2011 Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

(photo source)

I can't remember where I was when I first heard about the tsunami and earthquake in Japan in 2011. I know I was in France somewhere, probably too concerned with my immediate surroundings (ie, going to art museums and drinking wine) to worry about breaking world news. I do remember seeing images of whole buildings swept away by fantastic waves, resulting in towns that used to exist but no longer do.

Today is the anniversary of when the gigantic storm first hit. The nearest major city to the earthquake's epicenter was Sendai. I don't remember this name from news coverage back then, but I know it now. Coincidentally, I finished reading Ruth Ozeki's newest book today, A Tale for the Time Being. At the risk of violating critical ethics and saying too much before my official review, this was the most inspiring, brilliant page-turner I have read since Teju Cole's Open City. In short, it involves a woman in a small town near Vancouver who discovers a diary that washes up on shore from a girl in Japan, presumably killed in the 2011 tsunami. The book investigates time, fiction, quantum mechanics, and ecology all in one ambitious, but immensely gripping and satisfying story.

I have no real connection to Japan, but the more I read, the more interested in it I become. While Ozeki was born in America, half the book is from the point of view of a Japanese teenage girl, who uses many Japanese phrases which Ruth translates for us. Between this, recently reading Out, and Haruki Murakami in the past, it is definitely a culture of literature I need to explore more. And to find out if cats find their way into being a major character in every single Japanese novel or if this has just been a coincidence between the three.

In wake of such tragedies, it is always moving to find the ways humanity endures. One of my favorite art blogs, Colossal, posted today about an 88-foot tall sculpture that represents one remaining pine tree that survived for a year and a half after the storm hit. 

52 Books 52 Weeks

Uh oh. I'm falling behind. Shit. Ok. Here's a recent recap.

(5a. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

I know I know I know. I'm not counting this one for my 52 book count. It was a quick read of short memoirs published posthumously. I started it since I was reading a lot about the modernist period, and Hemingway not only has some great passages that give insight into his first marriage, but to Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald as well. Not to mention Paris in the 20s was no doubt a magical time of creativity, so much so that even the seemingly innocuous or simple stories are downright inspiring within that setting and Hemingway's use of language as a 1-2 punch to bring his point home.)









(Full reviews for Pow! and How To Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia are on Frontier Psychiatrist: Don't Speak, Tell...)

6. Pow! by Mo Yan (finished February 8th)

Last year's Nobel Prize winner in literature has been under much criticism. Since he is a Communist Party member, other Chinese writers and artists say he is not true in his words, and he has been criticized for not speaking out enough for jailed contemporaries. He responded to many of these allegations in his first interview since winning the prize. As for the story itself, it weaves contemporary with traditional themes, in a tale that focuses around a family that works in a slaughterhouse. Bathed in dark humor and magical realism, the alternating timelines and vulgarity of the book made for an unexpectedly fascinating read. The ending was unfortunately a bit rushed, but Yan had me in his grips all the way leading up to then. As disappointing as the end was, the rest of the novel was enough for me to want to check out his earlier works. 





7. How To Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid (finished February 12th)

This is the third novel by Pakistani born Mohsin Hamid. As its title implies, it reads as a how-to book, and can be read as one character's life over seven decades, or various storylines happening simultaneously. It was a quick read, and danced between a light-heartedness as well as uncovering the harsh reality of trying to better ones place in "Rising Asia." While the setting is most likely inspired by Hamid's native Lahore, it never specifically mentions it. The book was good overall, but something about the quick pace of it leaves me wanting more, and not necessarily in a good way. What I do appreciate about the book is its attempt (inadvertently, I'm sure) to break the barrier between First and Third World Issues, when so often they are the exact same thing.





 8. Out by Natsuo Kirino (finished February 25th)

Whoa, this was a fucked up book. Four women work the night shift at a boxed lunch factory, and all struggle in their personal lives. One with a family that ignores her, one who has to take care of her own senile mother, one who's husband leaves her after a dramatic fight, and one who ends up murdering her husband. This last woman gets the help from the other women to help her out, but cutting up the body into tiny pieces and disposing of it in various places around the suburbs Tokyo. Between reading this and recently watching Lost in Beijing (a film banned in mainland China, which involves the lives of two Chinese couples dealing with the consequences of rape and infidelity), not to mention the previous two books, my head is reeling in how seedy, dirty, and unethical the entire continent of Asia is. I jest of course, but it was certainly eye-opening, surprising, and an intense cerebral experience to take in all of this in a short period of time.