關於莉莉周的一切

by Shunji Iwai, 岩井俊二, 王華懋 (Translator)

I wanna be
I wanna be
I wanna be just like a melody……

14歲的我們戴上耳機聽著莉莉周，
她在約翰‧藍儂遭殺害的這一天誕生，
在她舒服的歌聲擁抱下，天空便接近了，原來──
在這裡，我自由來去
在這裡，我可以是我

莉莉周出生於一九八○年十二月八日。
這個日期一字不差，正是約翰‧藍儂遭到查普曼槍殺的日子。
可是對我而言這個巧合沒有意義；
對我而言，重要的是這一天、這一刻，莉莉周誕生在這個世上。
故事由此揭幕──

Genres: Japanese Literature, Japan, Fiction

328 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2001

About the author

岩井俊二

Reviews

[Mizuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

All About Lily-Chou-Chou is a movie directed by Shunji Iwai; later he also turned the story into a novel. At first I thought the novel version would be a movie-tied-in, but thankfully I was wrong.

Lily-Chou-Chou (inspired by Chinese pop diva Faye Wong) is the name of a mysterious singer, whom is being viewed by her diehard fans as not just a diva, but also a prophetess and/or a goddess. The diva is frequently mentioned and quoted in the book but she never shows up as a character, instead All About Lily-Chou-Chou focused more on a group of teenagers chatting on internet chat-rooms and fans' forums; at the center of the story there also is a murder mystery: one year ago a high school boy was stabbed to death in the middle of the crowd during a Lily-Chou-Chou's concert, and the fans now want to solve the mystery.

However, the author didn't intend this novel to become a traditional mystery novel, the identity of the killer is revealed in the middle of the book and then we go back in time before the murder took place and learnt what had really happened to those teenagers; and revealing the reasons why the murder had to take place. I suspect the author is more keen to reveal the fragility of relationship/friendship than solving the murder mystery. Mr. Iwai also revealed how a certain group of young people are unable to find anything to relay on, they can find nothing to ground themselves.

Years ago I watched the movie first, so I have no problem following the plots, the movie version of All About Lily-Chou-Chou is poetic, graceful and moving with a sense of loss and deep sadness always lingering around. On the other hand, the novel version of the story begins one year after the murder of the teenager took place, the first 1/4 of the book is in the form of chatroom's conversations, we are treated with different people chatting online about Lily-Chou-Chou, her music (I really enjoy how the mentality and different personalities of fans are being revealed) and the mysterious disappearance of a few certain active fans. Then after the murderer's confession we learn actually what happened before the murder case took place.

The book has it own share of flaws, though. The main character is weak and he never stands up against the bullies. That's my main complaint against this book.

Remark in Chinese: 岩井俊二的電影《All About Lily-Chou-Chou》，曾令我見識過如何用映像和故事來表達何謂生無可戀…

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

網路貼文的形式意外地不會難讀，為我心中的中二成分多給一個星星，看重映之前的暖身（？）。

[Lily Liu · Rating 3 out of 5]

并没有很习惯看这种论坛形式的叙述 推理部分比较少 甚至可以说是为了推进故事进展而存在的（只是为了开始讲Satie的故事）
而主角和死者的故事就是恶劣的霸凌故事 雖然我蠻想知道死者是怎麼爛掉的 可惜以主角的視角可能並沒有辦法闡述
整個故事用大量的莉莉周的歌詞和「以太」進行包裝 然而我並沒有辦法很好的感知 絕大部分都是跳過 對於為什麼要刻意使用「以太」以及全篇和莉莉周的關係…我覺得其實就是主角喜歡莉莉周 喜歡使用自己理解世界的詞語去描述
總的來說我並不是很喜歡這種描寫 對我來說元素過多 又並沒有處理好 有推理的部分 有霸凌等社會議題的部分 有網戀的部分 有挑戰了比較新奇的寫作手法比如論壇或歌詞 但是我覺得太雜了 讓我並沒有辦法很好的與角色共情或是跟進劇情

[Junesann · Rating 4 out of 5]

人类，不会飞翔。