A Japanese woman named Mai has retreated from her marriage and career to ride the Tokyo subway system, exposing the social pressures on women in the subway while Mia works through the trauma of a friend who committed suicide. A first novel.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Mai Asahikawa, the protagonist of this oddly affecting first novel, rides Tokyo's subway trains. She rides the rails from six in the morning to past midnight, breaking only for quick noodle-shop meals on the larger platforms. Sitting on the molded-plastic chairs, she lets her observant eye rove over the salacious billboard advertisements, the subtle merits and detractions of each line, and the behavior of others, often giving subtle attention to the differences between women and men. "There is not a rider who is not a voyeur of sorts," she notes. "Yet, if I were to suggest to that woman sitting two seats away that she was a voyeur, she would certainly insist that she was just a casual glancer, and who am I to be looking at her anyhow?" There is nothing wrong with Mai?not fundamentally, anyway. She's just a born outsider, an introvert with a murky past and an American father, which officially excludes her from Japanese citizenship. It is this lack of "cultural blood" that finally unhinges her marriage. Slowly, through little admissions and anecdotes, we learn that Mai has been living this way for a year, trying to assimilate her divorce and the suicide of her closest friend. The narrative has a pleasing caliper shape: the beginning is detailed and reflective, while the novel's final 40 pages are hell-bent for leather. In no time, Mai becomes the top suspect in a murder investigation, which is interrupted by a massive earthquake. This disaster allows Mai to put her extreme knowledge of the subway system to heroic use. Wolbers's writing betrays a patience beyond her experience; she feels no compulsion to push the pace or collect all the story's strands?which doesn't always work out to the narrative's advantage. The inclusion in the text of indistinct drawings sketched by Mai, for instance, never builds into anything more than a distraction.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Wolbers's first novel takes place in Tokyo and tells the story of Mai, the daughter of a Japanese American father and a Japanese mother. Her unusual parentage makes Mai an outsider. She becomes more and more isolated in the crowded Tokyo environs when she separates from her husband and loses both her best friend and her job. Mai takes to the subways, making notes and sketching her observations of the riders and the permanent inhabitants of the underground tunnels as well as the connecting restaurants and shops. Her own near-derelict situation becomes clear only toward the end of the novel as a series of dramatic events eventually lead to her redemption and reconnection to her family and society. Wolbers has written an unusual and effective novel. Highly recommended for all public and academic libraries.?Rebecca A. Stuhr-Rommereim, Grinnell Coll. Libs., Ia.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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