Nick Bradley (1) (1982–)

'Four Seasons In Japan' is a rich, complex yet accessible and engaging book. The language is simple but vivid. I found myself slowing my reading to savour the images and emotions in the same way that I linger over perfectly drawn anime frames.

It was immersive in a different way than I'm used to. Instead of dunking me abruptly into a strange world and throwing stimuli at me until my senses were awash with the place, this book invited me to take a seat for a while and focus on all the small details and slow but inexorable changes that define a person or a place. It was calm without being passive.

The story structure was elegant and engaging. It had a shape that added cohesion without feeling plot-driven. Flo's experience as an American working as a translator in Tokyo provided a Western-style narrative thread on which Nick Bradley hung perfectly captured moments of memory from the memoir Flo is translating. The story starts with Flo, who was feeling a little jaded, discovering an obscure memoir that speaks to her so powerfully that she feels a need to translate it even though she has not yet found the author. The memoir takes place over the course of a year and is split into four seasons. We get to read a season before returning to Flo for a while and then getting the next season.

Starting with Flo made the story accessible to me. She provided a foreigner's view of living in Japan. As I listened to the challenges she faced both in translating the memoir and finding a place for herself in Japan, I was helped both to see the differences between American and Japanese culture and to build empathy with the Japanese people which reminded me of how much we have in common.

The memoir sections provided a change in pace and style. The memoir tells of a year in which Kyo, a young man who, to his great shame, has just failed his exams in Tokyo, goes to live with his fierce grandmother, Ayako, in the small coastal town of Onomichi, while he attends a cram school. We watch as the two of them try to find a way to live with one another while each of them struggles with shame and grief that neither of them wants to talk about. What follows is a slow disclosure and discovery by Ayako and Kyo of who each of them is and what they may come to mean to each other. Relatively little happens in the story but it is filled with strong (largely unexpressed) emotions that produce both anxiety and happiness.

In between the sections of the memoir, Flo reflects on some on the challenges of finding the words that accurately express in English the meaning of the Japanese text. As I came to understand more about translation, I started to see it as something needed not just between people who speak different languages but between all of us who want to understand each other's experiences.

I was totally immersed in the emerging relationship between Kyo and his grandmother. Yet even as I became invested in what would happen to them, I was aware that my imagination was engaged less with considering what would happen next than it was with taking in the vivid but fleeting moments that created and sustained the relationship.

Returning to Flo's narrative, which at first had provided me with a sense of accessible normality, felt jarring after the time spent with Kyo and Ayako, in the same way that a familiar city can feel suddenly crowded and alien after a long time spent in the country.

'Four Seasons In Japan' was one of the books I've enjoyed most in 2024. The story and the people were memorable, the writing was a pleasure, I learned some things about Japan and I was given a lot to think about.

I recommend the audiobook version of 'Four Seasons In Japan'. It was a joy to listen to. Hanako Footman's narration was pitch-perfect. Her tone captured both the gentleness of the storytelling and the grief that permeated much of the content. Her narration also helped me take in the Japanese names, words and phrases more easily.… (plus d'informations)

Here is a collection of short stories. But not stand-alones. Each one, mainly set in Tokyo references characters who may well turn up in another story, in an entirely new context. Only the cat weaves his or her way through the lot. First person, third person, manga, 'translations from the Japanese' by Fay Dunthorpe, who like other characters will appear in Bradley's next book, 'Four Seasons in Japan': all these are grist to Bradley's mill. Serious themes are tackled: loneliness, sexual assault, the deliberate cleansing the streets of the homeless, in time for the Tokyo Olympics and this lends the book a touching and often surprising quality. By the time I finished I realised I'd read not a batch of short stories, but an ingeniously constructed novel… (plus d'informations)

There are parts of this book that totally felt like Nick has taken Ghostwritten and number9dream, put them both in a mixing bowl, threw a calico cat in and stirred them all together.   Which is not a bad thing as they're both excellent reads, and, as it turns out, so is The Cat and the City.   Although, having said that, Nick does have his own writing style and the underlying theme of the story is completely different.

This is one of those reviews where i feel i can't say as much as i'd like to say without giving away the book's ending, which is a bit annoying, both for me and, i imagine, anyone wanting a review.   So i'll just do my best without ruining it for anyone: i'm sure if anyone wants to have it ruined by reading a more in depth review they'll soon find one somewhere on the internet.

At first this is what appears to be a collection of short stories, however, each is interconnected by a calico cat and various characters that keep appearing around various parts of Tokyo. Slowly, over time, a back story begins to coalesce.

I wouldn't put this down as an easy read because you do have to keep track of some of the characters who randomly appear -- and their relationships -- add to this that most of the characters have Japanese names and it becomes a bit of a challenge.   Then there's the Japanese terminology that is peppered throughout, for which most of us will need to stop occasionally and use "Look Up".   All in all it is quite a challenge but it is well worth the investment if you have the sort of mind that likes reading books that require you to make a bit of effort.   If, however, you like your stories spoon fed to you by mother at bedtime then i would probably not bother as you'll probably just end up getting totally lost, confused, annoyed and ultimately blame a really good book for your own failings.

One could ask why is all this chaos necessary?   I would suggest that it's meant to portray Tokyo and it's metropolitan area of 37,468,000 people, all passing on the streets, trains, taxis, etc.; pretending to ignore each other while obviously being continually affected, being extremely polite while ultimately suffering inside, and being so distant from each other while being so very near.

Anyway, like the two David Mitchell books, mentioned above, i really enjoyed it and if you do make the effort i'm sure you will to as it's a great story spread out all over one of the world's greatest cities.… (plus d'informations)