Somersault [Paperback]

Kenzaburo Oe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 8, 2004

In his first new novel since winning the Nobel, Oe makes an immense departure from the autobiographical fiction he is most famous for, in a magnificent story about the charisma of leaders, the danger of zealotry, and the mystery of faith. A decade before the story opens, two men referred to as the Patron and Guide of mankind were leaders of an influential religious movement. When a radical faction of their followers is planning to seize a nuclear-power plant, they dissolve the cult very publicly, on TV, in an act known as the Somersault. Ten years later, Patron decides to restart the fragmented movement, after the militants kidnap and murder Guide, moving the headquarters of the church into the mountains. There, with a small core of the faithful, Patron's messianic ambitions collide with his followers more violent expectations. Grand in its themes and beautifully told, Somersault illuminates the spiritual searching of modern man that makes religious cults so compelling. It is an astonishing achievement that again confirms Kenzaburo Oe's place among the world's finest writers, even as it takes his body of work in fresh and fertile new directions.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Writing a novel after having won a Nobel Prize for Literature must be even more daunting than trying to follow a brilliant, bestselling debut. In Somersault (the title refers to an abrupt, public renunciation of the past), Kenzaburo Oe has himself leapt in a new direction, rolling away from the slim, semi-autobiographical novel that garnered the 1994 Nobel Prize (A Personal Matter) and toward this lengthy, involved account of a Japanese religious movement. Although it opens with the perky and almost picaresque accidental deflowering of a young ballerina with an architectural model, Somersault is no laugh riot. Oe's slow, deliberate pace sets the tone for an unusual exploration of faith, spiritual searching, group dynamics, and exploitation. His lavish, sometimes indiscriminate use of detail can be maddening, but it also lends itself to his sobering subject matter, as well as to some of the most beautiful, realistic sex scenes a reader is likely to encounter. --Regina Marler --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Nobelist Oe's giant new novel is inspired by the Aum Shinrikyo cult, which released sarin gas in Tokyo's subway system in 1995. Ten years before the novel begins, Patron and Guide, the elderly leaders of Oe's fictional cult, discover, to their horror, that a militant faction of the organization is planning to seize a nuclear power plant. They dissolve the cult very publicly, on TV, in an act known as the Somersault. Ten years later, Patron decides to restart the fragmented movement, after the militant wing kidnaps and murders Guide, moving the headquarters of the church from Tokyo to the country town of Shikoku. Patron's idea is that he is really a fool Christ; in the end, however, he can't escape his followers' more violent expectations. Oe divides the story between Patron and his inner circle, which consists of his public relations man, Ogi, who is not a believer; his secretary, Dancer, an assertive, desirable young woman; his chauffeur, Ikuo; and Ikuo's lover, Kizu, who replaces Guide as co-leader of the cult. Kizu is a middle-aged artist, troubled by the reoccurrence of colon cancer. Like a Thomas Mann character, he discovers homoerotic passion in the throes of illness. Oe's Dostoyevskian themes should fill his story with thunder, but the pace is slow, and Patron doesn't have the depth of a Myshkin or a Karamazov-he seems anything but charismatic. It is Kizu and Ikuo's story that rises above room temperature, Kizu's sharp, painterly intelligence contrasting with Ikuo's rather sinister ardor. Oe has attempted to create a sprawling masterpiece, but American readers might decide there's more sprawl than masterpiece here.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 570 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Books (July 8, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1843540819
• ISBN-13: 978-1843540816
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,723,304 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Faith and Rebirth, April 6, 2006

By 

Bu-Chan (Aotearoa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Somersault (Hardcover)

"Somersault" by Kenzoburo Oe is an unusual novel for my own reading habits, though one that has a lot of appeal. Being interested in religion and spirituality, I was curious to see what he had to offer and say.

The novel follows a few characters, but they are all quickly joined together in the midst of the beginning of the Church of the New Man. Patron, the church's founder and leader, spent 10 years alone with his religious partner Guide, after they had done a "Somersault" and had claimed their old movement was all a big joke. The rise of a radical faction within that old movement prompted this dramatic event. It is the regathering of old followers and new that occupies much of the narrative of the book.

The book is filled with long dialogues and monologues, as characters' struggles and understandings of the Somersault, themselves, Patron, faith and God are all covered in this way. This means that monologues can run for a couple of pages as characters relate their pasts, their hopes, or Patron deals with his view of events.

It has been commented that the book lacks detail with the teaching of the movements. While the detail is rather sparse, there is enough content given to form some understanding of the main points of the church's doctrine and teaching. This develops through the book, a good example being the nature of Patron. The theme of repentance, renunciation of the world, trust in Patron, visions, prayer and so on are all there. The use of Biblical texts and some others are also there. For some more theologically minded readers, maybe more detail would have been nice, but the book certainly does not suffer for the lack of it.

Oe has dealt with a lot of different themes, and different ones will stand out to different people. Perhaps one that stuck with me was the nature of faith, and how it develops with various events and under differing external stimuli. Patrons 10 years of isolation were interpretted by the Quiet Women and others as his descent into hell, something Patron himself took up. The understanding of Patron's as somehow sacred also comes into view among different followers and their discussions.

Permeating the entire story is the Somersault like some shadow, and different groups' responses to it and the new movement come in for some heavy discussion among the various characters. The Technicians, the Quiet Women, Patron, Dancer, Ikuo, Kizu and others all have their own take on it.

I enjoyed the book thoroughly, and had a great time reading it. It is a thought provoking look into a religious movement that could be termed a cult, and the way in which people understand and develop their faith according to different events. Oe keeps things moving relatively well, and does not get bogged down in useless detail.

The characterisations are remarkably detailed, I found. They all had very distinctive personalities and idiosyncracies, which made them all the more life-like.

For something a bit different, "Somersault" is a fine read and a good story. Enjoyable to the last, I have to say that I recommend it to any who enjoy the themes that it deals with.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Oe is disappointing on his musing about religion, January 9, 2007

By 

Magi Hart (usa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Somersault (Hardcover)

A Personal Matter continues to be a favorite of this avid reader. Oe
decided to try something new and it just doesn't work. In exploring
values, beliefs he almost drills in some pretty boring characters. I
never put down a book partly read but this one was tempting.
Gad, a grind...Oe's strength is his play on words, come back master!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a novel about groups, forbearance, and religious yearning, February 7, 2005

By 

big joker (texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Somersault (Oe, Kenzaburo) (Paperback)

I just finished reading Somersault. Several interesting themes emerge.

First, on a sociological level, it seems that Oe is fascinated, even obsessed, by groups. Almost all of the characters belong to a group: the Quiet Women, the Technicians, the office staff, the Fireflies. Even the quasi-individualistic Kizu is first and foremost generically "a professor." Characters in this novel are always strongly identified with the group to which they belong. Strong individuals such as Gii emerge as leaders of a group. Is this emphasis on groups a Japanese thing, or is it uniquely Oe?

Keeping in the sociological theme, I think Oe paints Japanese society as chock full of forbearance. All the characters tolerated each other and tried to understand why all of the other characters did what they did. They all helped each other and were thoughtful to each other's needs. Nobody was mean-spirited. Even the strong-willed characters Gii and Ikuo were, at heart, incredibly nice people. Dancer was very polite throughout. Kizu was a kindly old professor. Ogi, the Innocent Youth, is the archetype example of niceness. Even the folks who tortured Guide were quickly forgiven. Is this emphasis on polite behavior, too, a Japanese or an Oe-centric thing?

On the deeper, religious level I think it was always Oe's intent to leave the religious message from Patron deliberately ambiguous. In fact, the ambiguity of spiritualism is the take-home message of the novel.

How is this manifested in the book? Well, the vast majority of the principal players: Ogi, Dancer, Kizu, Gii, Guide himself, have no real religious conviction and are just drawn into Patron's inner circle via his cult of personality or (in the cases of Gii and Kizu) for ulterior reasons. Patron himself found his own mystical experiences incredibly ambiguous. Ikuo, a truly religious and earnest man, was not able to properly define his relationship with God, either, and this caused him tremendous stress.

The last page of the novel reveals Oe's core belief, but I don't want to give the game away. Let's just say that, if you believe in a traditional God, you might find yourself shaken to the core.

There is an exciting conclusion if you can muster up the patience to get there. There is a dramatic exchange in which Patron and Ikuo do the father-son thing, and another interesting scene where 25 women go potty together. But you have to perservere to the mid page-500's before you get those rewards.

The relation between Kizu and Ikuo is well-developed. I love the way Oe left the role of Dancer in this relationship ambiguous until the end. The relationship between Gii and Ikuo is also fascinating, and at the end, Oe foreshadows that some very turbulent times are still to come between these two strong-willed characters.

The book is as much an existential philosophical treatise as it is a novel. It also offers an important sociological perspective on modern-day Japan.