Evening Clouds: A Novel (Rock Spring Collection of Japanese Literature) [Paperback]

Junzo Shono (Author), Wayne P. Lammers (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Rock Spring Collection of Japanese Literature | Publication Date: April 1, 2000

A masterpiece of quiet lyricism against a backdrop of change and renewal

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This episodic novel, originally published in Japan in 1964 and appearing for the first time in translation, scrupulously observes one family's experiences getting used to a new home atop a windy hill near Tokyo. As the three children and their parents discuss the intricacies of buying a new desk, or deal with curious centipedes and residential developers who threaten to destroy the surrounding landscape, they accustom themselves to the trials of moving and the necessity of accepting change as the only constant in life. Each section revolves around the observations of father Oura, whose character is loosely based on Shono himself. Oura describes without embellishment even the most banal events of daily life, like grating yams for soup and the children preparing for their midterm exams. Such quaint aper?us of domestic routines, along with prolonged descriptions of harvesting gingko nuts and buying a sake vat, offer nothing but themselves. Shono's aim is to write about only what he has experienced, offering up placid slice-of-life realism. None of the vignettes, nor the novel itself, build to a climax or end in revelation. Simple, occasionally platitudinous conclusions are drawnA"there's no telling what you can learn by keeping your ears open"; "of all the things we come to know in this world, there is ultimately nothing that does not pass on." Shono's diary-like observations do not resonate or transcend the immediate narrative, but the quiet, innocuous narrative engages readers with details of Japanese domestic life. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This series of vignettes focusing on the fictional Oura family was originally serialized in a Japanese daily. A subtle collection of episodes, it gives readers a glimpse of the idyllic country life through the eyes of the Ouras, who have just moved from Tokyo to a small house atop a nearby mountainside. Shono treats us to the simple pleasures of making yam soup, catching dragonflies, eating ripe red pears, and transplanting wild flowers into the family garden, as each family member delights in a different aspect of nature. Shono's writing conveys the flavor of life lived fully and the peaceful stillness found when one is happy with where one is at any given moment. Not even an invasion of stinging centipedes, the threat of a typhoon, or an encroaching housing development farther down the mountain can spoil the Ouras' happiness. Writing in a simple, honest style, Shono uses the everyday details of rural life as metaphors for the growing love the Oura family members feel for one another. Bonnie Johnston
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: Stone Bridge Press (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880656485
• ISBN-13: 978-1880656488
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,201,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars unlike anything else, September 24, 2000

By 

"kroyma" (Murfreesboro, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Evening Clouds: A Novel (Rock Spring Collection of Japanese Literature) (Paperback)

Evening Clouds is an incredible book that should be read slowly. This is not the kind of book to stay up all night with; the tranquility and closeness of the Oura family should be enjoyed over a week or two. Once reconciled to the idea that nothing "exciting" is going to happen, the reader can sit back and savor the beauty that may or may not exist in his own life. A person leading a particularly stressful existence would benefit from a few weeks mentally on top of a windy mountain in Tokyo with a loving wife, three adorable children and ample time to work in the garden. The only threats to peace are that developers are encroaching on the surrounding hillside and the children are growing up; this hint of sadness in an otherwise happy novel makes it a perfect reading experience.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful!, November 13, 2007

By 

M. Ambastha (New York City, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evening Clouds: A Novel (Rock Spring Collection of Japanese Literature) (Paperback)

There are some books which stay with you after long you are done reading them and Shono's "Evening Clouds" is one of them. With haiku-like prose, and an almost Zen like approach, Shono narrates the day to day happenings in the life of Oura, a guy who moves to a new house on the top of a hill with his wife and 3 kids. The beauty of the book lies in the fact that while nothing really "happens", the reader can really connect with the family and feel life's rhythms in the written word.
This book is meant to be read slowly and savored without rush and haste.
Also, somehow after reading the book I felt that it gave me the same vibes as "My neighbor Totoro" by Miyazaki. I think that is because both are about families moving to a new house set among trees, wind and babbling brooks. And because both touch you in the same way, with the warm fuzzy feeling that I cannot begin to describe.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Family Ties on Tokyo's Outskirts, September 26, 2006

By 

Crazy Fox (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Evening Clouds: A Novel (Rock Spring Collection of Japanese Literature) (Paperback)

This is one of the most uneventful novels I've ever read. No drama, no storyline per se, no extraordinary characters, no deep symbolism to speak of, and devoid both of extreme emotional impact and pseudo-sophisticated postmodern detachment. Sounds boring, right? Wrong, strange to say. "Evening Clouds" consists of a number of loosely-related episodes that focus on the little day-to-day happenings in the life of a fairly ordinary family (okay, the father is a self-employed writer, so not exactly representative per se) narrated in a manner that, while straightforward and deceptively plain, is quiet, thoughtful, and engaging. At first the episodes and images seem random and disorganized, though with a little attention one catches on that most of them in some way or another suggest the family's transplantation to a new location and its gradual maturation there. Shono unfolds this theme according to organic rather than strictly linear organizing principles, and does so with an eye for detail and a knack for making the quotidian suggestive in a warm-hearted though unsentimental fashion, all of which slowly grows on the reader. It is almost as if Shono has taken the old abandoned prewar "I-novel" with its autobiographical fixation and confessional tone, subtracted out the weak points and hackneyed aspects (such as the impulse to drag oneself through the dirt), and refined it anew into a concoction of his own that actually is a joy to read and savor.

Lammers' translation is top-notch, catching the casual tones of the novel nicely, and the secondary materials he has appended to the work are short and to the point, doing a fine job of introducing this fine author and his novel to the English reader without impeding the novel from speaking for itself.