Book Review: Revenge

Title: Revenge (Goodreads)
Author: Yoko Ogawa
Published: Picador, January 29, 2012
Pages: 176
Genre: Short Stories
My Copy: Advance Review Copy

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

An aspiring writer moves into a new apartment and discovers that her landlady has murdered her husband. Years later, the writer’s stepson reflects upon his stepmother and the strange stories she used to tell him. Yoko Ogawa weaves together a collection of short stories to create a haunting tapestry of death.

While this is a collection of short stories, Yoko Ogawa has managed to link each story with the last with recurring images and motifs. Apparently this is an old tradition from classical Japanese poetic collections. This is an eerie and very sinister novel but there is a real beauty within it too; not just in the writing, but in the imagery. Yoko Ogawa takes the reader on a clever journey of life and the afterlife.

I love what Ogawa does in this book, not only looking at the human psyche but plays with it a little to mess with the mind. From the very start of this book, I was planning my next dip into the world of Yoko Ogawa, I was hooked and I wanted to explore her writing more. It was just the combination of beauty with the sinister tones of the stories that really worked for me.

If this book is anything to go on, Yoko Ogawa is an amazing writer; showing the reader the beauty behind the dark and disturbing. Each story is macabre but the best part of the entire book is the way the stories link together and the beautiful tapestry Ogawa weaves. Highly recommended for lovers of short stories and the dark and disturbing, you won’t be disappointed by how Yoko Ogawa captures your attention.

My Rating:

http://twitter.com/MargReads Marg Bates

I quite liked one book I read by this author. I might look for this one at the library.
- http://literary-exploration.com/ Michael @ Literary Exploraiton
  
  I want to read more, I hope the library has some of her books
Tony

This sounds good – still waiting for my copy I did pick up a cheap second-hand copy of ‘The Diving Pool’ the other day though
- http://literary-exploration.com/ Michael @ Literary Exploraiton
  
  I hope it gets there soon
Parrish Lantern

This is one I want, thoroughly enjoyed The Diving Pool & The housekeeper & the Professor
- http://literary-exploration.com/ Michael @ Literary Exploraiton
  
  I can’t wait to read more of her writing
http://twitter.com/C14Sonia Sonia C

I love short stories. This one sounds particularly wonderful. If you get the chance I highly recommend reading ‘A Village After Dark’ by Kazuo Ishiguro. It’s been posted at the New Yorker here (http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2001/05/21/010521fi_fiction). I think it’s beautiful.
- http://literary-exploration.com/ Michael @ Literary Exploraiton
  
  Sounds good, I will try and get a hold of it
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