Customer Reviews

The Summer of the Ubume

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I found about the Kyogokudo series through a recent anime called Mouryou no Hako, the second book in the series. The Summer of Ubume is the first.

I found the pace of the book to be rather slow in the beginning chapter, but once the investigative work started up, I couldn't put the novel down. I read a good majority of it in two days times.

His character Akihiko Chuuzenji purports, "There is nothing strange in this world." The author, Natsuhiko Kyogoku, attempts to meld what is considered supernatural with the real world. He writes about a post-WWII modernizing Japan that still holds traditional superstitions such as possessing people with spirits. The lectures given by Chuuzenji often attempt to debunk the idea of spirits as the cause of a particular misfortune or explain certain phenomena like clairvoyance as something very real and of this world. It can be heavy at times, but the theories that he throws out are interesting and makes one think.

I would recommend this novel to people who enjoy the mystery genre but are not faint of heart. The truth behind the case is rather gruesome and disturbing, and the author does not mind detailing it. It is also a look into Japanese folklore and spirits, a whole different culture.

I hope that Vertical Inc. will be able to translate the whole series, as this series is like nothing I've encountered before.

Natsuhiko Kyogoku's Summer of the Ubume is smart simply because it that's what it is. It crams the ancient with the old and deftly drops it within modernity and watches as the two tear each other apart. The fight that transpires is an intellectual hail-storm of brilliance.

This book is one hell of a read. While it may not be as popular as some of the more mainstream literature of the day it is well worth the time of anyone looking for a deftly translated saga with a wonderful plot.

However, because of all of the time and energy required to translate these glorious epics (there are 9 in the Kyogokudo Series, I believe) Vertical needs a great deal more copies to sell before they can even begin to consider translating further volumes. If you have any interest in horror, drama, or thriller novels don't hesitate to pick this up. I will make you think and I really can't recommend this highly enough.

Please buy this book, while different from what fills the print medium today, it is a glorious tale that proves that a good story can and does come from all parts of the world.

Natsuhiko's other work can be seen in Moryou no Hako (Box of Goblins) and Requiem from the Darkness (aka 100 Stories) both are wonderful and serve as a further chance to Marvel at the wonders of good storytelling.

However odd and confusing The Summer of the Ubume may seem at first--indeed, the plot is slow and steady--the style makes one feel as though it is you who is being chastised by Akihiko "Kyogokudo" Chuzenji not the main character and narrator, Sekiguchi. And as unendearing as that may seem, it provides a depth to this novel that otherwise might not have been there. And with that depth, it carries a certain responsibility in the reading. I suggest that if you are easily suggestible, or easily scared, don't read it at night.

The supernatural is as "real" as the human mind allows it to be, and things always seem so much more real at night.

An ubume is the spirit of a woman who dies pregnant. Grieving for her dead child, she's always on the lookout for live babies to steal. She's having a field day in The Summer of the Ubume.

It's 1952, and Tokyo is still recovering from the war. Rumor says that several babies have gone missing from the Kuonji obstetrics clinic. Rumor also reports that a Kuonji daughter has been pregnant for twenty months! And her husband has vanished!

It will take a bevy of detectives to penetrate the multiple mysteries of the Kuonji family:

TThere's Enokizu, an eccentric visionary hired by a Ryoko Kuonji to find her sister's vanished husband. Then there's Kyogokudo - bookseller, Shinto priest and part-time exorcist who applies his penetrating intellect to the case. Then we have the narrator, Sekiguchi, depressive hack journalist with a mysterious desire to serve Ryoko. And finally there's Kiba, an actual police detective.

Early on, Kyogokudo lectures his friend Sekiguchi on reality vs. illusion. My attention frankly flagged after twenty-eight pages of this. But finally the pace picked up, and the plot became positively gothic, encompassing demons, deviants, possession, repression, colorful psychological aberrations and arcane herbal drugs. Amazingly, the author explains it all in terms of science, psychology and logic.

This is not my favorite Japanese novel. It's too over-the-top for my taste, but this very quality will appeal to many other readers. There's no doubt the book is inventive and original. And I did admire the author's passion for mischievous supernatural creatures. Natsuhiko Kyogoku is an expert on Japanese folklore.

The Summer of the Ubume is the first novel by Natsuhiko Kyogoku, and is the first--alongside Loups-Garous--to get an English translation. Although the plot veers between the supernatural/theological and a noir-influenced mystery, the novel itself feels ambitious and unusual to read. (His later novels are award-winning, notably the next in the series, Moryou no hako, as well as Requiem from the Darkness, which some anime fans may be familiar with.)

Although it has been noted that the opening chapter can be long and somewhat tedious, readers with an interest in the Japanese mythology (specifically the eponymous Ubume, a relatively unknown spirit in the West) or sociological effects on local superstition, will likely enjoy the section quite a bit.

Regardless, once the plot kicks in, it's very close to a page-turner, while retaining the cerebral qualities that make it stand out. It is a difficult book to recommend sight-unseen simply because I don't think it will appeal to *every* reader, despite being an excellent and gripping read. I suggest that interested readers who are unsure as to whether they will enjoy it, try to read a sample section and see if it seems interesting.

I do promise that if readers get past the opening section, that the mystery is actually quite engaging and I'd imagine very few people will figure it out in its elaborate entirety.

As a note, Vertical has done a lovely job of retaining the feel of the Japanese, while making it also a pleasurable read in English. It is not, I imagine, an easy task, given the density of some sections. They have also kept/added editorial footnotes sparingly, when needed to explain a particularly Japanese term or custom. Their thoughtful translation has kept even a plot-critical misunderstanding based on Japanese characters, and they have been able to make it comprehensible to all readers without completely localizing the misunderstanding (which would have been the only other option). Overall, a really admirable job on a challenging text.

Disclaimers aside, I highly recommend this book for those who are used to a more deliberately paced thriller, and especially those who enjoy a philosophical challenge, alongside that of a mystery.

This isn't exactly a popular title to be translating into English, and the subject matter should have made it an automatic rejection at the publishing house. Let me get this straight... this is a book about obscure elements of the Japanese occult... described for dozens of pages on end with exacting historical detail and explained via psychology and philosophy of the mind... and this detailed backstory almost takes up more of the book than the mystery itself? Who would read it?!

Well, under the hands of an able translator, this book is not only readable but quite exciting. It's an extremely memorable read and makes you think differently about paranormal stories. It's definitely a modern tale that appeals to one's skeptical instinct while still cranking up the suspense and the stomach-wrenching horror. Pick it up.