In Plain View

by Julie Shigekuni

Daidai and her husband Hiroshi have what many of their friends believe is a perfect life. Daidai has recently left her job as curator of the Japanese American Museum in Los Angeles’s Little Tokyo so that she and Hiroshi, a university professor, can try for a baby. Frustrated by their lack of success so far, and by their increasingly clinical love life, Daidai befriends Satsuki, one of Hiroshi’s graduate students. Newly arrived from Japan, Satsuki clings to her friendship to Daidai and quickly becomes a mainstay in their household.

Spurred by a revelation concerning Satsuki's estranged mother and a disturbing trip to Japan where Daidai discovered Satsuki's father was engaged in illegal, and illicit, activities, Daidai begins to seriously question Satsuki's seemingly innocent connection to three possible murders.

Daidai's concerns about Satsuki are dismissed as jealousy by her husband until Daidai's investigation will lead to a harrowing confrontation between the two women, and Satsuki's true intentions will be revealed. At once a taut psychological thriller and examination of cultural divides, Shigekuni's In Plain View is never as it appears.

Genres: Fiction

246 pages, Paperback

Published November 22, 2016

About the author

Julie Shigekuni is the author of three novels: A Bridge Between Us (Anchor/Doubleday 1995), Invisible Gardens (St. Martin’s Press 2003), and Unending Nora (forthcoming from Red Hen Press, Fall 2008). Her fiction has been translated into German, Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian.

Shigekuni was a finalist for the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Award and the recipient of the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature. She has received a Henfield Award and an American Japanese Literary Award for her writing. Shigekuni received her B.A. from CUNY Hunter College and her M.F.A. from Sarah Lawrence College.

She is currently at work on a collection of inter-connected short stories and a 60-minute video documentary, Manju Mammas & the An-Pan Brigade, for which she has received funding from the California Council for the Humanities and the Skirball Foundation and sponsorship from Visual Communications, an all Asian media network.

She teaches fiction and Asian American Literature at the University of New Mexico and lives in Corrales, New Mexico, with her husband and three young daughters.

Reviews

[Dan]

Shigekuni weaves a captivating tale of palpable tension. As the book opens, you get the sense that something isn't quite right in Daidai's world. Is it her ambivalence over leaving her job to try to start a family? Is it a sense that she's a person out of synch with her world, not Japanese enough and not American enough either? Or maybe she's just feeling the horizons of her world closing in around her. Things seem to change for the better but maybe also for the worse when when Daidai befriends Satsuki.

I'm in awe of Shigekuni's economy of language and her expert pacing. She gives just enough detail to situate us in the scene but never lingers. She also does a good job of balancing the push and pull of friendship between women. It's a quick, enjoyable read with bite.

If you liked this, make sure to follow me on Goodreads for more reviews!

[Jodi Hunt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Odd book. Very slow build. I listened to it instead of physically reading, and I probably wouldn’t have finished if I had been reading versus audiobook. However, I enjoyed the ending. It filled me with emotion I wouldn’t have felt if it had been a BAD book. The audiobook was well read and I’d recommend that over reading it.

[Mary Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m only 1/3 way in but so frustrated I need to vent. The author’s writing is accomplished and studied, an almost perverse attention to detail, describing Uturns in driving patterns….but then whoosh! The character disappears ( as in the man who rescued her bag of rice in the beginning pages—I was listening to audio and actually downloaded the novel thinking a glitch had occurred).

Too numerous to account, I began to discount both the main character DaiDai’s apprehension of events AS WELL as the author’s….everything seems tinged under some sort of antidepressant induced fog, except when she trots out the overused trope of “porn” as another reader stated. When the main character cannot be trusted, what’s the use?
My curiosity has been sated. I cannot continue.

[Suha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it. A lot was happening in all those pages so yeah it's quite fast paced and had me engrossed in the story. While it's not Exactly a typical thriller, it's much more than that. It takes you to the perfect life of Daidai and her husband, which is disturbed when Hiroshi's student frequently visits them. The book is about the days when the student, Satsuki's life intertwines with theirs.

I got so engaged in the book that I finished it in two sittings haha.

[Mina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story was in there... It was SLOW BREWING like ALL my relationships with everything Asian, but it was completely worth the wait. If you are confused by all the indirect hints and mystical talks in the novel, you are not alone. I'm there with you. The whole thing turned out completely a different way than I expected, but at the same time exactly the same? Loved this read.

[Eva Edge · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was... Different... I can't say I didn't liked it but can't say I liked it. It took me a while to connect with the book, just couldn't feel that Click! I am happy that I didn't gave up as good story in general but will not stay in my memory after a little while.

[Cindy Anderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hated it! How does this author get an award for her writing?? When is describing porn relevant to a story - EVER? This crap makes me wonder if great writers are a talent for past generations. The storyline was absolutely idiotic!!

[Kim Fay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I reviewed IN PLAIN VIEW for the "Los Angeles Review of Books": https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/r...

[Ghost of a Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 5-star system doesn't work well for me. In my personal 6-star system, this rates 5 stars: like a ly, excellent.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Claudia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book really fast. The plot was a bit predictable. The main character made no sense to me. The ending was not an ending, too many issues left unresolved, left hanging.

[Kaitlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

audio 3.25

[Loren Denker · Rating 5 out of 5]

As seen through the eyes of an art curator going though her own stress of trying to conceive a child with her professor husband, this unexpected tale of the enduring damage of psychic trauma unfolds at quick clip. Suspenseful throughout to the final page, In Plain View is a fascinating read. I will pass this very unique mystery novel along to family and friends!