Escarpment

by David Turri

...I had seen and would remember. For me, there was an exit into the sunlight. But for them, there is no way out of those caves... Humor, the eeriness of the supernatural and the horror of war weave through this strange tale, set in Kobe, of a friend's mental breakdown that leads the narrator on a bewildering and unnerving journey; an odysses through time that ends on the battlefield of Okinawa.

200 pages, Paperback

Published September 5, 2015

About the author

David Turri was born in Liverpool in the 1950s and grew up in New Zealand. After living in Barcelona for a few years, he settled down permanently in Japan, where he is surrounded by a noisy harem of wife, two grown daughters and two granddaughters. He has been writing most of his life – textbooks for the English language industry, which industry pays the rent and puts food on the table; and fiction. In spite of his wife’s unspoken belief that his novels would only be published posthumously, one was actually published two years ago. “Damaged Cargoes” is an historical story about child trafficking and opium set in Kobe in 1870. Another novel, an occult story titled “29 Argyle Drive”, was published last year and is proving popular among Amazon horror fans. It is set in Christchurch, where he grew up, against the background of the earthquake that destroyed the city in 2011. A third book (“Escarpment”) will appear shortly. This is a strange mixture of humor, occult and war and focuses on the Battle of Okinawa. When not writing at the computer, he spends most of his evenings scribbling in parks near his home; where a bench is his outdoor office, a bottle of wine fuels his imagination and the prose flows from his pen into a notebook among the mosquitoes.

Reviews

[Cold War Conversations Podcast · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spooky tale of battlefield ghosts...

Turri's novel is an interesting take on the standard ghost story. Set in Japan and with two westerners as the main characters Turri weaves a story that will make you think again when you visit a past battlefield.

Turri lives in Japan and his descriptions of modern day Japan are vivid. The characters and dialogue are credible creating an empathy with both of the main characters as the story progresses from mainland Japan to the blood soaked soil of Okinawa.

I'm not normally one for the supernatural novel, but I kept with this book as I wasn't sure where it was going. Overall an unexpected and entertaining read.

I received a review copy of this book via netgalley and was not required to write a positive review.

[Michael Hartnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Funny and Powerful Tale
Escarpment by David Turri is a simultaneously humorous yet moving journey through Japan and its war-torn legacy. Our narrator Dave is a cantankerous, self-deprecating guide to an expatriate’s vision of a country inhabited both by its intense economic present and its bloody, haunted past. The up-and-coming businessman Matt serves as the conduit between these worlds as his somnambulant soul is inhabited by a sergeant in lost his life in the brutal Battle of Okinawa back in 1945. Turri deftly handles this layered plot in humorous ways as the long-suffering Dave seems as cursed by the burden of Matt’s peregrinations as Matt is by the ghosts of lost Japanese soldiers. Much of the extraordinary underlying story is related by scholar Mr. Shimizu, who has a gift for spinning evocative accounts of the horribly brutal battles on that island.
Ultimately, Escarpment amounts to a loopy, yet powerful novel that makes compelling and original connections even as most the characters are reluctant participants. That reluctance and grounded outlook give the spiritual elements of the plot gravity and fill the work with authentic, character-driven humor. David’s wife Keiko is absolutely hilarious and her combination of morality and hostility gives the novel a wonderful edge. As Dave wryly explains, “There is not a wife in the world that cannot reinforce an existing problem by adding walls, pouring in concrete and making it a stronger, bigger and almost insurmountable one.”
Turri has given the readers a daring and lively tale here. Escarpment is truly an adventure story that offers great understanding of the savagery of war’s legacy even as it pulses with a big-hearted, charming humanity.

[Ron D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dry and Boring

A ghost story set entirely in Japan, and based on a World War II Japanese Soldier. Bland story and bland characters. The picture on the cover of the book, has nothing to do with story. It’s just misleading....