Смерть клерка

by Fiona Campbell, Фиона Кэмпбелл

Fresh, original and subtly funny, this astonishing debut novel brilliantly captures the fast-changing culture of Japan and its surreal underside in this engaging portrait of an ordinary man battling with the contradictory demands of contemporary life.

Genres: Japan, Fiction

Hardcover

First published March 29, 2007

Reviews

[Sergei_kalinin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Место действия - современная Япония. ГГ - "маленький человек", маркетолог в крупной телекомпании. Его увольняют. Новую работу не найти. Дома - двое детей, "пилящая" жена, вредная тёща. Казалось бы, вот он жизненный кризис и вот она и смерть от безысходности...

Но нет! Смерть тут является метафорой: книга про то, как клерк придумывает идею супер-популярного реалити-шоу, становится главным продюсером этого шоу, зарабатывает миллион, обретает своё место в жизни.

Книга = история успеха обычного человека, просто верного своей идее и старающегося никому не делать зла. Он достигает успеха как бы случайно, без понтов и самомнения, тихо и честно. Фишка книги - именно в обычности, обыденности, простоте ГГ :)

Книжка очень позитивная, местами есть смешные моменты (особенно из внутренней "кухни" продюсирования реалити-шоу :)).

[Derek Baldwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suddenly pushed out of his job-for-life, Kenji gradually builds a new life for himself in reality TV. The character of Kenji's wife was an implausibly unpleasant cardboard cutout, and several of the other characters were poorly drawn and just seemed to be pushed around into various shapes to suit the plot, which isn't all that cop anyway. Not a bad book, and Kenji is a nice chap who deserves a bit more joy in his life, but to describe this as "astonishing" or "brilliant" as the reviews quoted do is just wrong.

[Julie Martz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible book written by someone who obviously understands nothing about Japanese culture. Though it's clear that she had been to Japan, evidenced by her unbalanced overly-detailed descriptions of a few key places in the book, I wonder if she actually ever talked to a Japanese person while she was there. It's disappointing examples like this that clearly illustrate why wanna-be writers should stick to what they know.

[Aby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought food: We are more than our jobs/salaries. if one is nothing(existentially) without the "job", then "you're fired!".

Why it lacks a star and a half-star and of my usual five: realists might pounce upon the apparent westernish Japan. Lack of research perhaps, but it is fiction and thus forgivable(for me). Another is the usual rushed ending, as if the events happen without rhyme nor reason.

end of review attempt.

[Penbot]

Poorly researched novel. [return]Couldn't finish it - too many mistakes about Japan and Japanese life.

[AL · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars for effort, because she wrote a book but I haven't managed!

I'm sorry, but this book sucks. It is clearly written by one of the many people who barely spent any significant amount of time in Japan, yet believe they know everything about the country. As someone who lives in Tokyo I just couldn't get past all the many, many inaccurate details. For example, you very rarely see Japanese people using napkins. Many restaurants don't even give you any napkins unless you ask for them. There were many other details that are completely inaccurate.

For some reason almost everyone in this book seems to have a weight problem. hhmm.... Does the writer have a weight problem and so needs to make her characters overweight? There's nothing wrong with people's weight, but that's just not real in Tokyo. People here are obsessed with being thin.

But even if I didn't live in Tokyo and couldn't spot the inaccuracies, the story itself is, well, stupid. The things that happen are just too stupid to be believable. Mix that in with cultural inaccuracies and I don't think I can finish this book, and I certainly cannot recommend it to others.

[Ari Sharp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haiku Review:

Carefully observed
Portrait of an every-man
Who strikes it lucky.

[Yuli · Rating 4 out of 5]

After 22 years of dedicating himself to a TV corporation and exactly on his 40th birthday, Kenji Yamada was fired. His life changed drastically from then on. No, to be exact, his life actually begun the moment he became unemployed. Throughout his journey of searching for a new job, he met people (some odd) who indirectly helped him become the person that he would one day become. He went through a series of bad luck (I was almost in tears reading this character's misfortunes), but somehow managed to end up just fine. If you're a salary person yourself, and have been wanting to change the course of your life, this might be just the book of inspiration for you. If not, it is still worth reading. Kenji's transformation from being a normal salaryman into someone else completely different will keep you transfixed to the very end.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing journey of a salaryman and his life ionce he loses his job, sime lovley characters and insight into the japaese culture

[Effi Lerch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Der Arme tut einem so leid und dann hat er endlich Glück, da tut er einem och mehr leid. Aber dennoch tolles Buch. Verlieren mit Charme :D