The Island of Bicycle Dancers: A Novel [Hardcover]

Jiro Adachi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2004

Love, sex, death....and English as a foreign language.

The Island of Bicycle Dancers is the coming-of-age-story of twenty-year-old Yurika Song, a Korean-Japanese woman who comes from Japan to New York City for a summer to work with her Korean relatives and improve her English. Yurika's friends back home have always joked that she is half-sushi/half-kim-chi. But cross-Asian ethnicities turn out to be far less jarring than her introduction to New York life, the world of bicycle messengers and the street culture in which they thrive.

On one level this is a splendid tale of mistaken love-Yurika falls hard for an attractive, but dangerous, Puerto Rican bicycle messenger nicknamed "Bone." But on another, deeper level, our heroine finds freedom in this new language, which to her "is like a huge octopus, very clever and sometimes hard to catch but with so many wild and beautiful writhing limbs."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A 20-year-old Korean-Japanese woman comes to New York City to work at her Korean uncle's grocery for one dramatic summer in Adachi's sometimes awkward but energetic debut. Yurika Song is supposed to be improving her English-and giving her parents back in Kawasaki a break from her rebellious behavior-and she promptly does so by immersing herself in the subculture of the city's bike messengers. Yurika's education evolves from banter with the sweaty messengers, who impart slang and expletives as she rings up their juice purchases, to breakfast lessons with her cousin Suzie, a party girl who works in a nail salon but aspires to more. She becomes close friends with Whitey, a particularly sensitive messenger whose affections she doesn't return. Yurika must also contend with her disapproving aunt, Hyun Jeong, a flat, wicked-stepmother figure, as well as an erotic affair with Hector, aka Bone, a troublemaking Puerto Rican messenger with little to redeem him but smoldering good looks and "long, dark muscles like a wild animal." The half-Japanese, half-Hungarian author spent time as both a bike messenger and a teacher of English as a foreign language; he portrays badass messengers and Yurika's linguistic struggles with equal facility. A triple-tiered finale of tragedy and violence overwhelms the most rewarding thread of the novel: Yurika's fascination with the English language, "a huge octopus... with so many wild and beautiful limbs writhing about" and her gradual assimilation into a new and heady culture.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In a first novel that shows both daring and skill, Adachi depicts two New York subcultures rarely featured in fiction: Korean deli workers and bicycle messengers. The exuberant English of Yurika, a Japanese Korean girl sent to live with relatives to learn the language, the rigid traditions of immigrant family life, and the dangerous, sometimes violent world of bicycle messengers are brought together in a mix as exotic and diverse as Manhattan's Lower East Side, where this book is set. Yurika learns about risk and excitement, love and values. Her naive determination to understand everyone and everything has an impact on her relatives and their deli's customers. One messenger befriends her, while she is attracted to another, a conflict that results in tragedy but that also allows Yurika to grow. In spite of a pat ending, richly and gracefully drawn characters and a keen ear for street language show Adachi's great promise. Danise Hoover
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (February 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312312458
• ISBN-13: 978-0312312459
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,605,035 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Enjoyable and Unpredictable Read, February 7, 2004

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Island of Bicycle Dancers: A Novel (Hardcover)

It is said that the best way to really learn a language is through immersion. By relying on the language for your everyday survival, you can completely internalize and understand it, and use idioms and slang. In his novel THE ISLAND OF BICYCLE DANCERS, Jiro Adachi builds on this basic idea and presents a tale not only of language and culture but also of family, friendships, sexuality and self-awareness.

A unique take on both coming-of-age stories and immigrant stories, Adachi's novel centers on Yurika Song, a twenty-year-old woman from Japan who is in America for the first time, ostensibly to learn English. An aimless, lazy young woman, Yurika finds herself in New York City with her Korean relatives. Working at their convenience store under the watchful eye of her resentful aunt, she begins to learn American English from the customers and neighbors she meets every day. She also becomes friends with a group of bicycle messengers who frequent the store; she is fascinated by their slang and attracted to their rebellious lifestyle. As she becomes close with one messenger in particular, she is drawn to another one who she often sees riding by.

Whitey, an eccentric messenger with a smile full of crooked teeth, is immediately smitten by Yurika. She loves his use of language and his openness. They become friends, and Whitey shows her a magical New York City. However, as Whitey's feelings for Yurika grow stronger and stronger, she begins a highly charged affair with Bone, a messenger considered an outsider even within the messenger subculture. As things between Yurika and Bone heat up and tensions arise between them and Whitey, their misunderstood relationship is the catalyst for tragic violence.

Suddenly Yurika's American experience is torn apart at the seams. She must face painful loss amid growing family tensions. Just as she must come to terms with the truth about her relationships with both Whitey and Bone, she must finally confront the truth about her choices in the past and her relationship with her family.

THE ISLAND OF BICYCLE DANCERS is full of interesting and well-written characters. Yurika's culture shock in New York easily could have overtaken the story, but Adachi wisely wrote her emotional growth as the most important component of the story. The book could also have been overcome with details, as there are several interesting story lines --- but again, Adachi controls his story and characters with a seemingly natural ease.

This novel is an enjoyable and unpredictable read. Yurika is surrounded by many teachers who most unwittingly guide her in her transformation from a selfish and unmotivated girl to a thoughtful and driven woman. Her transformation does not happen easily; her maturity and independence are hard-earned. Adachi is successful at blending this realism into a story that is also concerned with the magic and mystery of language.

Written with an uncommon sensitivity, Adachi's debut is all at once about love, friendship, sex, language, family, immigration and growing up. Yurika is a likeable though realistically flawed protagonist, and is a great vehicle for Adachi's intelligent and insightful style.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A multicultural coming of age story, March 23, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Island of Bicycle Dancers: A Novel (Hardcover)

Imagine going to a country in which you do not speak the language. Your parents have sent you to live with your aunt and uncle to prevent the "bad" influences from your own country from affecting you. When you reach this new country you quickly find the only relief you have from an overbearing aunt is the bicyle messanger gangs that roam through the city and learning the slang language that they speak. Throw in a case of mistaken love, a death of a close friend, learning a new language, and most importantly who you are and you have discovered the beautiful story the The Island of the Bicycle Dancers by Jiro Adachi. I highly recommend this to adults and older teen readers.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Promising Debut, February 4, 2004

By 

"gaimanreader" (Natick, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Island of Bicycle Dancers: A Novel (Hardcover)

An uneven, but enjoyable debut by Mr. Adachi!

This coming of age story centers around Yurika Song, a half-Japanese, half-Korean young woman who comes to New York to stay with her Korean relatives. Exiled to America by her exasperated parents due to her wild lifestyle back in Japan, Yurika works at her uncle and aunt's deli and soon becomes friendly with the bike messengers who come in daily.

Adachi has a wonderful style of writing. With a few choice words, he throws you into the fast-paced, liberating world of bike messengers, the quiet rapture of Yurika's love of the English language, and the mean-spirited, claustrophobic life of Yurika's aunt. Plotwise, the story lags after the first half, but I was driven to finish nonetheless and eagerly await the next book out of this author.