Customer Reviews

In Search of a Distant Voice

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This is a quick and entertaining read about a Japanese company man haunted by his past and a 'voice' which continues to speak to him in his head interfering with his life.

Though most of the book is interesting, it doesn't quite add up to a complete whole. There is a large section about the protagonists life in America, but we are left wondering exactly what significance this all has with other main thread of the book: the voice he hears in his head. The book is also let down by some abrupt shifts from third to first person viewpoint which are at times, jarring.

However, this is an easy read and contained enough food for thought to keep me turning the pages. I preferred his first book translated to English: 'Strangers', however, because it was more coherent as a piece.

I really enjoyed Yamada's book, Strangers. This work, however, leaves me very confused. The basic story is that of an immigration officer in Japan, his feelings of guilt over his job, plus his moral responsibility for a terrible event that happened during some time spent in the USA some years previously. He begins to hear a voice that is apparently real, trying to contact him. But somehow, this just doesn't work for me. And I just didn't feel that the end would work for anyone. Perhaps this is a cross-cultural problem; I don't know. Having said all this, I would still like to see any other works by the author translated into English. He has a fine skill for portraying alienation and the awkwardness of the contemporary human situation.