Trash

by Amy Yamada

New York, un giorno qualsiasi; all'interno di un appartamento anonimo nelquartiere di Harlem, Koko giace ammanettata al letto per opera di un neroincontrato due anni prima e nel quale aveva creduto di trovare l'amore... Unlancinante sentimento di amore/odio, la violenza che si sostituisce all'attod'amore, gli incubi e i deliri provocati dall'alcool, un ambiguo rapporto conil figlio del suo carceriere padrone... Nella mente allucinata di Koko passatoe presente si confondono in un vano tentativo di capire perché è successoquanto è successo in un crescendo di tensione che porterà alla drammaticasoluzione finale.

Genres: Fiction, Japan, Japanese Literature, Novels, Literature

314 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Amy Yamada (AKA 山田 詠美, Yamada Eimi) born February 8, 1959, is a popular but controversial contemporary Japanese writer who is most famous for her stories that address issues of sexuality, racism, and interracial marriage, topics not typically discussed openly in Japanese society.

Born in Tokyo as Futaba Yamada, she lived in several places around Japan due to her father's job. This transient lifestyle forced her to confront issues of separation and bullying, issues that many of her protagonists also deal with.

According to her interview with the Japanese magazine Bungei, during middle school she was moved by African-American soul music and began to read any novels she could find written by black people, or featuring black people. She held a job in the Roppongi district of Tokyo, an area rich with foreigners.

After graduating from high school in 1977, she entered Meiji University's Literature Department, but dropped out before graduating. After a short stint writing and drawing manga, she began writing novels in 1980. Though her works garnered some attention, even receiving praise from Japanese literary critic Jun Eto (江藤淳 Eto Jun?), she only achieved widespread recognition in 1985, when Bedtime Eyes won the Bungei Prize. In writing Bedtime Eyes, Yamada drew upon her experiences with black people and black culture and combined them with the Japanese literary tradition.

In 1996, "Trash" was published in English translation by Kodansha International (translator: Sonya L. Johnson). In May 2006, three of Yamada's novellas (Bedtime Eyes 「ベッドタイム･アイズ」, The Piano Player's Fingers 「指の戯れ」 and Jesse 「ジェシーの背骨」) were published in English translation (translators: Yumi Gunji and Marc Jardine) as a single volume by St Martin's Press under the collective title Bedtime Eyes.

In Yamada's second collection of works, Jesse's Spine, Yamada depicts the experiences of a woman who is learning to adjust to life with her lover's child from another relationship. The writing style of this work has been compared to William Saroyan's novel, Papa You're Crazy. Through her depiction of the child's perspective on the world, her book was a critical success, earning her a nomination for the Akutagawa Prize for new authors. In her short novels Classroom for the Abandoned Dead, Afterschool Music, and I Can't Study, Yamada tackles the topics of childhood life, bullying, and school life. In an interview with Bungei Shunjū upon winning the Akutagawa Prize, Risa Wataya and Hitomi Kanehara named Yamada's Afterschool Music as one of their major influences, explaining that her works were one of the greatest depictions of modern Japan.

Reviews

[Ruby Hollyberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. It is about the sort of life I'd never choose to live myself - New York City, lots of bars and drinking, art and affairs. But it is the perfect life for the main character. Koko grew up in Japan and chose to come to NYC to live. She has a deliberately eclectic group of friends and has had a varied and extensive love history. She is a kind and gentle person who is generally unprepared for the streak of pure meanness in the man she has finally fallen madly in love with. He is a Southern black man, older and a little beaten down by a world he doesn't understand. He is also not just a drinker like everyone she knows, but a true alcoholic, headed for tragedy, unable to receive or return love, totally unsuitable for a beautiful and classy young woman's happiness. He also has a preteen son, Jesse, who has predictable and normal problems (his mother is even worse than his father). Somehow Koko manages to half-raise this boy, teach him a little of how civilized people behave, and make friends with him, during the years she sacrifices to her hopeless relationship with his father. This is rather a revelation to a woman who never had any intention of being any sort of mom. She eventually extricates herself, but it isn't easy or quickly accomplished. And she finds that even with a lovely new boyfriend and living with her new gay best friend, she is still a part of Jesse's life, as he continues to need her advice and help and she continues to give it.

[Monica. A · Rating 1 out of 5]

La copertina, molto diversa da questa, mi ha decisamente tratta in inganno, un altro acquisto incauto su internet.
Giapponese è solo la mania del suo amante per le donne, per il resto si tratta di una banalissima storia di amore malato e alcolizzato.
È tutto qui.
Lei giapponese e semialcolizzata.
Lui nero e alcolizzato, di mezza età.
Figlio di sangue misto e incompreso, costretto a vivere schivando le pozze di urina e vomito lasciate dal padre durante la notte.
Ex di lui giapponese frivola e immatura.
Nuovo amante di lei giovanissimo, studente, nero e sdolcinato.
Amici di lei tutti gay, neri o bianchi che siano.

Pensandoci su... il itolo è davvero azzeccato!

[John Dolan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like to try 'new' Japanese writers in English translation, and over the years I have discovered some gems. Unfortunately, 'Trash' was not one of my better experiences. While some of the prose is interestingly structured, I found the characters rather vapid, and the narrative lacking in tension. A disappointment.

[Aurora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quando ho iniziato questo libro ho pensato scrittura piacevole, ma ecco che come tutti i libri asiatici va a parere su un amore malato e distruttivo, e ho iniziato a prevedere quale potesse essere la piega che avrebbe preso l' intero romanzo, avendo già letto romanzi simili. Per un attimo mi è sembrato un ritorno al romanzo "Shangai baby" ho ritrovato alcuni elementi comuni con questo romanzo, ma poi andando avanti fortunatamente se ne è discostato nel modo migliore. Inizialmente, ho pensato di abbandonarlo perché a lungo andare la tiritela della storia d'amore malsano fra un' ubriacone e una donna che si dà tanto da fare per un uomo che non lo merita, mi irritava e infastidiva. Tuttavia, a differenza di "Shangai baby" fatalista e disfattista più verso una società cinese, che risente dell' ondata capitalista ...."Trash" non analizza la società, ma i protagonisti intimamente nella loro individualità, e a differenza di quello che possa apparire dalle prime pagine, andando avanti si denoterà un processo di maturazione caratteriale nella protagonista, senza dover per forza sprofondare nel dramma. 

Per altre mie recensioni passate nel mio blog:
https://librimaniaauroraadry.blogspot...
 

[James Henry · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’d like to think something got lost in translation, because this novel was an absolute mess that went nowhere. Huge structural issues aside, there were just far too many problems: flat characters with motivations that changed scene from scene, a strangely blasé reaction to statutory rape, confusing and inconsistent relationships between the characters, and very little grasp of what this story is even about. Look, I wasn’t expecting the world from this, but instead of a salacious trashy novel about an impossible relationship, this was just a boring collection of scenes with characters who could have been switched out without anyone noticing.

[Aida Hurttia · Rating 2 out of 5]

got about halfway. i was really excited to read this; i thought the idea of a book exploring the difficulties of an interracial couple was really interesting. but the writing was SO bad and the characters were underdeveloped, from what i remember. highly disappointed, wasted potential. it would be a 1/5 but i just really like Yamada's niche.

[Xaka · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you find pedophilia disgusting, don't read this book.

The main story is depressing enough, but the side story of the main female antagonist's friend, Sue, sleeping with the friend of the main female antagonist's would-be-stepson, Daryl, is enough to make you sick to your stomach. If you're anything like me, you'll constantly read those parts wondering if you misremember Daryl's age. But, Koko, the main female protagonist, makes sure you remember that Daryl is her boyfriend's son's age. A whopping 13, the last time I remember the author giving his age. Even if I misremember that and the kid is 15, he's still a minor. We never really get Koko's age, but she's older than 22. And, so is Sue.

This book is ridiculous. I only gave it 2 stars because the writing is good. You know how you can read a story that's horribly written, but the story is so good, you keep reading? This book has the opposite problem. It's well-written, but the story itself is garbage.

Such an appropriate title, then, huh?

I hated this book by the time I was on page 48, but didn't want to stop reading because I was impressed with Amy's writing abilities. Or the translator's translation abilities. Hard to tell since I don't read Japanese.

Amy has an amazing way with writing the most banal aspects of human stupidity. She wants you to believe this story is about love. It isn't. It's about stupidity. And, sometimes stupidity is the form love takes. Especially the unhealthy, completely dysfunctional, abusive types of love, like what Koko and her first story boyfriend, Rick, have.

I won't go into the details of the book, but it's the story of a woman named Koko. She's probably in her early 30s, but we never really know. She's a "physically desirable", nice woman. Apparently, this is a problem for the men in her life. She is too nice. Half the book, she's in love with an alcoholic named Rick who ends up physically assaulting and raping her at the end of their relationship. Koko doesn't hate him, though. No worries.

The rest of the book is about Koko and Rick's non-relationship and how it affects her life with others. Rick's son, Jesse, is stuck between a rock and hard place with his biological parents. And, Koko gets another boyfriend, this time a college student who is totally smitten with her.

The character I like most in the book is Buckey, but he's not in it much until the end. He's Koko's gay friend and soft place to land after she throws herself out of the building she lit on fire. Figuratively, of course.

The son, Jesse, and Koko end up in a good relationship. You can see from early in the story that they are compatible. They have their issues, but Jesse is a young boy trapped in a crappy family situation. Problems are part of that package. As the story goes on, their story draws you in and ends in a satisfactory way.

Amy's writing is good enough to have you feeling several emotions at once while you read this book. In the end, I felt happy. But, I was dragged through all kinds of emotional mud to get there. It was uncomfortable. Although there is a happy ending, if the writing hadn't been so good, I would have walked way disliking the book, overall.

I think the way the author handled the abuse of Koko's relationship with Rick is unfortunate. I do think she wrote the personalities of the characters well enough. But, Koko is not a likable character, in my opinion. She says she loves herself, but I left the story doubting that.

[Bruce · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out strong but slid into a lot of blah, blah about Love.

[andi · Rating 2 out of 5]

kind of a slog to get through. also i just got so bored of the characters at a certain point which sucked bc there was so much potential!