Customer Reviews

Bicycle Days

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I read the author's book "Reservation Road" and was blown away by it. This book was a big disappointment and I had to force myself to complete it. Having spent some time living in Japan, I enjoyed the descriptions of daily life, which are vivid. However, the characters seem to be pieces on a game board who are moved around artificially without motivations that ring true. Alternately the main character is thuddingly dull, or maddeningly self-involved. The characters around him are all very one-note, particularly the young women who seem to exist only for his pleasure. Read "Reservation Road," which is outstanding, and avoid this earlier effort at all costs.

The story of an American transplanted into Japanese society is a fascinating idea, and the author's descriptions of Tokyo and Japanese life and customs lived up to my expectations. The main character (Alec) however, seemed to be a stereotypical insensitive American, with not much feeling for anyone but himself. The other thing that got to me was the alternating of stories from Alec's childhood with the main action. It seems to be a popular technique, telling two stories in one, but it's not easy to pull off. In many of these novels, including Bicycle Days, I felt the author kept interrupting me in the middle of what I was interested in to drag me back to obscure past incidents that seemed irrelevant. As a reader I find this irritating. The only way it works is if the past story and the present one are equally interesting, or if the past contains some secret that is gradually being revealed and the author is building up the reader's suspense. Otherwise, divorced parents, loneliness at boarding school, sibling rivalry, the terrible angst of a rich WASP in New England, have been gone over so many times in so many books that this is no more than excess baggage.

This is a book of contrasts. On the one hand, it is not your stereotypical story of a foreigner lost in Japan. The primary character, Alec, does speak Japanese and we get a sight (or perhaps a glimpse) of the world away from Roppongi and Nishi-Azabu. Apart from a few quasi-errors, I thought that descriptions of time spent away from the hackneyed gaijin hang-outs was the best part of the narrative.

At the same time Alec remains rather detached from (and ungrateful towards) many of the people around him, preferring to take advantage of beautiful down-on-their-luck women and be pandered to by mother-substitutes. As a result, he is probably not the most sympathetic of main heroes. The family break-up sub-plot was rather limp but realistic enough.

However the biggest failing in the novel is the almost total absence of humour. And Japan without a sense of humour is about as much fun as the drive from Narita to Central Tokyo.

Going to Japan and spending long enough there to really absorb the language and culture was a dream of mine from my youngest days. That dream never got fulfilled, so I got this book to see what another young Yank's experience might have been like. Too bad the main character is an entitled, oblivious, morose fool. The story is a collection of various unfortunate and highly improbable social blunders, interspersed with irrelevant memories of his miserable childhood. I skipped forward, almost to the end, hoping to get to a part where he might experience some kind of epiphany or at least learn something. No such luck -- I will not be able to finish this book.

Alec, a disconnected, detached, melancholy young adult, tries to escape his family ties by moving to Japan and starting life with a clean slate. Except he can't. His awkwardness follows him and creates similar situations halfway around the world.
Alec's lack of depth is astounding. He falls for an older Japanese woman, only to realize he lost her after she declares how difficult it is to love him. There's no urgency to his feelings, just acceptance of whatever happens. And then misgivings later. Or reliance on other people's advice.
The book ends with a choice Alec makes, and one is left with the feeling that ultimately, it wouldn't have mattered what he decided.
Schwartz' strong suit in this book is creating many endearing minor characters, particularly Grandfather.
I am not comfortable with melancholy people, and do not enjoy reading about them. They bore me to tears. So to be fair to this writer, I wish to say that there are large swaths of literature that are highly regarded for which I have no patience. I might be in the minority.

I disagree with the other reviewers as to Schwartz's capturing of the Japanese portions of this book. Obviously Schwartz appears to have hit many of the images that those not familiar with Japan may have (without being stereotypical), but most of the images he evokes are not the real thing. From the start, for example, I have never known a Japanese family to host a foreigner without going to the airport to pick them up; I don't know of any bus from the airport that goes to Takedanobaba station; etc. Many of the vignettes, in fact, could have been gleaned from skimming the Western press (NY Times, Time, etc) social/cultural coverage of Japan. However, Schwartz's brief dips into scenes at a private boarding school and Ivy League college do hit the mark, making me think that he should have spent some more time doing his homework on the main setting (Japan).

Beyond his characterizations, I found the story of a fresh-faced college graduate burdened by a Freudian mother complex, depressed by his parents' divorce, and engaged in ongoing conflict with a more athletic older brother so ready for exploitation (however cliche it may appear to some) and yet, it winds up rather lackluster. The author's depiction of Alec's self-absorption -- and at the same time, self-loathing -- was set out at least half decently in those scenes where he interacts with (and often treats poorly) Japanese women.

Not the worst book of fiction written about Japan by a non Japanese, but far from the best.

Before the white foreigner in Tokyo became a common premise, this book was published. It was the writer's first novel, and I remember seeing it at the Tattered Cover (Denver's famous independent bookstore) and thinking it would be interesting to read about Tokyo and Japanese culture. This was in 1990 -- way before it became "cool" to ponder Japan (and even before we thought they were going to take us over with their televisions). This was also before there was so much hype surrounding novels, before novels were an event, or were praised for having incomplete sentences, stream of conciousness, and being full of themselves (wow, how genius!). I read this book finally a few days ago (a whole decade plus after buying it -- ooops!). I feel it was truly refreshing to read an old school, straight up novel, minus all the "look at how smart I am". It's a coming of age novel, and it was ahead of the Japan-phile curve. I think the other reviewers are kind of hard on this book (of course the narrator is selfish -- he's a recent college grad -- who isn't selfish at this stage?). The book won't change your life, but it's a good read, and you will feel sympathy for the narrator, who is trying to figure out his place in the world.

Not too bad, from a descriptive standpoint. Schwartz is very familiar with Japanese tradition and customs and introduces his readers to these concepts freely. He does a wonderful job relaying the scenes about Japan as well, from the urban chaos to to serene outskirts. Where Schwartz seems to struggle is in the character development of Alec and the supporting cast. Too many of the plot devices used to move the story along seem contrived, seemingly there to 'force' a character to react to his or her surroundings. There is an almost 'unnatural' appearance to the way the characters respond to their situations, almost rushed and forced at times. Schwartz' work in Reservation Road is significantly stronger -- take a look if you get a chance.

While the descriptions of Toyko are fluid and pictorial, scenes where the protagonist interacts with other characters seems very unnatural and forced. It reminded me of watching a movie or play, where you see an actor *acting*, rather than seeing a *character*. In the case of Bicycle Days, I couldn't get pass that fact that the writer was *writing* so I never really saw Alec as a real character. In addition, the flashback scenes didn't grasp my interest as anything unique or intriguing, although I imagine they are important to understand. I'll never know, since I put the book down after reading 75 pages.

I very much enjoyed JBS's style of writing. His insights into contemporary Japanese culture were interestingly put.I was avidly looking forward to his follow-up, but it would seem he is not writing any longer. It' s too bad.