Flo is an American living in Tokyo, she’s just broken up up with her girlfriend, she’s stuck in a bit of a rut and she's not sure if she should move back to Oregon. One day, she finds a book on the train, it’s written in Japanese and Flo desperately wants to find the author Hibiki.
Kyo failed his university entrance exams, and he goes to live with his strict grandmother Ayako in her humble house in Onomichi and she runs a small coffee shop. Kyo's mother is a doctor, so doing well at cram school is extremely important and so he can resist the exams to get into medical school.
Kyo likes to draw, he’s a manga artist and a very talented one. Kyo is to spend a whole year with his grandmother, four seasons and he’s not impressed. At first he resents living with Ayako, she’s clever and makes a lazy Kyo accompany her on her daily walks, gets him away from his phone they start to talk and he meets other residents of Onomichi.
I received a copy of Four Seasons in Japan by Nick Bradley from NetGalley and Random House UK in exchange for an honest review. Mr. Bradley’s novel is wonderful, it’s a story within a story, and it’s about family, one that's experienced a lot of tragedy, becoming part of a community, and self-discovery and you’re taken on a journey. Kyo learns a valuable lesson, his life is his own and he needs to do what he wants and it might mean disappointing his busy mother.
At first I wasn’t sure if I would like the narrative, it’s very different to what I would normally read and often I struggle to make sense of this type of "quirky" book. I enjoyed reading about Japan, it’s culture, traditions, life in a small village, how Ayako wore a kimono, I was really engrossed in the tale and wanted to know what was going to happen next between Kyo, Ayako, in the cat alley and with Coltrane aka Mick Jagger. Four stars from me, I struggled to connect with Flo’s character, maybe this was deliberate to tie everything together and a brilliant debut.