I didn't care for this book. It was competently written, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. ( )

This is a gorgeous book, though the flow is somewhat stilted and puzzling in parts, which I think is attributable partially to the translation and partially to the somewhat odd relationship between the two main characters. It's not a typical 'romance' story, and the author's treatment of the themes of death, sex and aging is fresh and engaging. Filled with both intense passion and intense sorrow (none of it overplayed) it is a fine read, though one is left wanting for a bit more in terms of length, and the characters are less accessible than their circumstances might otherwise make them if the novel was longer. Still, I would recommend this book to anyone who can appreciate both the beauty and sadness of an honest love story. ( )

Translucent Tree by Nobuko Takagi - I snagged this one through the Early Reviewers offer. I have to say I really enjoyed this one. I've read a few Japanese modern love stories and have been very impressed with them so I was eager to get this book. Like the others I have read, Takagi manages to capture a really nice blend of true romanticism with a very adult view of sensuality and sexuality. In this case, the story revolves around Go and Chigiri -both in their mid to late 40's. They meet again after a brief encounter decades earlier. Though both feel an immediate romantic attraction to each other, their heistancyto show their hearts leads them to say and do things to complicate the true nature of their feelings. The book is very poignant and beautiful. It's a quick read but packs a silent punch ( )

Chigiri first met filmmaker Go decades ago when he assisted in the making of a documentary about her father, one of a dying generation of great swordsmiths in Japan. She was just a teenager, lurking at the edges of the filming. On an impulse, the middle-aged Go returns to their town years later and seeks out the elderly swordsmith, who now suffers from the bewilderment of Alzheimer's, and Chigiri, now divorced with a daughter of her own. They are confused by the desire that strikes them both (a coup de foudre, as the French would say), so they begin to refer and joke about it in the least vulnerable terms possible: Go offers the impoverished Chigiri money on a kindly whim, and when she asks him why, he bluntly admits that he wants her. He says it in such a way, however, that rather than emphasizing the tenderness of the impulse, he equates it to the purchase of her body. Alright, she says boldly, I will sell myself to you. He wants to backtrack to a more literary route for their romance, but it is too late: they have committed themselves to the narrative of prostitution and it is only through economies of sex and cash that they can express their love.

This is a bold narrative strategy, and it provides a suitable degree of torment to consume the characters throughout the novella. As you can probably imagine, it is a jarring and not entirely satisfying novel to read. There is a minimalism here that I associate (in my very limited experience with the translated literature of this nation) with a certain school of Japanese literature, and when it is combined with the straightforward physicality of the love scenes, the result can be somewhat alienating. This might be an effect of the translation process, or it might be an intentional device of the author's. Indeed, this is a novel that refuses us any of the conventions of romantic fiction: the lovers are middle-aged and riddled with physical flaws, they are adulterers with little time to spend with one another and no prospect of "ending up together," they place their interactions intentionally in the most self-consciously debased of terms and create transcendence out of this debasement, and we see their physical and mental disintegration vividly over the course of the 188 pages of the novel. So yes, perhaps Nobuko Takagi is intentionally cultivating an alienating and alienated style.

An interesting novel, if not an enjoyable one. Quietly unconventional, while avoiding flamboyant innovation.

[This review is excerpted from a longer review on my blog, at http://sycoraxpine.blogspot.com/2008/07/another-review-this-time-of-translucent.... ] ( )

“Translucent Tree” by Nobuko Takagi is an absolutely lovely novel, albeit, a slight culture shock if the reader has not had a lot of exposure to Japanese culture. The novel centers on the love affair between Chigiri, a poor divorcée and Go, a news entrepreneur who met Chigiri when working on a story about Chigiri’s father, the local sword maker. Their paths, as implied by the author, were destined to meet, and change both of the worlds. A incredibly enjoyable read, very fast paced. Overall highly recommended. ( )