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Trinity, Trinity, Trinity
Gamle i en demenslignende tilstand der stikker af fra deres hjem, suger næring af neongrøn radium, samler radioaktive sorte sten, danner et netværk af soloagenter, og strømmer mod De Olympiske Leges åbningsceremoni …
Trinity, Trinity, Trinity er spekulativ fiktion. Den følger tre generationer af kvinder i deres forsøg på at navigere i, og komme til en forståelse af, fortidens, nutidens og fremtidens konsekvenser af atomkraft, og ikke mindst den allestedsnærværende, usynlige og uhåndgribelige stråling, der løber som et fællesnarrativ gennem den moderne japanske historie. Den udspiller sig over et enkelt døgn – dagen for åbningen af De Olympiske Lege 2020 i Tokyo (2021), men det er atomulykken i Fukushima (2011) der er dens egentlige afsæt.
Trinity, Trinity, Trinity er spekulativ fiktion. Den følger tre generationer af kvinder i deres forsøg på at navigere i, og komme til en forståelse af, fortidens, nutidens og fremtidens konsekvenser af atomkraft, og ikke mindst den allestedsnærværende, usynlige og uhåndgribelige stråling, der løber som et fællesnarrativ gennem den moderne japanske historie. Den udspiller sig over et enkelt døgn – dagen for åbningen af De Olympiske Lege 2020 i Tokyo (2021), men det er atomulykken i Fukushima (2011) der er dens egentlige afsæt.
252 pages, Paperback
First published October 25, 2019
21 people are currently reading
2911 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
June 7, 2024
Trinity, Trinity, Trinity is a book about the intergenerational effects of radiation on people. When you think about the words nuclear or radiation, you may think of Chernobyl and North Korea, but Japan has been one of the countries hit with more radiation issues: nuclear weapons, the focus on nuclear power to avoid relying on other countries, Fukushima… Erika Kobayashi sees this and creates a story stemming from a fictional disease named ‘trinity. Trinity is a disease in which individuals become confused (like some sort of dementia) and then obsessed with inserting radiative items in their bodies (and not only orally 😩).
This is one of those books with a great concept but a not-so-great execution. I understand why the book has polarizing reviews because I understand all the 1 stars and all the 4+ stars. It’s great commentary on the ‘birth’ of the world’s obsession with nuclear power and what it does to people with a sci-fi twist. The story in itself is a bit of a dark slice of life in which we see a family with a grandmother (or is she a grandma? 👀) afflicted by trinity. Yet the book in itself is sort of a mess and confused. I did enjoy reading it but it became weirder as it progressed, I did not like the twist about Cerberus and the one about the ‘grandma’ wasn’t too surprising (I don’t know but I sort of guessed early on).
Great commentary and a cool concept but a confusing execution.
I don't think I'll read Sunrise: Radiant Stories, but it's a collection of interconnected stories about the same thing (intergenerational effects of radiation on people) by the same author. So if someone reaaaaally enjoyed this, there's more!
(PS. and yes, there is a little reference about the word Trinity making a character think of Matrix lol).
This is one of those books with a great concept but a not-so-great execution. I understand why the book has polarizing reviews because I understand all the 1 stars and all the 4+ stars. It’s great commentary on the ‘birth’ of the world’s obsession with nuclear power and what it does to people with a sci-fi twist. The story in itself is a bit of a dark slice of life in which we see a family with a grandmother (or is she a grandma? 👀) afflicted by trinity. Yet the book in itself is sort of a mess and confused. I did enjoy reading it but it became weirder as it progressed, I did not like the twist about Cerberus and the one about the ‘grandma’ wasn’t too surprising (I don’t know but I sort of guessed early on).
Great commentary and a cool concept but a confusing execution.
I don't think I'll read Sunrise: Radiant Stories, but it's a collection of interconnected stories about the same thing (intergenerational effects of radiation on people) by the same author. So if someone reaaaaally enjoyed this, there's more!
(PS. and yes, there is a little reference about the word Trinity making a character think of Matrix lol).
May 13, 2025
Japan's citizens fascination towards nuclear is an understandable one. This is still the only country to be nuke, not once but twice. Then there's the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, a recent disaster that took place during the modern times. I can understand why Japanese author and visual artist Erika Kobayashi has had an ongoing fascination with the subject matter. Still, as someone who lives in a country without nuclear power or in the receive end of one, the fear of nuclear disaster or termination seems too distant and abstract for me.
It's hard for me really comprehend the "plot" of this novel and I'm not sure if it's a lost in its translation issue a lot of the integral part of the story's structure are a jumble mess of treatise about radiation and terrorism. The book follows a family through the course of the day via three unnamed protagonists though a large chunk of the novel is from the point of view of the mother. There’s the grandmother who is lying in a hospital bed, a mother whose thoughts are within the plight of the world in the lead-up to the Olympics, and a 13 year old daughter who loves goth music. That's the simple and frankly the serious part of the plot as what lies underneath it is laughably silly but the novel took it seriously. In the world that Kobayashi has forged is that the old folks are becoming terrorist with symptoms popping up when it's time.
Beyond the fear brought about by nuclear power at the wrong hands however, Trinity, Trinity, Trinity doesn’t have much of a point to it. In between the skeletal frame of this fear of nuclear, there are a lot of oddities sprinkled in between while the Olympics 2021 event subplot are unnecessary.
The only thing that saved it from an outright DNF is the prose which was a high point. It was very beautiful but still, I wouldn't really recommend this novel and I'm baffled with the acclaim it received.
It's hard for me really comprehend the "plot" of this novel and I'm not sure if it's a lost in its translation issue a lot of the integral part of the story's structure are a jumble mess of treatise about radiation and terrorism. The book follows a family through the course of the day via three unnamed protagonists though a large chunk of the novel is from the point of view of the mother. There’s the grandmother who is lying in a hospital bed, a mother whose thoughts are within the plight of the world in the lead-up to the Olympics, and a 13 year old daughter who loves goth music. That's the simple and frankly the serious part of the plot as what lies underneath it is laughably silly but the novel took it seriously. In the world that Kobayashi has forged is that the old folks are becoming terrorist with symptoms popping up when it's time.
Beyond the fear brought about by nuclear power at the wrong hands however, Trinity, Trinity, Trinity doesn’t have much of a point to it. In between the skeletal frame of this fear of nuclear, there are a lot of oddities sprinkled in between while the Olympics 2021 event subplot are unnecessary.
The only thing that saved it from an outright DNF is the prose which was a high point. It was very beautiful but still, I wouldn't really recommend this novel and I'm baffled with the acclaim it received.
December 21, 2021
Many thanks to NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for an advance copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Trinity, Trinity, Trinity is an interesting novel that traces the history of radiation starting from its discovery to the development of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy, as well as the Fukushima and Chernobyl disasters, interwoven with the narrator's daily life which is threatened with a new kind of terrorism as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics prepare to open at the background. This new kind of terrorism emerges when the old people start to terrorize and threaten the lives of the people around them by carrying radioactive black stones and listening to these stones to hear them whisper stories about how radiation was discovered, and so on. Kobayashi successfully describes and criticizes the dangers of nuclear plants and how nuclear weapons and radiation ruined and horribly ended many lives using an unusual way of narration. Throughout the book, we're confined in the mind of the narrator, forced to look at everything subjectively, which misleads the reader from time to time. As I said before, it is an interesting novel, the kind you can get a clear idea only by reading it.
Trinity, Trinity, Trinity is an interesting novel that traces the history of radiation starting from its discovery to the development of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy, as well as the Fukushima and Chernobyl disasters, interwoven with the narrator's daily life which is threatened with a new kind of terrorism as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics prepare to open at the background. This new kind of terrorism emerges when the old people start to terrorize and threaten the lives of the people around them by carrying radioactive black stones and listening to these stones to hear them whisper stories about how radiation was discovered, and so on. Kobayashi successfully describes and criticizes the dangers of nuclear plants and how nuclear weapons and radiation ruined and horribly ended many lives using an unusual way of narration. Throughout the book, we're confined in the mind of the narrator, forced to look at everything subjectively, which misleads the reader from time to time. As I said before, it is an interesting novel, the kind you can get a clear idea only by reading it.
May 11, 2022
This is a really quick, but really unique read. The story brings together the history and legacy of nuclear power with three generations of women in a small family during the beginning of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. Old people in Japan have begun to pick up black radioactive rocks and listening to voices that compel them to commit acts of terror, generally related to exposing others to high levels of radioactivity. Kobayashi focuses on one family, beginning with an unnamed narrator who wakes up in a sterile room with no memory of how they got there. As the story goes on, we are bounced between narrators within the family as buried memories and connections are unveiled. The writing captures a propulsive sense of dread that keeps you turning the pages.
I really enjoyed how Kobayashi pushes different dynamics together in this novel. She creates a layer of mysticism around nuclear power while also speaking to the practical dangers it poses—both as a producer of power and a weapon for mass destruction. And within all of this, there is a strong focus on family, generational memory, and femininity. This is a novel that may be an easy read, but one that will leave you puzzling over it for awhile.
Thanks to Astra House Books and Netgalley for the advanced digital copy!
I really enjoyed how Kobayashi pushes different dynamics together in this novel. She creates a layer of mysticism around nuclear power while also speaking to the practical dangers it poses—both as a producer of power and a weapon for mass destruction. And within all of this, there is a strong focus on family, generational memory, and femininity. This is a novel that may be an easy read, but one that will leave you puzzling over it for awhile.
Thanks to Astra House Books and Netgalley for the advanced digital copy!
Read
August 6, 2024…Trinity, Trinity, Trinity is something like a next-step in Japanese atomic literature. It is a chronicle of radioactivity, beginning with the inadvertent discovery of uraninite, more commonly known as pitchblende, in Saint Joachim’s Valley during the 15th century. Uraninite itself speaks of that discovery through an elderly person in its own voice, as translated by Brian Bergstrom:
I was in a deep, dark hole beneath the soil…
But one day, someone dug me out, and I was brought into the light.
Men came and dug me out…
Shiny, black, worthless.
Not only that, but the men began to suffer a mysterious malady.
Their lungs would weaken, their bodies would drag, they would bleed without stopping.
Was it this worthless stone, they wondered?
Was it me?
They began to despise me, call me pitchblende.
Accursed stone.
Accused.
The narrative goes on to connect the discovery of uranitite with Marie Curie, the Nazis, and the development of the atomic bomb.
The atrocities at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the advent of nuclear power in Japan come together in the actions of an elderly terrorist who distributes ¥235 million contaminated with radiation—the same amount of money the Diet approved to develop nuclear power capabilities after the end of World War II. (According to the novel, that number itself was chosen itself to correspond to the isotope uranium-235 used in the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.)
As the 2020 Olympic torch moves through Japan, it passes through the J-Village National Soccer Training Center in Fukushima which once served as the base of operations during the 3/11 disaster…
Read the full review at Asian Review of Books.
I was in a deep, dark hole beneath the soil…
But one day, someone dug me out, and I was brought into the light.
Men came and dug me out…
Shiny, black, worthless.
Not only that, but the men began to suffer a mysterious malady.
Their lungs would weaken, their bodies would drag, they would bleed without stopping.
Was it this worthless stone, they wondered?
Was it me?
They began to despise me, call me pitchblende.
Accursed stone.
Accused.
The narrative goes on to connect the discovery of uranitite with Marie Curie, the Nazis, and the development of the atomic bomb.
The atrocities at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the advent of nuclear power in Japan come together in the actions of an elderly terrorist who distributes ¥235 million contaminated with radiation—the same amount of money the Diet approved to develop nuclear power capabilities after the end of World War II. (According to the novel, that number itself was chosen itself to correspond to the isotope uranium-235 used in the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.)
As the 2020 Olympic torch moves through Japan, it passes through the J-Village National Soccer Training Center in Fukushima which once served as the base of operations during the 3/11 disaster…
Read the full review at Asian Review of Books.
Read
January 10, 2022This is a really strange book that touches on varying issues in Japan, from the 2021 Summer Tokyo Olympics, to nuclear trauma from Hiroshima, Fukushima, an aging population, and loneliness to name a few. I feel like there's a lot to unpack in this small, yet dense book. Sadly, in the instance of this book, I feel like my knowledge of Japanese culture and history is lacking in being able to fully appreciate the intersections in this book. I do think it is a book worth reading and exploring if you're interested in Japanese current events and Japanese culture/history.
January 8, 2022
An electrifying atmosphere pervades the whole of Japan as the nation gets ready to host the 2020 Olympics. Gaiety and euphoria envelop an eager populace. However there is a frightening phenomenon that threatens to hurl sand in the gear. The bane of the accursed stones. Following the horrendous Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear meltdown, a strange spectacle has gripped the elderly of the nation. A multitude of them have begun scouring for black shiny stones that are commonly called 'pitchblende'. Pitchblende, also known by the name uraninite, is a mineral comprised mainly of oxides of the element uranium. The mineral is black in color, like 'pitch'. The term 'blende' comes from the German miners who believed it contained many different metals all blended together.
When held close to one's ear, strange voices are heard and the person holding the rock begins to wax lyrical on complicated topics dealing with Uranium, Nuclear fission and the like. The spectacularly inexplicable sight of an illiterate old man holding forth on the properties of Uranium and the mining sites such as Jáchymov and Karlovy Vary in Prague, renders onlookers both stupefied and scared. Crazed individuals tightly grasping black stones in their palms also make a break for the now abandoned and shuttered buildings of the nuclear reactors at Fukushima. A nonagenarian even assaults and injures a few policeman and a truck driver before running amok and settling before a building modelled on the house of one of the world's greatest Physicist and Chemist, Marie Curie. Hammering away on the door of the empty structure the woman is finally 'tackled' by the security guards and hauled away.
Erika Kobayashi's "Trinity, Trinity, Trinity" to be released in June 2022 is neither an ecological thriller nor a run of the mill whodunit. Instead it is the rumination and lament of a divorced middle aged woman, the mother of a chirpy teen obsessed with a black metal band called "DEATH BE NOT PROUD, and the daughter of an infirm lady confined to her bed after a fall. The book explores conflicts and contrasts in human behaviour and the ways of the world at large. While, on the one hand there is the barely uncontained excitement surrounding the Olympic games, on the other hand lies the unspoken but inevitable elephant in the room. Thus even when people are hollering and cheering the Olympic torch relay, they are driven to the edge of panic when they see an old man holding a shiny, slick and black object in the carriage of a moving train. The offending object ultimately turns out to be a bar of chocolate.
The heroine of the book herself leads an existence veering between angst and acceptance. When not installing and servicing water purifiers, she seeks temporary refuge in the unseen underbelly of Cybersex. She is also forced to grapple with the plague of Trinity at her own home when she discovers a few black Uraninite stones amongst her mother's belongings.
All hell breaks loose when the protagonist’s mother flees the care home, carrying with her one of the accursed stones. However, since the mobile phone which she holds has a GPS tracker, her daughter can track her movements. The destination of the absconder – The National Stadium where the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics are going to be conducted. A diary left behind contains a weird notation of time: 5.29. This is a reference to the time when the atomic bomb was detonated for the purposes of testing by Robert Oppenheimer and his team. This is also the time (although in the evening) which the old woman has decided, would be most appropriate to ‘interfere’ with the opening ceremony.
The daughter races to the National Stadium to prevent her mother from wreaking havoc. But……
There are throes of ethics, emotions and extravagance in Kobayashi’s book. Is it a subtle clamour to balance scientific temper with humanitarian perspective? Is it a clarion call to watch out for untrammeled development in dangerous sites that have been the sites of cataclysmic activities? Or is it just a breathtaking testimony to the magnificent breadth of human imagination? Is it a warning to the world on the need to go slow with nuclear energy by demonstrating in a clinically impartial manner its pernicious impact on brain and body? Or is it a measured agglomeration of all of these?
Whatever it may be, “Trinity” sure makes its readers think!
('Trinity, Trinity Trinity' by Erika Kobayashi is published by Astra Publishing House and will be available for sale from the 28th of June, 2022)
Thank You Net Galley for the Advance Reviewer Copy!
When held close to one's ear, strange voices are heard and the person holding the rock begins to wax lyrical on complicated topics dealing with Uranium, Nuclear fission and the like. The spectacularly inexplicable sight of an illiterate old man holding forth on the properties of Uranium and the mining sites such as Jáchymov and Karlovy Vary in Prague, renders onlookers both stupefied and scared. Crazed individuals tightly grasping black stones in their palms also make a break for the now abandoned and shuttered buildings of the nuclear reactors at Fukushima. A nonagenarian even assaults and injures a few policeman and a truck driver before running amok and settling before a building modelled on the house of one of the world's greatest Physicist and Chemist, Marie Curie. Hammering away on the door of the empty structure the woman is finally 'tackled' by the security guards and hauled away.
Erika Kobayashi's "Trinity, Trinity, Trinity" to be released in June 2022 is neither an ecological thriller nor a run of the mill whodunit. Instead it is the rumination and lament of a divorced middle aged woman, the mother of a chirpy teen obsessed with a black metal band called "DEATH BE NOT PROUD, and the daughter of an infirm lady confined to her bed after a fall. The book explores conflicts and contrasts in human behaviour and the ways of the world at large. While, on the one hand there is the barely uncontained excitement surrounding the Olympic games, on the other hand lies the unspoken but inevitable elephant in the room. Thus even when people are hollering and cheering the Olympic torch relay, they are driven to the edge of panic when they see an old man holding a shiny, slick and black object in the carriage of a moving train. The offending object ultimately turns out to be a bar of chocolate.
The heroine of the book herself leads an existence veering between angst and acceptance. When not installing and servicing water purifiers, she seeks temporary refuge in the unseen underbelly of Cybersex. She is also forced to grapple with the plague of Trinity at her own home when she discovers a few black Uraninite stones amongst her mother's belongings.
All hell breaks loose when the protagonist’s mother flees the care home, carrying with her one of the accursed stones. However, since the mobile phone which she holds has a GPS tracker, her daughter can track her movements. The destination of the absconder – The National Stadium where the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics are going to be conducted. A diary left behind contains a weird notation of time: 5.29. This is a reference to the time when the atomic bomb was detonated for the purposes of testing by Robert Oppenheimer and his team. This is also the time (although in the evening) which the old woman has decided, would be most appropriate to ‘interfere’ with the opening ceremony.
The daughter races to the National Stadium to prevent her mother from wreaking havoc. But……
There are throes of ethics, emotions and extravagance in Kobayashi’s book. Is it a subtle clamour to balance scientific temper with humanitarian perspective? Is it a clarion call to watch out for untrammeled development in dangerous sites that have been the sites of cataclysmic activities? Or is it just a breathtaking testimony to the magnificent breadth of human imagination? Is it a warning to the world on the need to go slow with nuclear energy by demonstrating in a clinically impartial manner its pernicious impact on brain and body? Or is it a measured agglomeration of all of these?
Whatever it may be, “Trinity” sure makes its readers think!
('Trinity, Trinity Trinity' by Erika Kobayashi is published by Astra Publishing House and will be available for sale from the 28th of June, 2022)
Thank You Net Galley for the Advance Reviewer Copy!
June 28, 2022
‘The tuna on board, now fearfully called the atomic tuna, ended up buried in the ground beneath the Tsujiki Fish Market. Years later, when construction was taking place to excavate…no trace of atomic tuna was ever found – not even bones…Nine years after the 235-million-yen budget was allocated to develop nuclear power and and the atomic tuna was buried beneath Tsujiki, the first light bulb powered by Japanese nuclear energy switched on in a town called Tokai, in Ibaraki Prefecture. And the following year, the Olympics arrived in Tokyo.’
Found the ‘story’ (if there is even a concrete ‘plot’ at all, I am not even sure) incredibly difficult to follow/hold onto. Halfway through it I was basically lost – basically a ‘Trinity’ (and that’s if I’m even getting the meaning of a ‘Trinity’ in the book right). I thought the first half of the book was fantastic, but it becomes more and more of a mess/blur towards the end. After the ‘grandmother’ went missing, everything just becomes pure chaos. I don’t even know what’s going on anymore. What a shame. I desperately wanted to like this.
‘Apparently people in those times believed that the higher you were, the healthier the air was, so the rich tried to live up as high as possible. They believed miasma – ‘bad air’ – pooled in low places and caused disease. Elites lived as high as they could, ate birds that were as high-flying as they could, drank wine from grapes grown as high up in the mountain as they could.’
Nuclear, radiation; blood, menstruation. And a bunch of historical rambling just shuffled into the narrative randomly. That’s how I feel about it, but perhaps I’m simply missing the point of the book. There must be more to it; and/but I don’t have the patience to re-read and possibly ‘discover’. I just really didn’t like how it was structured and organised. Even the ‘tone’ was somehow (for the lack of a better term) ‘lacking’; the characters felt replaceable/inter-changeable. At some point I couldn’t even tell who the narrator was referring to. The beginning seemed really promising (and I actually thought it would be something I’m going to enjoy very much) but it later ended rather abruptly without making much sense at all. Lack of cohesion, surely. Maybe it’s a translation problem? I wouldn’t know since I don’t plan to compare it to the original text. I don’t think I can read any more of this without more dizzy.
‘Trinities craved radioactivity like junkies craved their high, and they would go anywhere or do anything to get it…It even became a staple horror setup for a while for someone, after the death of a dementia-suffering family member, to take a Geiger counter into the dead person’s bedroom and find it to be radioactive.’
It’s not badly written at all, but I think I’m just not the right reader for it. The constant repetition of very similar events and/or characters made me dizzy and lose interest in it (if not early in the novel, then eventually anyway). Too much (some relevant but mostly unnecessary) cultural and historical references. The entire book’s a chaotic mess. Lots of screaming, fainting, and random blood. And it also ends with a vaguely incestuous note. Yea, no. Not for me.
‘Radiation. It terrified me. When it rained down on you, at first nothing would happen, but then you would lose your hair, you would bleed and be unable to stop, your skin would split and slough off.’
June 11, 2022
A story about radiation poisoning told in a very unique way that may be too weird for some, but really worked for me. Plus, this story was actually very well researched and gave a good insight into the story of the discovery of uranium and the development of the nuclear bomb. I really enjoyed reading the story out of the main characters POV, as she’s trying to come to terms with this new reality and what’s happening to her mother, while simultaneously becoming more and more unhinged herself. I was pleasantly surprised!
January 16, 2022
4.5 stars.
Trinity, Trinity, Trinity by writer and artist Erika Kobayashi might be the most interesting Japanese novel I've read in the last couple of years. A short book full of fascinating moments, metaphors, ideas, the history of radiation, Fukushima and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
If you're interested in exciting contemporary Japanese Literature, keep an eye out for this book.
Trinity, Trinity, Trinity by writer and artist Erika Kobayashi might be the most interesting Japanese novel I've read in the last couple of years. A short book full of fascinating moments, metaphors, ideas, the history of radiation, Fukushima and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
If you're interested in exciting contemporary Japanese Literature, keep an eye out for this book.
March 25, 2024
enthralling and creepy.. especially to read in japan! finished on the couch in niseko while everyone dawdled about where to get dinner
May 4, 2022
Quite an interesting and layered account of the impacts of radiation on the collective conscious. I will say the narrative can be choppy at times, though whether this is intentional or not is unclear; however, ultimately it does not take away from the sense of foreboding that accumulates near the climax of this novel. Interspersed through the narrative are historical references to the discovery and utilization of nuclear energy, which I found both informative and interesting in how they played a role in the narrative's progression. There's a lot to unpack, and I find myself continuing to think about the different aspects of this book. It is certainly a multifaceted critique of Japan's relationship with nuclear technology, but also a critique of motherhood, aging, and societal paranoia. Overall enjoyable read that gives the reader plenty to ruminate on.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
May 18, 2022
Extremely thankful to NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was a wonderful reading experience. Erika Kobayashi has written a modern and unique speculative fiction that will definitely blow everyone´s mind. A couple days ago I wrote a review about how hard it is to actually nail writing a book with an amount of metaphors linked with history and collective trauma. It is SO hard. And Kobayashi did it as masterfully as only she can do! In only 240 pages she managed to reflect and critique on a society that has gone through a lot of traumatic experiences but also has caused so much damage. On top of that, she also showcases a perfect portrait of family dynamics and intergenerational relationships.(Which is very necessary on these times). A perfect book.
This was a wonderful reading experience. Erika Kobayashi has written a modern and unique speculative fiction that will definitely blow everyone´s mind. A couple days ago I wrote a review about how hard it is to actually nail writing a book with an amount of metaphors linked with history and collective trauma. It is SO hard. And Kobayashi did it as masterfully as only she can do! In only 240 pages she managed to reflect and critique on a society that has gone through a lot of traumatic experiences but also has caused so much damage. On top of that, she also showcases a perfect portrait of family dynamics and intergenerational relationships.(Which is very necessary on these times). A perfect book.
July 29, 2024
This book is incredibly strange. If you liked the idea but not the execution I highly recommend Erika Kobayashi's short story collection Sunrise, which is extremely similar in themes and vibe but more straightforward in terms of narrative. I definitely do not understand everything that Kobayashi did here, but it is so amazingly creative and layered, I liked it even when I was confused.
Also did not mean to read a book somewhat about the Olympics during the Olympics but it was nice to read something clearly critical of them while they are going on!
Also did not mean to read a book somewhat about the Olympics during the Olympics but it was nice to read something clearly critical of them while they are going on!
June 5, 2025
This was a pretty neat and unique speculative fiction surrounding a fictional disease in which people exposed to radiation poisoning become confused and obsessed with collecting radiative items and putting them in their bodies, and are driven to spread radiation to others through acts of violence and terrorism.
Kobayashi reflects on family, moral panic, the ongoing history of nuclear power and radiation in Japan, and packages it all in a modern, non-linear way that reflects on the history, the harm, and the mysticism surrounding radiation.
Kobayashi reflects on family, moral panic, the ongoing history of nuclear power and radiation in Japan, and packages it all in a modern, non-linear way that reflects on the history, the harm, and the mysticism surrounding radiation.
August 23, 2022
Heavy with history and heart and brilliance.
October 6, 2025
I don’t think I’m educated enough to understand this tbh
September 26, 2023
3.9⭐️
i cant describe it but this was such a unique read, i really enjoyed it
i cant describe it but this was such a unique read, i really enjoyed it
Read
July 10, 2022This is probably the most interesting book I've read this year. It was both intellectually fascinating and emotionally rough, and I still have questions and am trying to make connections.
The plot underlying the book--elderly people lose their memory and become possessed by the very concept of radiation, the history of uranium and of nuclear power--could have been tediously gimmicky, but Kobayashi travels a lot of engaging thematic territory concerning memory, inheritance, family, history, death. It's weird, but I found it moving.
(There is also some serious experiential trippiness to be had, too, in reading a book originally published in autumn of 2019 concerning the 2020 Olympics going weirdly. It was an interesting unbalancedness to reading it in 2022, trying to remind myself what was the grounded realism and what was supposed to be fantastical weird, and then there was the additional weirdness overlayed by the delayed 1940 Tokyo Olympics, which also played a role in the narrative. So trippy!)
The plot underlying the book--elderly people lose their memory and become possessed by the very concept of radiation, the history of uranium and of nuclear power--could have been tediously gimmicky, but Kobayashi travels a lot of engaging thematic territory concerning memory, inheritance, family, history, death. It's weird, but I found it moving.
(There is also some serious experiential trippiness to be had, too, in reading a book originally published in autumn of 2019 concerning the 2020 Olympics going weirdly. It was an interesting unbalancedness to reading it in 2022, trying to remind myself what was the grounded realism and what was supposed to be fantastical weird, and then there was the additional weirdness overlayed by the delayed 1940 Tokyo Olympics, which also played a role in the narrative. So trippy!)
March 28, 2022
This is more like 3.5 stars but I'm rounding up because I'll be thinking about this one for a while (and trying to figure out exactly what happened).
I was curious to read this because it was about multiple generations of women grappling with the fallout of radiation during the Olympics. It is certainly very experimental and won't be for everyone, which seems to be the case with a lot of modern Japanese literature. I greatly appreciated the history of radium and radiation, which the author's bio mentions as a topic of particular interest for her.
I'm still not entirely sure what happened at the end of the book, but I learned a lot on the journey to the end and I'll be thinking about it for a while. I'm curious to pick up a finished copy and see how the formatting looks, as it wasn't clear on the digital version.
Thank you to Astra House and NetGalley for an eARC!
I was curious to read this because it was about multiple generations of women grappling with the fallout of radiation during the Olympics. It is certainly very experimental and won't be for everyone, which seems to be the case with a lot of modern Japanese literature. I greatly appreciated the history of radium and radiation, which the author's bio mentions as a topic of particular interest for her.
I'm still not entirely sure what happened at the end of the book, but I learned a lot on the journey to the end and I'll be thinking about it for a while. I'm curious to pick up a finished copy and see how the formatting looks, as it wasn't clear on the digital version.
Thank you to Astra House and NetGalley for an eARC!
February 17, 2022
Complex, fascinating, provocative, and compelling; this incredible speculative translation bridges on a world we know and an abrasive reality that's not terribly irrational after our last two pandemic years; sitting solidly in a world we can tangibly touch.
Three generations of women explore the impact of radiation and nuclear effects – from Fukushima and Japan’s nuclear history feels immersive and contemporary.
Spoken in fresh and relatable voices, with the backdrop of the 2020 Olympics hovering as a character in the background, you find yourself wanting to know more and more about each one of these women! I would happily read this as a trilogy to know them all better.
Galley barred from the publisher
Three generations of women explore the impact of radiation and nuclear effects – from Fukushima and Japan’s nuclear history feels immersive and contemporary.
Spoken in fresh and relatable voices, with the backdrop of the 2020 Olympics hovering as a character in the background, you find yourself wanting to know more and more about each one of these women! I would happily read this as a trilogy to know them all better.
Galley barred from the publisher
May 6, 2022
This book is so hard to review. How do review an entire experience? That’s what this was.
This immersive and addicting story pulls you in and out of history with an intricate and elaborate detail.
The magic of Kobayashi's novel, is its use of
pitchblende in telling the story.
Pitchblend is the accursed rock that would
eventually be mined to create radium…and nuclear
energy.
I found some of the most moving pieces of the story,
were those told by the rocks; where they fill us in on
the history of this toxic, destructive relationship
humanity has developed with it: from the "discovery" of their light in France by Marie Curie, to their descent into eternal light over Japan...
This is a beautiful plea to humanity to do better and be better.
This immersive and addicting story pulls you in and out of history with an intricate and elaborate detail.
The magic of Kobayashi's novel, is its use of
pitchblende in telling the story.
Pitchblend is the accursed rock that would
eventually be mined to create radium…and nuclear
energy.
I found some of the most moving pieces of the story,
were those told by the rocks; where they fill us in on
the history of this toxic, destructive relationship
humanity has developed with it: from the "discovery" of their light in France by Marie Curie, to their descent into eternal light over Japan...
This is a beautiful plea to humanity to do better and be better.
March 21, 2022
This is a unique story that's uniquely told! It takes place in Tokyo where there is a disease called trinity going around, that affects the elderly. As our narrator wakes up in her grandmother's body, we piece together links between trinity and radiation, nuclear weapons, and the Fukushima disaster. This one will stay with me for a long time.
August 25, 2022
A fever dream of this kind, written in the United States, would surely capture that unspoken nightmare narrative that is the presidency, which when in the hands of one party is a treasure, in the hands of another total disaster. Which Americans would assume is something culled from the last fifty years, or perhaps even hundred, but actually goes all the way back to the beginning. Here, of course, the subject matter is Japanese atomic holocaust, and the writing coincidentally taking place just before the world once again turned on an axis. Set during the Tokyo Olympics, which the pandemic ended up delaying a year, the results are instead a metaphor for thinkers who believe only in nightmare narratives, who are incapable of processing information that is rich in potential, and so they’re consumed with gibberish, all potential lost. In someone else’s hands this would have been great material. This is just a rock described fancifully, like an eccentric, indulged artist might paint it.
February 14, 2024
Erika Kobayashi’s Trinity, Trinity, Trinity is meant to be an exploration of the lasting effects of radiation and nuclear power. Being set in Japan, the novel is poised to draw inspiration from a rich and deep well, given its long and layered history with nuclear power. These themes are overlayed with ideas about capitalistic gains and nationalism that could be interestingly explored through another rich source: the Olympics. However, these brilliant premises never really go anywhere. Instead, the novel meanders, and slows to a halt. I found myself wholly disinterested by the third half, which shouldn’t be the case for a novel meant to span such a short time. The overall tone of the novel doesn’t do any favours to the lack of energy.
December 23, 2022
This book weaves together the threads of different themes to create an intricate and stunning lacework text that is part narrative fiction, part history, part prophecy, part exorcism. To read it is to immerse yourself in a deep dark pool, to let blinding light wash over you. It's best understood in the context of Kobayashi's other writing and visual art exhibitions.
I loved this book, but it is probably not for everyone. Taking in the whole picture is preferable to scrutinizing details of the plot, I think. And a few parts were so grandiose or sanctimonious that they took me a bit out of the reverie. But overall, very very striking.
I loved this book, but it is probably not for everyone. Taking in the whole picture is preferable to scrutinizing details of the plot, I think. And a few parts were so grandiose or sanctimonious that they took me a bit out of the reverie. But overall, very very striking.
August 29, 2022
Thank you for the good book
Not something I would normally pick, enjoyed the story.
Stacey Bankey
Not something I would normally pick, enjoyed the story.
Stacey Bankey
December 22, 2024
Like many things in life, I don’t think I understood most of it but I liked it
August 23, 2025
insaaaaane concept. quick read. i appreciate women in translation month for how it urges us to read different perspectives.
Read
January 29, 2023Very much a 'wtf did I just read' book (in a good way). It lost me a little near the end but I still enjoyed being along for the ride.
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