Across the Nightingale Floor
Across the Nightingale Floor is the first book in Tales of the Otori by Lian Hearn. I actually got a pre-release proof of this book because I have fun a feudal Japan newsletter for many years and have thousands of pages on Japanese culture on my website. The story, while not "historically accurate Japanese history" is more like a fantasy novel based on Japanese culture. Think of it as a tale of King Arthur and Merlin's Magic, but set in Japan rather than in England. A blend of reality and fantasy.
So that being said, I was enthusiastic about starting it - I love fantasy novels, and I love feudal Japan. Right from the start I just kept feeling like I was forcing myself to read. It is written from the first person point of view of a young man who lives in a remote village with his "Hidden" family. Hidden is laid out very clearly to be Christians who believe in one God and who are persecuted for their beliefs. Apparently they shun even the tiniest bit of violence and are the best of all peoples. Tomasu has somehow never seen his own face even though one would assume there are pails of water around and other similar reflective surfaces. Almost immediately his family is brutally slain, tortured and he's swept away. It all seemed very cliche and black-and-white. The writing style was very bare bones. I put the book aside.
Over eight years later, the book had gotten a lot of press and positive reviews, so I decided to actually force myself to read through it and see what the discussions were about. I did find that once I took a deep breath and just accepted the writing style that the storyline did get involving - but even so I found myself continually having to overlook issues. Somehow the heroine of the story, Kaede, has also never seen herself even though she talks about fetching water regularly. Soon Tomasu is learning to read pretty much instantly and also becomes an instant super-martial-artist. I understand that people from an athletic family might have naturally good muscle structure, but training is quite another matter.
I was rather aghast to learn that this had been aimed at young adults. There is rape, torture, more torture, beheadings, the main teen character randomly sleeps with boys and girls, and more.
The religious threads seemed very biased and questionable. Characters were by and large very black and white with little real motivation. Either you loved them or hated them. Unfortunately, loved characters seem to be slain randomly without any import given to the scene. "They were hacked in half. Oh well, let's go find some sake." I do have to say that some people complained about a certain death scene involving a "kind beheading" - that is actually very authentic in Japanese culture and does have great meaning. The problem is the author did not write the scene well - therefore readers who do not have that historical background would not understand it.
I really disliked the ending of the book. It seems extremely obvious that it was set up in a "to be continued ..." manner which always bugs me in a book. Yes, the book should be open to a sequel, but you should feel like you get closure from the existing one. In this one all I felt was annoyance at the way the main character was acting.
I also felt rather annoyed by the way females were portrayed throughout the entire story. I'm not sure if the author was trying for a "realism where all female lifestyles sucked in feudal Japan" or if the author is male and just not good at writing female characters. Either way, it added to the frustration.
I did read it through, and I will read the second one only because they sent it to me as well :) Perhaps that one will improve! There are MANY other stories about feudal Japan - either historically accurate or of a fantasy bent - which are much more engaging than this one. I'd suggest stopping by your library and picking up one of the other stories if this environment is one you enjoy. This book just has too many flaws for me - and I most definitely would NOT recommend this for young adults.
Japanese Book Review Listing
Lisa's Japanese homepage
| Follow @LisaSheaAuthor | Tweet |
You Can Get Free Gift Cards For Shopping, Searching and Discovering What's Online at Swagbucks.com