(3)
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Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Abandon the Old in Tokyo (Drawn and Quarterly, 2006)

"The more we jam ourselves together, the more isolated we all are." I still have no idea why it is that some authors would pen a line like this and have it be utter trash, while a select few-- the redoubtable Yoshihiro Tatsumi among them-- can make it sound like the deepest sort of philosophic meditation... and get away with it.

This is the second compendium of Tatsumi's work to be published in America (the first was The Push Man and Other Stories), and all I can say is "it's about bloody time." This is amazing work. Tatsumi mentions in the interview after the stories that he was entirely unaware of the "underground comix" movement in America at the time he was drawing these stories; it's amazing that he developed independently along the same lines of thought as they did, but that seems to be what happened. Tatsumi's stories are the same kind of slice-of-life thing, but with less of a drug atmosphere and more pessimism (I want to say "nihilism," there, but it's not quite right; there is a sense of hope in some of these stories, however quickly it may be crushed). The end result is small, profoundly affecting pieces of work that command the reader to devour them. If you haven't had the pleasure of encountering the work of Yoshihiro Tatsumi yet-- and most of us in America haven't-- you owe it to yourself to make his acquaintance. **** ½

Abandon the Old in Tokyo is a collection of dark stories of the ghosts that can haunt "ordinary" city life. The people and situations seem entirely familiar in spite of the unfamiliar Tokyo surroundings and desperate, often obsessively fetishistic relationships. Tatsumi's art seems limited at first glance (many characters share the same "inexpressive" face), but he brings out an amazing array of emotions and keen observations. More than once I was reminded of Poe -- self-absorbed people caught in their own private hells. Not for the easily offended, but if you like David Lynch or Chuck Palahnuik, you'll feel uncomfortably at home.

super smart and down to earth- all the nitty gritty that most people don't see or choose to ignore as part of their actual lives, all here in hnest simplistic poetic beauty. a timeless classic for sure.

I have not read this author's work before and was interested because his stories, based upon those of the other reviewers here, seemed to present a very different atmosphere from North American writers. Despite being fully aware that the subject matter in "Abandon the Old" could be shocking, I was perhaps more taken aback by the sense that the author WAS NOT trying to shock. These stories are small, quiet, and utterly terrifying. I really hope reality is not anything close to what happens in these stories, but perhaps it is, in dark corners that we do not want to know about.

I really could not stop reading because the stories are compelling and the drawings have a simplicity that is essential to their power. I would NOT recommend this book if you're very sensitive to sad, crazy things. But who knows, maybe it will be good for you to explore why the stories in this book are frightening, and whether the world around you is any less so.

I am remaining a bit light on the details of the stories within because I don't want to give any of it away. Suffice it is to say that they are about urban life in Japan, and what happens to people who have reached the point of total despair - you will not be able to predict what happens next. These stories do not pull their punches and I warn you that at least one of them breaks a Western taboo that will not be gone anytime soon.

I'd give it five stars for impact, but I was greatly upset the rest of the evening. I know that this would mean it deserves five, but if you read it you'll see what I mean. It's beautiful and ugly.

This is a collection of manga stories by Yoshihiro Tatsumi. If you have only experience with Astroboy or the more recent Pokemon/Naruto/mecha manga this will be a surprise and perhaps not to your taste. There are no magical creatures, cyborg computer hackers, fantastic robots, ninjas or samurai. Tatsumi shows a realistic gritty dirty often sordid Japan. The people are often frustrated, disappointed and have lives lacking meaning and satisfaction. Taken together, they offer an interesting look into the oily, dirty underbelly of the normally glossy techno efficient face presented by postwar Japan. If you like more serious comics (Chris Ware, Harvey Pekar, Art Spegelman, etc.) you'll probably appreciate Tatsumi.

Tatsumi is a great artist and storyteller, so why only 4 stars?

The reason is the unrelenting bleakness of the stories. After the middle story, "Unpaid", I found it very hard to finish the collection.

Perhaps collecting these stories in one place is a mistake, due to their depressing tone. Apparently, the stories originally appeared in different places. Amazingly, two of them in children's magazines!!

I was also left wondering about Tatsumi's place in Manga, since Koji Suzuki in the introduction admits to not knowing about Tatsumi beforehand. In the Q&A at the end of the book, Tatsumi can't think of another Japanese author working in the same style.

"Abandon The Old in Tokyo" is Tatsumi's second collected edition from Drawn & Quarterly and shows a marked shift in tone from the dark, satirical humour in "The Push Man" to a much darker worldview in this book. The first thing to notice is that the pieces are longer this time around. Tatsumi uses this length to go deeper into the minds of his protagonists and the Japanese society of this time.

The title story is about a young man, torn between a life with his fiancee and a more restricted life looking after his invalid mother. Flashbacks show the mother to be neglectful of her son in his youth while she forgot to feed him and went drinking with men instead. The story ends with the young man purposefully leaving his mother in a room for several days, coming back and finding her dead.

"The Washer" is about a window cleaner whose daughter gets taken advantage of by a president of a company, leaving her pregnant and alone.

"Beloved Monkey" is about a factory worker whose pet monkey, depressed being kept in a small flat all day, is released into a monkey enclosure at a zoo and is torn to pieces by the other monkeys. The factory worker gets his arm ripped off and loses the severance money to a prostitute.

"Unpaid" features a bankrupt old man whose crushing debt and personal unhappiness leads him to spend time with a well bred dog whose teeth have been pulled out. In a shocking sequence, the two thrash about in a frenzy of misery.

"The Hole" features a young woman whose body has been ravaged by plastic surgery gone wrong and gets her revenge on men, one man at a time, keeping them in a hole until they die.

I love Tatsumi's work but having read a summary of just some of the stories here, my, aren't they bleak? I was left feeling really depressed when I finished the book. Nearly everybody in the book is wronged somehow and undergoes crushing misery without respite.

The storytelling and artwork is more confident and shows Tatsumi's skill as an artist that despite the sorrowful tone throughout that he mesmerises the reader with compelling stories.

Definitely not for those looking for a pick me up, but a brilliant comic book nonetheless. A great read if emotionally exhausting.

When I put this book down it was with a sense of "Oh Wow", sometimes you run into a book that is insightful and impacts how you view things in life. Abandon the Old in Tokyo is an amazing experience in reading, and one that should not be missed. Definitely not for kids, absolutely for adults or anyone over 18, and one of those few books that leaves a mark, even if you only read the first 20 pages.

The book is a collection of stories that cover much of what Yoshihiro has seen or drawn about in other books or magazines. The cast of stories and characters takes a look at much of the human drama, concerns and choices that people make when dealing with issues that at times are overwhelming, and at times startlingly sweet and rare. From love to incest, from failed dreams to realized success, these stories reach out to the reader and say "you have been here, you know these people, and these people are you". That is why this book is fundamentally amazing, and well worth picking up and reading.

The premise of Abandon the Old in Tokyo is to take the best work from Yoshihiro Tatsumi and condense his stories into a book format. Usually these kinds of books can be disjointed, but the editors at Drawn and Quarterly have done a great job tying the subject matter together so that the book has a natural feel when the reader is moving from story to story. You cannot help but feel that you are holding a master work in your hands, and read real human drama with real human consequences. All master story tellers help you become part of the story line; this book is no exception to that standard. I rate this book five of five stars, because you cannot walk away from this book. It is difficult to put down; it is difficult to let it go. Probably the most amazing book you will read this year, making it one of the most important books you can purchase this year.

"Abandon the Old in Tokyo" is Drawn & Quaterly's second collection of the illustrated works of Yoshihiro Tatsumi. Similar to the first volume, this book is a collection of comic vignettes that captures the grim state of 1960's/70's Tokyo, a period where Japan is on the path to hyper accelerated economic growth but not quite out of the doldrums of their post WW2 recovery. Tatsumi's stories in these books chronicles the blue-collar, under-class - the work force that rebuilt Japan but often unrecognized and unappreciated by those reaping the most benefit.

The 8 stories in this book are universally grim and bleak and the thematics range the gamut from sexual depravity, socio-economic frustrations, greed, betrayal and abandonment. If you're not in the mood for stories with such a tone then this likely will not appeal to you but if you're willing to give it a try and go in with an open mind you will certainly be in for a memorable reading experience.

I loved it at first, but when I read it once I feel I don't want to go back and reread it. I don't know, the unborn fetus thing in some of the stories *shutter* Feels cold. Beautiful but cold.