Escape from Amsterdam [Paperback]

Barrie Sherwood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2, 2007

Aozora - idle university student, future crooked bureaucrat, fresh broken heart - has been playing too much mah-jong and now he's deep in debt. When Auntie Okane dies and leaves him and his sister Mai a priceless inheritance, he thinks his problems are solved. But they're only just beginning. Mai's disappeared and he can't get the cash without her. So begins a fast-paced adventure that takes Aozora to the deep south of Japan and the surreal environs of a Dutch theme park called Amsterdam. It sounds like a holiday, but Aozora is about to enter the real world...Featuring yakuza gangsters, motorcycle gangs, a phoney princess, a genuine rice farmer, tetrapods, topiary dinosaurs, pre-digested coffee, high-tech love dolls, Aozora's own photographs and a selection of Japanese manga, "Escape from Amsterdam" is playful, offbeat, and funny. It paints an unsettling portrait of contemporary Japan and introduces a strikingly original and inventive writer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sherwood peeks into the seedier side of Japan in his U.S. debut, a clever, fast-paced noir. Aozora Fujiwara, an apathetic student at the University of Kyoto, finds himself deep in debt to a local gangster who runs an illegal mah-jongg parlor. Luckily, Aozora learns that a distant aunt has named him and his sister, Mai, as heirs of her estate. In order to redeem the inheritance, Aozora must track down Mai, who has disappeared from opera school. Aozora finds her performing as an entertainer in Amsterdam, a creepy Dutch-themed amusement park (tourists can visit Harry Potterdam and eat an Oranje Burger), but getting her out proves to be troublesome: Gondo, a yakuza boss, is forcing Mai to entertain his clients and will not let her leave. Determined to free his sister (and solve his financial crisis), Aozora hatches an improbable plan with help from some unlikely friends. Sherwood has a firm handle on red-light personalities, and his narrator dazzles as the self-aware antihero in this thriller for the Facebook generation. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Aozora Fujiwara is a student at Kyoto University, but he’s hardly a standout. He’s most interested in playing mah-jongg, an addiction that has left him woefully in debt to an unsavory chap named Uno. But Aozora is in luck. His late aunt has bequeathed him and his sister, Mai, some very valuable woodblock prints; the two need only be present at the reading of her will. Mai, alas, is nowhere to be found. Aozora eventually tracks her down in southern Japan, where’s she working two precarious jobs: one as a high-class call girl, the other at an immense Dutch-themed amusement park, where she presides as “Princess Michiko” in a popular daily parade. The joy in Sherwood’s tale is in Aozora’s madcap journey, during which he meets a slew of silly—and often sinister—souls. Among them: an oyster-shucking businessman who sells lifelike inflatable dolls and a corpulent crime boss who looks like a cross between Liberace and Kim Jong-Il. Sherwood’s hip, fast-paced debut offers a refreshingly irreverent look at life in modern-day Japan. --Allison Block --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Granta Books (July 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1862079587
• ISBN-13: 978-1862079588
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,020,042 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A well-written, entertaining and thoughful trip through modern Japan, January 14, 2009

By 

Melissa L. Crockett "M Crockett" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Escape from Amsterdam (Thomas Dunne Books) (Hardcover)

Brilliant! What a great book! I literally just finished reading it (catching breath) and I now have that empty feeling that sometimes happens after wrapping up a great novel. What will I do without Aozora in my life? I am a fairly big fan of modern Japanese novelists (esp. Murakami and Kirino) and I think Barrie Sherwood captures the oddities of the culture and people very well. I really hope that he starts to get more publicity because this story is awesome! I could totally see someone adapting it to film - it has the action and humanity that all good movies need. Basically, the book is about a hapless young guy who is aimlessly attending Kyoto University but mostly getting into gambling debt. Then it goes from there. I don't want to say any more for fear of giving to much away. Just read this book. You won't regret it.

5.0 out of 5 stars quick delivery, December 21, 2008

By 

Michael D. Mcelroy (detroit michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Escape from Amsterdam (Thomas Dunne Books) (Hardcover)

the book arrived in perfect condition, quick delivery. very satisfied
price was 1/2 or more off of what i would have paid in the retail store.

4.0 out of 5 stars engaging lighthearted farcical Japanese Noir, June 15, 2008

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Escape from Amsterdam (Thomas Dunne Books) (Hardcover)

University of Kyoto student Aozora Fujiwara has run up quite a gambling debt to local gangster Mr. Uno who runs an illegal mah-jongg parlor. However, his IOU may be covered because lucky for him his wealthy Auntie Okane died leaving him and his sister Mai with a large estate. However, a stipulation in his aunt's will causes Aozora some concern; to collect his sister must be with him. She vanished from opera school.

While the yakuza mobsters seek to break some of his bones, Aozora searches for his sibling, whom he has not seen in over a year. Clues lead him to Amsterdam (Japan not Europe) where she is performing at the strange Dutch-themed amusement park home to the renowned "Harry Potterdam". However, even there Aozora runs into mobsters as local kingpin Gondo refuses to free the indentured Mai, who owes him; besides she does not want to leave her status as a princess entertaining his special clients here.

This is an engaging lighthearted farcical Noir look at the nastier side of Japan through the eyes of a beguiling rascal who can be summed up by his self deprecating observation that women see his penis as a lobster fest. Fans will appreciate his unwanted escapades as Aozora seems to cross thugs or bores everywhere even on the bullet train. Manga illustrations and photos augment this mellow young man's run through the criminal gauntlet.

Harriet Klausner