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- A Literary Super Virtuoso's Mind-Bending Postmodern Extravaganza
- What a Trip!
- The sound of one hand clapping
- Have a beer, virgil
- Why can't I get this book out of my head?
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Sayonara, Gangsters
Genichiro Takahashi
Manufacturer: Vertical
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Contemporary
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Naoko
ASIN: 1932234055
Release Date: 2004-04-01 |
Book Description
Here is an awesomely inventive novel about language, expression, and the creative process that courageously refuses to take refuge in pretentious inaccessibility. No literal description of Sayonara, Gagsters' plot could ever do it justice--you gotta read it to understand it.
Customer Reviews:
A Literary Super Virtuoso's Mind-Bending Postmodern Extravaganza.......2006-10-16
Yes, it is difficult to describe just 'what' this book actually is. I'm still not sure, having read it and re-read it gleefully, often accompanied with tons of caffeine, 8 times now (as of last week). I often describe the talent of Takahashi, one of the most brilliant writers in Japan today- when asked by friends what he's all about- with, "Imagine William S. Burroughs' style, but with 100 times more talent than Burroughs himself ever possessed." This book is not for the weak of imagination, nor for those who find there to be nothing new in Postmodernism, nor also is it for those who expect a work of art to be 'about' something or to 'mean' something (What is the meaning of meaning? Heidegger challenges us to answer). I must say strongly that if you greatly like the recent works of Haruki Murakami (which I more or less despise), than you will not like Takahashi's writing. Similarly, if you thought Joyce and Burroughs were meaningless, you likewise will probably think the same of Takahashi. Though I will say that his first novel, "Over the Rainbow" is even more over the top brilliant and manic than this one...I can only say that anything by Takahashi is like a trip into the wild blue yonder, you don't know what you're getting into until you're already too far gone into his bizarre dreamscape to realize that somethin' strange is goin' down...
What a Trip!.......2006-01-15
To sum up the postmodern novel "Sayonara, Gangsters", all you need is one word: weird. Take a moment to think about all that is considered normal convention for novel writing, and you will have a good idea what this book is not.
First off, the author creates a weird world in which things that are impossible are not even looked at twice by characters. The world is a bizarre mix of science-fiction and someone's diary entries. Added to that, the weird items and people, (a classroom with a desert in it, a sixth floor with a river through it, etc), and you have a mind-warping book indeed.
Secondly, the layout breaks every convention I have known about in a novel. Sometimes, you will get a few lines on a page, and that is it. You also get some pictures, a bit of manga, a section that changes tenses, changes in font and typeface, a loss of paragraphs and so on. Not only that, the language is used in some very bizarre ways.
"Sayonara, Gangsters" is a book that will change with whoever reads it. The symbolism is heavy, and the meanings are not always apparent. The characters very rarely explain the symbolic meaning of things, except with Virgil the Fridge. Other elements may even just be there to shock you out of your mindset. One way or the other, the book is not as meaningless as has been claimed.
Finally, the humour in the book is enough to elicit a quiet snicker, but not the side-ripping laughter that one may hope for. Takahashi has an unusual knack for drawing the humorous out of the completely weird.
At the end of the book, I was left wondering if Genichiro Takahashi was a novelist genius or just a certified lunatic who just happened to find a wordprocessor. I am still not sure which, but I enjoyed the book. I am not sure I want to read it again, but the experience was worth a couple of hours. Tread with caution on this one, unless you are looking for something really out in the left field.
The sound of one hand clapping.......2006-01-14
Based on the positive reviews and my general appreciation for contemporary Japanese fiction I started this book with high expectations. Yet, after a reading process that was far from unpleasant this book left me with an empty feeling that was an all too clear indicator of this book's "low caloric" contents.
Takahashi needs to be applauded for a fluid and engaging narrative of a trip on yet another road to nowhere. While from an entirely conceptual point of view the difference between real clothes and those sold to the "New Emperor" are equally valid artistic expressions, I prefer a tasty full plate from a silent cook over the discourse of a more philosophical endowed colleague that accompanies an empty one.
I will be the first to agree, that this is a personal preference. It could be argued that this literary Tai Chi represents a great attempt at putting the sound of one hand clapping on paper in an engaging narrative. Yet the writer's (possibly intentional) trickery emulates a genre that was perfected in the first half of the 20th century to which he really has little to add.
Reading this book was like watching a skilled calligrapher compose really pretty Kanji pictograms, while at the end realizing that they had no meaning.
I greatly prefer Haruki Murakami for both exquisite calligraphy and meaningful writing.
Have a beer, virgil.......2005-10-29
Similar to many of my book purchases I bought Sayonara, Gangsters on a whim. I had heard that the novel was quite surreal and unlike other translated Japanese novels available to English readers. Being wary of the hype, I picked up Sayonara, Gangsters and began reading it. I hated it. I disliked it not because of the surrealistic world that Takahashi weaves, but because of the brevity of the pages. Some chapters were only one paragraph and some were only one sentence that led to a quite disjointed read. I grew frustrated with the book and put it down after reading some fifty pages. I let a couple of days pass and picked up the book again and reread the fifty pages. Knowing what to expect, I was quite as disappointed with them the second time around. The next fifty pages were a bit of a chore as well, but after page one hundred the novel started to catch my interest, so I made my way through the remaining two hundred plus pages at a relatively steady pace.
Summarizing the novel is near impossible. It seems to be set in warped version of modern Japan. A place where four gangsters wreck havoc on individuals, robbing banks, shooting people, putting bombs in the president's bubble gum, etc., this Japan is a place where people receive cards from city hall informing them that they are going to die, where large black cats mourn the deaths of their mothers and siblings while drinking milk and vodka, and news reporters are arms with brass knuckles and beat to death experts on various issue. It is also a place where one's lover gives names. This novel tells the story of a poetry teacher named "Sayonara, Gangsters" and his girlfriend "The Nakajima Miyuki Song Book." Told in first person through the perceptions of Sayonara, Gangsters, the reader is given a detailed account of the protagonist's life. Sounding as bored as a Murakami Haruki narrator, Sayonara, Gangsters informs the readers of his love life, work at the poetry school, and his encounter with the four gangsters.
While definitely not being everyone's cup of tea, Sayonara, Gangsters is an interesting novel, but one that left me a bit empty. Was I supposed to get anything out of this novel, or was it just a trip into the bizarre mind of Takahashi? This novel created waves in Japan when it was released in 1982 and one wonders if this was because of the novel itself or because of the banality of Japanese literature at that point and time? Like many questions, this one is hard to answer, but if you like surreal literature give this one a try. It might be a little much for those steeped solely in the works of Murakami Haruki and Yoshimoto Banana, but for those of you who like Abe Kobo and Murakami Ryu, this might be right up your alley.
Why can't I get this book out of my head?.......2005-08-20
Somewhere in the middle third of this book the pieces began to come together. Amazingly, by the end, Takahashi had managed to keep the plot threads in line and actually tied up some of them.
That said, there remain more than a few ideas that are given wing, but come to absolutely no resolution leaving one with the sense an earlier reviewer noted of the work being "cutesy". Takahashi thows in a few to many off-beat thoughts that go no where because they are truly irrelevant to the story.
There is much beauty in the writing (or, perhaps, translation). The scenes of intimacy and death are all finely wrought and emotionally engaging.
Remaing after the tale are several genuinely intriguing thoughts. If there were no names, would we still name? Is communication poetry? These thoughts rattle around afterwards. Unfortunately,in what is perhaps characteristic of so much gonzo/avant garde/contemporary fiction, while Takehashi is good at raising the idea he sees no need to provide much in the way of direction let alone answers.
Customer Reviews:
Delightful.......2005-11-16
I really rejoyed this book. It was well written and charming. The book does not rely heavily on the sensual scenes. The story is so good that these scenes just add spice to an already great book. If you long to be swept into the lives of two enchanting people, I highly recommend this one. The relationship between Rachel and Mitch sizzles and there are no misunderstandings that tear the two apart for long periods. This was just the kind of romance novel I love. Wonderful characters. Characters that seem real because they are not perfect. Mitch is handsome, sexy, intelligent, but embittered by life. I am always a sucker for stories with "heartless" heroes who find their souls through the love of a good woman. Wonderful love story, great characters with an emotionally scarred hero and strong but vulnerable heroine, unique setting, intriguing plot, heart-tugging emotion, excellent writing, intense sensual love scenes, and a superb ending. The interaction between the leads was great. There is enough conflict to make the story line interesting and not so much that your left wondering why they ever got together.
Customer Reviews:
It's a good story, but the male character is too controlling.......1999-05-03
Although I liked the story, which is the first installment in the Fortune's Children miniseries, I thought that Nick Valkov, the male protagonist, was too controlling of his wife. For example, he changes the way she dresses and decides where they will live. While such behavior might correspond to his personality, it is rather disappointing to read a book in which the female character, an experienced businesswoman, allows herself to be shaped by her husband without influencing his decisions. This book also introduces sub-plots important to the mini-series.
Product Description
Multiple books shipped as one item for your convenience. Save on Shipping/Handling charges.
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Her Hired Husband
Renee Roszel
Manufacturer: Thorndike Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Roszel, Renee | ( R ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | Subjects | Books
General | Romance | Subjects | Books
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Romance | Large Print | Formats | Books
ASIN: 0263172902 |
Customer Reviews:
Great and refreshing.......2002-06-21
A wonderful story, with a touch of nonexcessive humor. Very nice.
And the refreshing part is - no sexual scenes. The story and the emotions rule the book, which sets this apart from others. I'm going to keep mine.
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Hired Husband
Manufacturer: Candid Love Novels
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000AV61SO |
Product Description
Nick Valkov was the kind of man any smart woman would avoid, but...
Product Description
Jared's Love Child: It was at her mother's wedding that Devon met the rude, arrogant and irritatiinly sexy Jared Holt. Powerless to ignore his sizzling charisma, within a few hours Devon was sharing a reckless night with him. Sleeping with a stranger wasn't something Devon had ever done before. But within weeks came the consequences of her whirlwind affair, a hasty marriage based on lust, and for the sake of their unborn baby. Marriage on Command: Lee admired hotshot Australian tycoon Damien Moore, he was a brilliant lawyer, as well as drop-dead gorgeous. But she was stunned when a legal loophole forced her to marry him, Damien assured Lee it would be temporary and in name only. But there was nothing pretend about the passion between them. They were husband and wife in public and in private. Was their marriage turning into the rel thing?The Hired Husband: Sienna Rushford desperately needs to claim her inheritance from the father she never even met, but his will states she must be happily married. The only man Sienna can turn to is Kier Alexander. She knows he needs a short-term business loan, so she proposes a deal: in return for her financial help, they will marry, temporarily. But Keir, not content with being a "hired husband," has a propositon of his own, that for the next year their marriage is real.
Average customer rating:
- very good post-apocalyptic novel
- Ageing Population
- Generally slow read, touching at times.
- One of the great science fiction classics
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Greybeard
Brian Wilson Aldiss
Manufacturer: House of Stratus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
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ASIN: 0755100638 |
Book Description
The sombre story of a group of people in their fifties who face the fact that there is no younger generation coming to replace them; instead nature is rushing back to obliterate the disaster they have brought on theselves. Was slighty revised.
Customer Reviews:
very good post-apocalyptic novel.......2004-08-15
Elegantly written for a book of this type, Brian Aldiss creates a near future world in which nuclear testing has gone awry, temporarily allowing some hard radiation from the sun to saturate the earth, destroying the ability of larger mammals including humans to reproduce themselves. There are two parallel stories, one which takes place in a sad present when the youngest human beings are well into their fifties, and the other in three separate periods gradually ranging back in time to just after the initial accident. The reader therefore sees the present in light of the turbulent events of the previous fifty years when everything began to unravel.
The two main characters, Greybeard and his wife, are immensely likeable and realistic. Unlike some of Brian Aldiss's later works, this is an old fashioned book, easy to read and well plotted. The most interesting feature of the book is the immensely sad world created by the author; what's the point to life if you can't pass on your genes to another generation?
The characters must figure that out along the way.
If you like John Wyndham's and John Christopher's end of the world stories, you're bound to appreciate this one as well.
Ageing Population.......2001-11-13
It was a book of Tim White's fantasy art that led me to "Greybeard". An illustration of an abandoned town, weeds sprouting from cracks in the road, half-ruined buildings covered in ivy - a scene typical of the post-disaster genre. I was intrigued by the premise behind it.
The explosion of radioactive weapons in space has disrupted Earth's protective van Allen Belt, saturating the planet with massive doses of radiation. This has resulted in sickness, deformity and sterility for the human race. In the years following the "Accident" civilization has been in steady decline, as there will be no more future generations.
Algernon Timberlane (better known as Greybeard) was six years old at the time of the disaster. He has grown up in a world that has become increasingly primitive and quiet as people succumb to old age or cancers caused by the fallout. By the time Greybeard is in his mid fifties he is one of the youngest people left in the world. England has become a wilderness thinly populated by tribes of old people living with untreatable ailments. Savage animals, no longer afraid of man, roam the countryside in packs. Some people claim to have seen goblins lurking in the shadows. With each passing year people grow more frail and feeble-minded.
This is the first novel I've read by Brian Aldiss, the man who identified John Wyndham with the "Cosy Catastrophe". "Greybeard" is a novel John Wyndham would certainly have approved of. The catastrophe that shaped this decrepit future is, however, far from cosy. A book like "Greybeard" would be a good way to argue in favour of the need for human cloning. It could well save our species.
Generally slow read, touching at times........1999-11-23
The story follows the lives of a small group of human survivors of a nuclear accident. The "Accident", as it is referred to, has made male humans infertile. As the surviving population slowly dies off, the remaining groups of elderly people struggle to find hope in a bleak environment. One group, led by a man called Greybeard, have lived for many years in a small, isolated town along the river. They decide to venture down the river, to seek out the truth of rumors spread by travelers that children and fertile humans still survive in isolated pockets of the land. This is mostly a dark novel, with a few moving moments, and some beautifully descriptive writing. It is short on action.
One of the great science fiction classics.......1997-10-12
One of the best of the "end of the world" books, written by one the select members of the group known as the "world destroyers" back in the fifties and sixties. I began reading science fiction before I was even in junior high, and for me, this was one of the most memorable. It is still one of the best (I can count those I would consider 'the best' on one hand). The atmosphere that Aldiss creates for us begins on the first page, in the first paragraph, in the first sentence. This book will stay with me for the rest of my life. (Several years ago, I managed to find a first edition. Now, if I could just get it signed...)
Book Description
Here under one cover are the complete texts and sketches of G. K. Chesterton's first three books of poetry: Greybeards at Play (1900), The Wild Knight and Other Poems (1900) and The Ballad of the White Horse (1911).
The poet W. H. Auden said that Greybeards at Play, "contains some of the best pure nonsense verse in English.... Surely, it is high time such enchanting pieces should be made readily available.... By natural gifts, Chesterton was, I think, essentially a comic poet."
In The Wild Knight Chesterton is asking an important question, Can someone be so evil that they are unreachable by anything someone else might do or say?
The playful humor of Greybeards contrasts with the high seriousness of Chesterton's great Tolkien-like epic, The Ballad of the White Horse. During one of the darkest moments of World War II The Times of London would quote these words from it: "I tell you naught for your comfort, Yea naught for your desire, Save that the sky grows darker yet, And the sea rises higher." They expressed better than anything else the great trials England was facing just five years after Chesterton's death."
With his great epic, Chesterton had done with English history what Tolkien would later do with his imaginary history of Middle-earth. He had molded events and place them in a new light to give meaning and purpose to history. As Chesterton would note on the epic's title page, quoting from the King Alfred of the tale, "I say, as do all Christian men, that there is a divine purpose that rules and not fate."
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GREYBEARD
Brian Aldiss
Manufacturer: Sphere
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000K5RSBE |
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Greybeard
Ronald Morley
Manufacturer: Fremantle Arts Centre Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0949206717 |
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GREYBEARD
Brian Aldiss
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000NXYNYI |
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Greybeard
Brian W Aldiss
Manufacturer: A Signet Book/ New American Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000I1L5EQ |
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Greybeard
Brian W. Aldiss
Manufacturer: Harcourt Brace & World
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B0000CMA07 |
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Greybeard (Goanna Crime Series)
Ronald Morley
Manufacturer: Bolinda Pub Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Large Print
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ASIN: 1863403108 |
Book Description
Now considered a classic among readers interested in Tibetan Buddhism and pilgrimages of the spirit of all kinds, A Journey in Ladakh is Andrew Harvey's spiritual travelogue of his arduous journey to one of the most remote parts of the world--the highest, least populated region in India, cut off by snow for six months each year. Buddhists have meditated in the mountains of Ladakh since three centuries before Christ, and it is there that the purest form of Tibetan Buddhism is still practiced today.
Customer Reviews:
some good stuff here..........2006-01-20
As far as philosophy goes this book is definitely worth the read. There are some beautiful and quite moving passages about the nature of our collective struggle to be happy in a world of pain, the beauty of a discipline such as Tibetan Buddhism, and the quite common search for an understanding of it all.
I particularly liked the part on page 104 where he writes "It takes a great courage when you are suffering to see beyond your suffering to the clear relations between things, to the laws that cause and govern your suffering; it takes great courage to be ruthless with one's griefs."
That being said, I don't think this is a perfect book. There were several things that I found increasingly troubling as I read. One was the issue of language. Harvey mentions periodically that this or that character spoke good English, but there is no cogent explanation of just how communications between all of these divergent characters worked. I found it very hard to believe that all these people spoke english as well as they appear to in the book. In fact, everyone in the book spoke english more fluently than most people I know, i.e. native english speakers. Which brings me to my second issue. Harvey appears in the book to have the ability to travel to a very foreign culture and almost instantaneously forge deep and intensely personal bonds with everyone he meets. I'm not saying this is impossible. Just unlikely. It's almost never happened to me even in my own culture. That could be because I'm a curmudgeonly and cynical guy, granted. But still it didn't seem very likely to me. I question how much of the dialogue was accurate and how much was the result of Harvey's idealized memories of his journey. It reminded me, unfortunately, of "Mutant Message Down Under", though nowhere NEAR as bad, I hasten to add. That book was dreadful. At least the first half was; that's as far as I got. Harvey's book is infinitely better, but does have a hint of the same idealization of the "spiritual, untarnished, third world wise man" in it. I've met so many people who have visited Nepal and surrounding areas who say the same thing that I guess there must be an element of truth to it. It just seems a bit simplistic.
The last thing that bugged me was how the Rinpoche was said to be so dedicated to his people that he was always exhausted from helping them, yet seemed to have all the time in the world for the author. What's so special about him? I don't know, maybe he's a tulku or something. The Rinpoche would know better than me. It just seemed to fit into a cultural pattern that I've seen too many times.
For a refreshingly different account you should read 'Amazon Beaming' by Petru Popescu, about a guy who gets stranded in the Amazon with the Mayoruna tribe. The only way he makes it with these people, the only role that's available to him in their culture, is that of a total buffoon who can't do anything for himself. Which was accurate, of course, within their context. If Harvey's experience in Ladakh was different, isn't that in itself a symptom of the Westernization which he and everyone else decries? In a culture totally unfamiliar with Western ways, someone whose life consisted of computers, cars, working for money, investing money, and travelling to distant lands on airplanes for no particular reason, would seem pretty bizarre. What role would there be for us if we hadn't created one?
But I digress.
It didn't help any to search Andrew Harvey on the Internet and discover that he's now offering tours of South India at a cost of $3700.00 for two weeks (not including airfare). Sure, I'm a naysayer and a devil's advocate, but that's my burden, not yours.
Read this book and enjoy the good parts. I definitely enjoyed it, I just thought I should mention some reservations in order to counter the all too common, five star, "ooh, unbelievable, changed my life" reviews which are a little too common these days, like standing ovations for non-spectacular performances. Well, what can you do? We live in a world where The Celestine Prophecies has sold 10,000,000,000,000 copies. Have you read that? DON'T!
ps - I really dig my "real name" attribution. That means I'm a source you can trust. I feel almost like a corporation.
A Classic "Journey to the East".......2003-03-11
Other reviewers have given a synopsis of the book, so I won't repeat it here. Also, I read an old edition without the Afterword, so didn't have to read the author's repudiation of his youth.
I thoroughly enjoyed this classic "Journey to the East" travelogue. Harvey observes keely and writes from the heart. This book is for anyone who has travelled and fallen in love with a foreign culture, or who has travelled and hoped to find a new way of being.
Beautiful,pointed marred by a biting afterward.......2000-10-11
Andrew Harvey is an excellent writer.his writings,even on esoterica,have a light touch, making them accessible to those of us without a first at Oxford. This book is a well written decrpitive early gem by Mr. Harvey.Ladakh is [was?]the last pristine place of tibetan buddhism left on the planet. Mr Harvey goes in search of it,and ,of course, himself. The results are surprising, and very well done. The early parts of the book deal with the travel,and it occasionally borders on poetry.The meat of the book,as it were,is Mr. Harvey's encounter with a Tibetan Rinpoche,and the subsequent effect on his life.His conversations with the rinpoche,juxtaposed with his nights drinking chang[the local brew]in a Ladakhan saloon, are wonderful, and make the text much more enjoyable, and less self inflating. After all of this, Mr. Harvey writes an afterward 20 years later[this is a reprint]and he seems to have been ahving a bad day.After stopping just short of accusing the dalai lama of homophobia[traced to some of The Dalai lamas remarks made in San Francisco, I think,}he pounds the tibetan exile community,brings up the patrichial setup of traditional tibetan life[from a feminist perspective],and generally gets more heated in 3 pages than the previous 220+. Odd way to end a lovely book.
A Spiritual Journey.......2000-08-30
After being advised to visit Ladakh by a number of people, traveller & writer Andrew Harvey finally arrives in the remote Himalayan region. His journey is more of a spiritual quest & is further propelled by his meeting of a Tibetan Rinpoche. He finds himself torn between his rational Western ego which is telling him that this Tibetan Rinpoche could be a fraud & giving up his former life to stay in Ladakh & immerse himself in Tibetan Buddhism.
Like any Westerner who visits such a remote region, he laments over the encroachment of the West to an ancient culture & wonders what will happen to Ladakh in the future. Wishing that he could help conserve Ladakh's unique identity, his hope is that this book will show an honest account of Ladakh, it's people & it's culture.
A brilliant book for anyone travelling on their spiritual journey.
Buddism, spiritual discovery and a travel log - in one book........2000-08-01
I read this unique book while trekking through Ladakh, India - the last place where you can see something of what Tibet must have been like before the Chinese invaded. Ladakh is the highest, most remote, most sparsely populated region in India, located on the China - Indian border in what is deemed "disputed territory." Tourists were banned until 1972, and entry into this region requires a special permit.
A Journey to Ladakh is written by a professed "half - Buddhist". It is foremost a book about spiritual discovery, and secondly a travel log on one of the world's most outback religious regions. Andrew Harvey, born in southern India and educated at Oxford, England, read all he could on different Buddhist traditions but decided to leave Oxford and return to India for one year to study Buddhism in its original form. This ultimately lead him to Ladakh, one of the last places on earth "where a Tibetan Buddhist society can be experienced".
The first part of the book is Harvey's travel journal through Ladakh. A group of my fellow sojourners plowed through the first hundred pages and finally put the book down. Comments such as "I lost interest" and "dull" were mentioned, however the book's value and true worth happens in the second half, when Harvey meets the Rinpoche ("master", "realized soul", "Buddha"). It is here, when Harvey records the wisdom of the Rinpoche, that the text shines, providing universal truths about life and its spiritual component. The tenants of Buddhist philosophy can be gleaned through Harvey's discourses with the Rinpoche ("There are no Gods in Buddhism," "There is only Emptiness - Nothingness," "To be freed from a false perception of Self is the end of Buddhism,".), but it is in the practical day to day life teachings that make this book worth reading.
The journey to Ladakh is a journey to discover the laws of the spirit, and the relationship of the spirit to those laws. What Harvey has done for you in this book is to start you on a journey . . . a journey that explores the very center of being - or in Buddhist terms the journey into nothingness. Recommended
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