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Rainbirds
Ren Ishido hat gerade seinen Abschluss an der Universität von Tokio gemacht, als er die Nachricht vom plötzlichen Tod seiner älteren Schwester erhält. Keiko wurde in einer regnerischen Nacht auf dem Weg nach Hause erstochen, und es gibt keine Anhaltspunkte für diese Tat. Bestürzt reist Ren nach Akakawa, um die Sachen seiner Schwester zu ordnen, die er seit Jahren nicht gesehen hat. Mit Keiko, die von einem Tag auf den anderen der Heimatstadt Tokio und der ganzen Familie den Rücken kehrte, verband ihn in der Kindheit eine enge Beziehung. Inzwischen erscheint ihm das Leben seiner Schwester so mysteriös wie ihr unerklärlicher Tod. Doch dann wird Ren kurioserweise die nun vakante Stelle an der Schule angeboten, in der Keiko unterrichtete, und er kann auch ihr Zimmer im Haus eines enigmatischen Politikers übernehmen, das sie kostenlos bewohnte mit der Auflage, dessen ans Bett gefesselter kranker Frau jeden Tag ein Stunde vorzulesen. Ren lässt sich auf beides ein, in der Hoffnung, das Leben seiner Schwester besser zu verstehen und herauszufinden, was in jener regnerischen Nacht geschah. Als er sich in die rebellische Studentin Rio verliebt, steigen Erinnerungen auf. Und dann sind da immer wieder diese Träume, in denen ihm ein kleines Mädchen mit Zöpfen unbedingt etwas sagen möchte ... »Ein Roman, in dem nicht ein Wort zu viel steht und der einen dennoch packt und nicht mehr loslässt.« PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
320 pages, Hardcover
First published March 6, 2018
209 people are currently reading
11850 people want to read
About the author
Clarissa Goenawan
3 books507 followersClarissa Goenawan is an Indonesian-born Singaporean writer. Her award-winning short fiction has appeared in literary magazines and anthologies in Singapore, Australia, the UK, and the US. Rainbirds is her first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,131 reviews
May 3, 2018
The opposite of action-packed, but not necessarily boring. It’s a bit like watching gold fish. Nothing exciting happens but you still can’t turn away. The first few pages introduce the premise: a guy’s sister has been murdered and he learns a lot about himself and her as he picks up clues slowly revealing whodunnit. Or so we think!
Don’t get excited though. This isn’t your typical mystery novel. It’s slow and meditative throughout. Not for someone who frequently says “when is something going to happen?!”
As someone not familiar with Japanese art and literature I enjoyed the unique change of pace. There’s a lot of Japanese culture in this book and it’s interesting to see that juxtaposed with what could be a western murder mystery.
All in all though, I have to say that with so many books and so little time you’ll probably regret getting involved with this one. Feel free to skip.
Don’t get excited though. This isn’t your typical mystery novel. It’s slow and meditative throughout. Not for someone who frequently says “when is something going to happen?!”
As someone not familiar with Japanese art and literature I enjoyed the unique change of pace. There’s a lot of Japanese culture in this book and it’s interesting to see that juxtaposed with what could be a western murder mystery.
All in all though, I have to say that with so many books and so little time you’ll probably regret getting involved with this one. Feel free to skip.
March 30, 2018
A whodunit based in Japan.
A character study with a Japanese flair. There is a mystery, but this one is really a literary fiction with some moments of suspense and plenty of secrets to unravel. I was ever so curious while reading and wanted to know why someone would murder Ren’s sister, Keiko, in such a violent way. Ren is a graduate student and gives up his studies to move to his sister’s small town in Japan (Akakawa). He starts to piece together some clues that he hopes will give him some answers.
I just adored the Japanese names, the food, the culture and learning the backstory of Ren and his sister. There is a touch of beautiful magical realism through some dreams, which adds another layer of intrigue.
The pace is slow, but captivating with moments of humor, candor and whimsy. I really liked getting to know Ren, his flaws and his intense love for his sister.
If you don’t mind a slow reveal, this one has some interesting characters and was a breath of fresh air (for me).
A character study with a Japanese flair. There is a mystery, but this one is really a literary fiction with some moments of suspense and plenty of secrets to unravel. I was ever so curious while reading and wanted to know why someone would murder Ren’s sister, Keiko, in such a violent way. Ren is a graduate student and gives up his studies to move to his sister’s small town in Japan (Akakawa). He starts to piece together some clues that he hopes will give him some answers.
I just adored the Japanese names, the food, the culture and learning the backstory of Ren and his sister. There is a touch of beautiful magical realism through some dreams, which adds another layer of intrigue.
The pace is slow, but captivating with moments of humor, candor and whimsy. I really liked getting to know Ren, his flaws and his intense love for his sister.
If you don’t mind a slow reveal, this one has some interesting characters and was a breath of fresh air (for me).
March 31, 2018
3.5 There is something so distinctive about Japanese novels. The spare writing for one, not that there are no descriptions, but only as much as the reader needs to know for the story, no words wasted. The unemotional tone to the writing, for another, yet one can feel the emotions brimming under a veneer of formal manners and respectability.
Ren is a young man who is basically following in his elder sisters footsteps, almost done with his degree when his sister is murdered. Putting everything else on hold, he travels to the town where she had been living, where he finds once again he is following his sisters footsteps. Living in the same place, taking a temporary job teaching at the school she taught. This is a very tightly controlled story, but not one without some ominious and surprising happenings. As he tries to put everything together, it will lead back to revelations in his own family.Ren himself will find himself sorely tested when one of his students tries to take her crush on him too far.
I enjoyed this, although I like many different kinds of writing, it is nice to read something a little different. Learning something too about the differences in cultures and mores. Thought this was quite well done, and the cover is gorgeous as well.
ARC from Edelweiss.
Ren is a young man who is basically following in his elder sisters footsteps, almost done with his degree when his sister is murdered. Putting everything else on hold, he travels to the town where she had been living, where he finds once again he is following his sisters footsteps. Living in the same place, taking a temporary job teaching at the school she taught. This is a very tightly controlled story, but not one without some ominious and surprising happenings. As he tries to put everything together, it will lead back to revelations in his own family.Ren himself will find himself sorely tested when one of his students tries to take her crush on him too far.
I enjoyed this, although I like many different kinds of writing, it is nice to read something a little different. Learning something too about the differences in cultures and mores. Thought this was quite well done, and the cover is gorgeous as well.
ARC from Edelweiss.
June 4, 2018
This was an engaging debut novel. The writing is minimalist and may not be for everyone. However, the thoughtful reflections on love, loss, and regret more than make up for this spare type of writing, which I found quite compelling. There is a mystery in that Ren Ichida seeks to find out who murdered his sister, Keiko, in the small, remote town of Akakawa, Japan. As he seeks answers he finds himself drawn into her former life and actually teaching at the school she had taught at prior to her murder.
There were many layers to this narrative which was told with a subtle and lyrical quality that compels you to read this as quickly as possible. I look forward to more books from this author.
There were many layers to this narrative which was told with a subtle and lyrical quality that compels you to read this as quickly as possible. I look forward to more books from this author.
April 2, 2018
Rainbirds by Haruki Murakami - sorry, Clarissa Goenawan - is about a man who attempts to investigate the murder of his sister by traveling to her home in Akakawa. It's also the most derivative book I've ever read.
Look, I don't usually mind when the influence of another author is clearly present in a novel. Writers are influenced by other writers, this is how art has always been created. If We Were Villains is like The Secret History; The Book Collector is like Rebecca. It happens. But where the novels I just cited each have their own voice, their own distinctive characters, their own intriguing stories to tell, Rainbirds just... doesn't. My main problem with this book is that I've read it before, but it was called The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle then.
I do like Murakami, but I have to admit there's a certain formula to his novels. Clarissa Goenawan follows that formula to a T. There's the apathetic, attractive-yet-disinterested protagonist, Ren (Toru Okada, Toru Watanabe), the fiesty young loner girl who captures his interest, Seven Stars (May Kasahara, Midori...), and several alluring women who wallpaper the background of the novel, all of whom confide inexplicably in the protagonist and share their life stories with him. The Apathetic Everyman protagonist is searching for something, but he isn't quite sure what, and he needs to be drawn into the lives of these random strangers in order to achieve clarity, in some roundabout way. And there's also a sort of magical realism influence where the atmosphere is just a bit odd and we have to listen to characters relay their dreams in exhausting detail.
I mean, even the chapter headings are like this:
The
Bubblegum
World and the
Woman with a Mole
on the Back of
Her Neck
This isn't a 'fans of Murakami will love this novel' situation, it's just... why don't you just read Murakami instead?
Anyway, even the tone of the novel is trying very hard for the elegant simplicity that Jay Rubin achieves in his English language translations of Murakami, but here it comes off as sophomoric rather than intentionally artful. Sentences like "The day my sister died, a part of me died, too" and "I was shocked to find her in my class. Was it fate?" and "As I was flipping through one of the books, a piece of paper fell out. Something told me it might be important" caused more than a few eye-rolls.
As for the story itself, there is nothing original or noteworthy here. It's not really a mystery, or a thriller, or an introspective character study (that would be a stretch, since Ren has literally no personality), or the exploration of small-town Japanese culture that it claims to be. It's just a collection of quirky characters telling Ren their stories while he sleeps with a bunch of different women (even though he has a girlfriend the entire time) who are inexplicably drawn to him, even though he has all the charisma of soggy cardboard. Here's where Murakami's influence really began to annoy me - I feel like there's an undeniably masculine thread to all of his novels that Clarissa Goenawan was in a perfect position to subvert, as a female writer, but instead she gives us a thoroughly uninteresting male protagonist and tells us to root for him without giving us much reason to.
The atmosphere was nice and it held my attention the entire time, and I certainly didn't hate this passionately enough to warrant a 1-star rating, but I'm just... not sure what I was supposed to take away from this book aside from the knowledge that Clarissa Goenawan is a massive Murakami fan.
Look, I don't usually mind when the influence of another author is clearly present in a novel. Writers are influenced by other writers, this is how art has always been created. If We Were Villains is like The Secret History; The Book Collector is like Rebecca. It happens. But where the novels I just cited each have their own voice, their own distinctive characters, their own intriguing stories to tell, Rainbirds just... doesn't. My main problem with this book is that I've read it before, but it was called The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle then.
I do like Murakami, but I have to admit there's a certain formula to his novels. Clarissa Goenawan follows that formula to a T. There's the apathetic, attractive-yet-disinterested protagonist, Ren (Toru Okada, Toru Watanabe), the fiesty young loner girl who captures his interest, Seven Stars (May Kasahara, Midori...), and several alluring women who wallpaper the background of the novel, all of whom confide inexplicably in the protagonist and share their life stories with him. The Apathetic Everyman protagonist is searching for something, but he isn't quite sure what, and he needs to be drawn into the lives of these random strangers in order to achieve clarity, in some roundabout way. And there's also a sort of magical realism influence where the atmosphere is just a bit odd and we have to listen to characters relay their dreams in exhausting detail.
I mean, even the chapter headings are like this:
The
Bubblegum
World and the
Woman with a Mole
on the Back of
Her Neck
This isn't a 'fans of Murakami will love this novel' situation, it's just... why don't you just read Murakami instead?
Anyway, even the tone of the novel is trying very hard for the elegant simplicity that Jay Rubin achieves in his English language translations of Murakami, but here it comes off as sophomoric rather than intentionally artful. Sentences like "The day my sister died, a part of me died, too" and "I was shocked to find her in my class. Was it fate?" and "As I was flipping through one of the books, a piece of paper fell out. Something told me it might be important" caused more than a few eye-rolls.
As for the story itself, there is nothing original or noteworthy here. It's not really a mystery, or a thriller, or an introspective character study (that would be a stretch, since Ren has literally no personality), or the exploration of small-town Japanese culture that it claims to be. It's just a collection of quirky characters telling Ren their stories while he sleeps with a bunch of different women (even though he has a girlfriend the entire time) who are inexplicably drawn to him, even though he has all the charisma of soggy cardboard. Here's where Murakami's influence really began to annoy me - I feel like there's an undeniably masculine thread to all of his novels that Clarissa Goenawan was in a perfect position to subvert, as a female writer, but instead she gives us a thoroughly uninteresting male protagonist and tells us to root for him without giving us much reason to.
The atmosphere was nice and it held my attention the entire time, and I certainly didn't hate this passionately enough to warrant a 1-star rating, but I'm just... not sure what I was supposed to take away from this book aside from the knowledge that Clarissa Goenawan is a massive Murakami fan.
October 31, 2017
I was fortunate enough to receive an Advance Review Copy of this novel which comes out next year.
Fans of Murakami will not be disappointed by this lyrical, spell-binding evocation of a narrator who finds himself alone and grieving in a sleepy Japanese town.
I lost myself in Goenawan’s prose, in the effortless detail of everyday life and in the brooding mood that hung over every action.
Fans of Murakami will not be disappointed by this lyrical, spell-binding evocation of a narrator who finds himself alone and grieving in a sleepy Japanese town.
I lost myself in Goenawan’s prose, in the effortless detail of everyday life and in the brooding mood that hung over every action.
September 21, 2017
Written in a spare, minimalist style with hints of magical realism that feels very Japanese, Rainbirds tells the story of a man in his 20s whose older sister is murdered. He leaves Tokyo for the small town where she had been living in an effort to understand the sister he realizes he didn't know as well as he thought he did -- or should have. Haunted by regrets and curiosity, he finds himself stepping into her shoes in certain ways: taking over the job she had teaching English at a cram school, renting the same room in a house she did... At points it seems like a whodunit, at others more like a ghost story, but ultimately resists both these genre classifications. Rainbirds is set in the early 1990s, before cellphones and the internet changed everyone's lives forever, and it's odd how that gives it the flavor of a remote past, and a mysterious, brooding atmosphere.
March 13, 2018
BOTM offered this as a “spellbinding” debut about a brother’s quest for the truth behind his sister’s murder. People have called this book “lyrical” (do they know what that word means?), “luminous,” “evocative,” and a number of other gushing adjectives that seemed right up my alley.
Guys: I. Hated. This. Book.
Harsh? Yes. But you’re dealing with a rage that has simmered for 322 pages and is finally coming into contact with the outside world, so...here goes.
The prose isn’t just spare, it’s sparse. Dialogue is terrible. It feels forced, awkward, & way too formal, all the time. Characters are flat—especially the narrator, who reads like a drip but somehow is willing to say “yes” to every ridiculous offer (sex, lodging, career) that comes his way. He offers nosy advice/input at several junctures, as though the people w/ whom he’s speaking are close friends...when in reality, he’s known them for like, 5 minutes. 🙄
There’s minimal sense of place in the novel—the first half could virtually take place anywhere in the world. Only toward the end does the author approach setting with more intention. The plot sets off at a crawl, and fails to pick up speed. The MC draws conclusions out of thin air, most times, and I was left wondering where he’d arrived at his observations—certainly, the reader was not given adequate hints to arrive with him.
The novel isn’t profound, it isn’t “lyrical” or strongly composed, and it’s darn sure not similar to Tell the Wolves I’m Home (not sure who compared the two, but NO). As you can see, I’m quite salty I wasted a BOTM credit on this middling, bland work.
Guys: I. Hated. This. Book.
Harsh? Yes. But you’re dealing with a rage that has simmered for 322 pages and is finally coming into contact with the outside world, so...here goes.
The prose isn’t just spare, it’s sparse. Dialogue is terrible. It feels forced, awkward, & way too formal, all the time. Characters are flat—especially the narrator, who reads like a drip but somehow is willing to say “yes” to every ridiculous offer (sex, lodging, career) that comes his way. He offers nosy advice/input at several junctures, as though the people w/ whom he’s speaking are close friends...when in reality, he’s known them for like, 5 minutes. 🙄
There’s minimal sense of place in the novel—the first half could virtually take place anywhere in the world. Only toward the end does the author approach setting with more intention. The plot sets off at a crawl, and fails to pick up speed. The MC draws conclusions out of thin air, most times, and I was left wondering where he’d arrived at his observations—certainly, the reader was not given adequate hints to arrive with him.
The novel isn’t profound, it isn’t “lyrical” or strongly composed, and it’s darn sure not similar to Tell the Wolves I’m Home (not sure who compared the two, but NO). As you can see, I’m quite salty I wasted a BOTM credit on this middling, bland work.
September 21, 2017
RAINBIRDS is a compelling and thoughtful story set in Japan in 1994. It's the story of Ren Ishida whose sister, Keiko, has just been murdered in her prime. Ren moves to the small town where Keiko lived and worked and takes a job at the school where Keiko taught. There he meets a beautiful but troubled student called Rio and discovers painful secrets about the past. The prose is clean and evocative with a light magic realism touch and hits the sweet spot between beautiful and couldn't-put-it-down.
August 25, 2020
Percakapan-percakapan yang diciptakan di dalamnya begitu luruh, membuatku ikut hanyut bersama para tokoh. Aku bahkan ingin memulai semuanya kembali sesaat setelah mengakhiri buku ini. Riuh dalam kesederhanaan.
Aku berjanji akan membacanya lagi suatu hari nanti. Bertemu Ren yang mencari fakta atas kematian kakaknya, Keiko. Semoga.
Terjemahannya juara!!!
Aku berjanji akan membacanya lagi suatu hari nanti. Bertemu Ren yang mencari fakta atas kematian kakaknya, Keiko. Semoga.
Terjemahannya juara!!!
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March 1, 2018Why I Love It
by BOTM Editorial Director Siobhan Jones
Part of being on the editorial team here at BOTM means that I read the opening chapters of literally dozens of books each month. When I come across a story that makes me slow down and not look up until I’ve read from cover to cover, I know I’ve found something special.
This happened to me with Rainbirds. The writing grabbed me immediately—it’s whispery and elegant. Even the chapter titles are evocative, like snatches of barely-remembered dreams or vivid memories from the narrator’s life. On page one, we learn that Ren’s sister, a polite cram school teacher named Keiko, has recently died. There’s a police investigation, of course, but almost immediately, the story veers off the “whodunit” track. Seeking answers, Ren takes over Keiko’s job, moves into her former residence … and finds himself pulled down a path of self-discovery. He forges an unlikely friendship with an old, mysteriously silent woman. He explores newfound intimacies and reconsiders old girlfriends. Yes, he’s searching for Keiko. But he’s also searching for himself.
Reading this book is like flipping through a stranger’s polaroids pictures—it contains snapshots of a life lived simply, as well as unanswered questions lurking just out of reach. This is not a page-turner in the traditional sense, but rather a moving depiction of grief and regret. A book to read deeply (and not necessarily quickly), I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Read more at https://www.bookofthemonth.com/rainbi...
by BOTM Editorial Director Siobhan Jones
Part of being on the editorial team here at BOTM means that I read the opening chapters of literally dozens of books each month. When I come across a story that makes me slow down and not look up until I’ve read from cover to cover, I know I’ve found something special.
This happened to me with Rainbirds. The writing grabbed me immediately—it’s whispery and elegant. Even the chapter titles are evocative, like snatches of barely-remembered dreams or vivid memories from the narrator’s life. On page one, we learn that Ren’s sister, a polite cram school teacher named Keiko, has recently died. There’s a police investigation, of course, but almost immediately, the story veers off the “whodunit” track. Seeking answers, Ren takes over Keiko’s job, moves into her former residence … and finds himself pulled down a path of self-discovery. He forges an unlikely friendship with an old, mysteriously silent woman. He explores newfound intimacies and reconsiders old girlfriends. Yes, he’s searching for Keiko. But he’s also searching for himself.
Reading this book is like flipping through a stranger’s polaroids pictures—it contains snapshots of a life lived simply, as well as unanswered questions lurking just out of reach. This is not a page-turner in the traditional sense, but rather a moving depiction of grief and regret. A book to read deeply (and not necessarily quickly), I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Read more at https://www.bookofthemonth.com/rainbi...
December 13, 2017
This book was a pleasant surprise--spare and lyrical prose in what seemed part Japanese novel, part mystery, part poetry. While the plot didn't always go in the direction I imagined it would and a few scenes seemed inauthentic to the overall story, there were unforgettable details in the tale of Ren Ishida and his visit to the town where his sister was murdered. Goenawan's imagery was particularly evocative when she wrote about her main character's dreams. A powerful read and one that was hard to put down.
March 16, 2018
This book was…interesting. Not what I expected. What I expected was something a bit more mysterious and thrilling, but what I got was more of a story of one man’s many exploits with women who don’t seem to extensively interest him, whilst wondering at the death of his sister and uncovering several secrets he seems to stumble upon a bit too easily.
BUT before I go too hard on this book, and even though I rated it two and a half stars, I was actually quite far into this book before I realized how much I disliked it. And I will say that the best thing about Rainbirds was its atmosphere, and that’s where the half star in my rating comes from. The writing and the settings were simple and unadorned, quiet and warm and colorful, and it gave me a very “slice of life” feeling. The atmosphere and the colors were lovely.
I stopped liking this book the moment I realized that I really didn’t like the main character, who…women seem drawn to for reasons beyond me, as he’s a bit dull and flat, even if well-meaning most of the time. This book was full of his various excursions with women, whether it’s a night in a hotel room with a model in Tokyo or going out for lunch with the seventeen year old girl he teaches (which, yeah, while this book doesn’t necessarily condone student/teacher relationships, it really comes close to giving us one, which made me….very uncomfortable). I was just….entirely put off by Ren’s romantic interludes, and the way it related to his relationship with his dead sister. Not to put a creator in a box, but if I hadn’t known better, I wouldn’t have guessed this book was written by a woman.
The plot felt drawn-out and sprawling. Most of the time I wasn’t sure where it was even going, except not in a “I’m intrigued” sort of way, but more of a “what is happening” sort of way. The plot lines that came together were strangely related (and unrelated), and a lot of it hinged on small details that Ren was able to deduce major plot points from, as well as his ability to get the entire life stories from people he speaks to very seldomly throughout the entire novel. It’s a strange, vague puzzle that he constructs, and I didn’t find it a very riveting one, especially when some of the mystery solving was done so easily and conveniently.
Also- if you dislike dream sequences and plot derived from what a character sees in their dreams, this is probably not the book for you.
All in all, I didn’t hate this book- the atmosphere was pleasant, and it posed an interesting mystery. But the plot never really came together for me, it never really shocked me or hooked me, and there were just too many girls interested in this one guy (who…has a girlfriend back home the entire time??).
Rainbirds does get points for having an extremely pretty cover, though.
BUT before I go too hard on this book, and even though I rated it two and a half stars, I was actually quite far into this book before I realized how much I disliked it. And I will say that the best thing about Rainbirds was its atmosphere, and that’s where the half star in my rating comes from. The writing and the settings were simple and unadorned, quiet and warm and colorful, and it gave me a very “slice of life” feeling. The atmosphere and the colors were lovely.
I stopped liking this book the moment I realized that I really didn’t like the main character, who…women seem drawn to for reasons beyond me, as he’s a bit dull and flat, even if well-meaning most of the time. This book was full of his various excursions with women, whether it’s a night in a hotel room with a model in Tokyo or going out for lunch with the seventeen year old girl he teaches (which, yeah, while this book doesn’t necessarily condone student/teacher relationships, it really comes close to giving us one, which made me….very uncomfortable). I was just….entirely put off by Ren’s romantic interludes, and the way it related to his relationship with his dead sister. Not to put a creator in a box, but if I hadn’t known better, I wouldn’t have guessed this book was written by a woman.
The plot felt drawn-out and sprawling. Most of the time I wasn’t sure where it was even going, except not in a “I’m intrigued” sort of way, but more of a “what is happening” sort of way. The plot lines that came together were strangely related (and unrelated), and a lot of it hinged on small details that Ren was able to deduce major plot points from, as well as his ability to get the entire life stories from people he speaks to very seldomly throughout the entire novel. It’s a strange, vague puzzle that he constructs, and I didn’t find it a very riveting one, especially when some of the mystery solving was done so easily and conveniently.
Also- if you dislike dream sequences and plot derived from what a character sees in their dreams, this is probably not the book for you.
All in all, I didn’t hate this book- the atmosphere was pleasant, and it posed an interesting mystery. But the plot never really came together for me, it never really shocked me or hooked me, and there were just too many girls interested in this one guy (who…has a girlfriend back home the entire time??).
Rainbirds does get points for having an extremely pretty cover, though.
February 20, 2018
If you are a fan of Japanese novels, you will enjoy this wonderful book . The writing is amazing in its simplicity and the characters are compelling.
December 18, 2017
A quietly wonderful literary family mystery set in a small town in Japan, this is a debut that I am SO happy I had the chance to read early. This is NOT a thriller or a fast-paced suspense story. It IS an incredibly thoughtful and spare story with hints of magical realism. Thanks to the publisher for the digital advance copy!
December 4, 2017
I received an advance uncopyedited edition of Rainbirds by Clarissa Goenawan from a Goodreads giveaway. It might not have been a book I picked up, but the cover drew me, as did the blurbs. This book, the writing, the story, were highly praised and I was curious. And I am so glad I read it. Clarissa Goenawan has written luminously beautiful story that I won't soon forget. Her writing is sparse, evocative and flawless. Told in the present with seamless flashbacks, it conveyed the quiet grief of the protagonist, Ren Ishida, as he negotiates the world--his world-- after the murder of his sister. Before her death, he was a young man drifting in life, with one anchor: his sister Keiko. Both children were estranged from their parents and Ren, whether he knew it or not, seemed to live for his sister's weekly calls. When she was killed, he was the only one who followed her, who asked questions, who appeared to care that she was gone. As if our lives are like deep furrows across the earth, Ren falls into Keiko's and picks up her journey and discovers a lot he doesn't know about Keiko and a lot he doesn't know about himself. This is not a whodunit by any means, but he does find out who killed her and why, and in that journey learns quite a bit about the people who touched her life and how letting go does not mean forgetting. The story has an emotional pull that is compelling, just like the pull that kept Ren walking in his sister's footsteps. He knows he is grieving, and the reader grieves with him, but the emotion is subdued, maybe even confused at first. But his confusion lifts as he lives in his sister's world. You can see his growth. And by the end, when Ren scatters his sister's ashes, I knew Clarissa had also led me on a journey of loss and recovery. I finished his story with the feeling that Ren would be all right, even if his final actions made my eyes burn with tears. This is a great story. I highly recommend Rainbirds.
December 24, 2017
I was lucky enough to receive an advanced reader copy of Rainbirds. This haunting story is of a brother, Ren Ishida, who comes to a small Japan town where his sister was murdered to settle her affairs. By stepping into the life she left behind, he hopes to learn why his sister left him and his parents behind in Tokyo, and why she was murdered.
I was immediately drawn into the characters and the prose in this story. It's a quiet mystery, with the clues unfolding in the every day life that were both believable and interesting. I loved the dream sequences scattered throughout, and I thought the tapesty in which the threads were drawn into conclusion were masterful.
Even after finishing the book, my brain has continued to rehash some of the clues, and the ending. For me, this is a book that will be remembered. So good.
I was immediately drawn into the characters and the prose in this story. It's a quiet mystery, with the clues unfolding in the every day life that were both believable and interesting. I loved the dream sequences scattered throughout, and I thought the tapesty in which the threads were drawn into conclusion were masterful.
Even after finishing the book, my brain has continued to rehash some of the clues, and the ending. For me, this is a book that will be remembered. So good.
April 6, 2018
5/5stars | Favorite Standalone
Okay so. This book was my most anticipated book of the year - it was casually in my "anticipated books" list but the closer it got to its release, the more I NEEDED my hands on it. And this was the first time my most anticipated book of the year didn't disappoint me! This was everything I could have asked for and more tbh - even if I was excited for it, I never expected it to be a 5/5 star fave book like... I'm blown away.
"Rainbirds" is about a young Grad student Ren Ishida whose sister passes away after being stabbed to death on the streets. Since his parents abandoned her and never wanted to see her again after she left a few years earlier, Ren took up the responsibility of settling her affairs after her death. He and his sister were very close - or, at least he thought they were. But after he goes to her town and accidentally begins living her same life - living in her old apartment, taking over her old job, hanging out with her old friends, etc. - he begins to realize there was a lot his sister was hiding. Along with the mystery of her death, Ren has to deal with a strange student who chain smokes and steals bubble gum, he meets a strange woman who says she knows him from the past, and he has to figure out what he should be doing with his own relationships and career.
This book... was a beautiful mixture of two of my favorite things - Haruki Murakami and Janie Chang. Everyone who knows me knows Murakami is my all time favorite author; I've read all of his novels (some more than once) and I've analysed his works pretty thoroughly. "Rainbirds" took many of Murakami's typical tropes - a young (but not too young) man who doesn't really know what to do with his life, doesn't really make decisions, and gets thrown into situation after situation that he can't really explain, pair with a much younger female character whose quirky and strange and makes the man realize things about himself, always have the helpful best friend!, a mystery element, and bam - you have a Murakami novel minus the cats and wells. So the plot, the characters and the atmosphere reminded me wholeheartedly of Murakami, but the writing reminded me of Janie Chang who wrote my all time favorite novel "Three Souls." It's simplistic, but beautiful. It doesn't use much flashy language or long, poetic descriptions, but its just clean-cut and emotion-hitting enough to feel like you've been slapped in the face. It was beautiful.
So obviously I adored this book and think everyone should read it - but mainly Murakami/Japanese Literature fans should definitely be checking this out, you don't want to miss out on this book!!
Okay so. This book was my most anticipated book of the year - it was casually in my "anticipated books" list but the closer it got to its release, the more I NEEDED my hands on it. And this was the first time my most anticipated book of the year didn't disappoint me! This was everything I could have asked for and more tbh - even if I was excited for it, I never expected it to be a 5/5 star fave book like... I'm blown away.
"Rainbirds" is about a young Grad student Ren Ishida whose sister passes away after being stabbed to death on the streets. Since his parents abandoned her and never wanted to see her again after she left a few years earlier, Ren took up the responsibility of settling her affairs after her death. He and his sister were very close - or, at least he thought they were. But after he goes to her town and accidentally begins living her same life - living in her old apartment, taking over her old job, hanging out with her old friends, etc. - he begins to realize there was a lot his sister was hiding. Along with the mystery of her death, Ren has to deal with a strange student who chain smokes and steals bubble gum, he meets a strange woman who says she knows him from the past, and he has to figure out what he should be doing with his own relationships and career.
This book... was a beautiful mixture of two of my favorite things - Haruki Murakami and Janie Chang. Everyone who knows me knows Murakami is my all time favorite author; I've read all of his novels (some more than once) and I've analysed his works pretty thoroughly. "Rainbirds" took many of Murakami's typical tropes - a young (but not too young) man who doesn't really know what to do with his life, doesn't really make decisions, and gets thrown into situation after situation that he can't really explain, pair with a much younger female character whose quirky and strange and makes the man realize things about himself, always have the helpful best friend!, a mystery element, and bam - you have a Murakami novel minus the cats and wells. So the plot, the characters and the atmosphere reminded me wholeheartedly of Murakami, but the writing reminded me of Janie Chang who wrote my all time favorite novel "Three Souls." It's simplistic, but beautiful. It doesn't use much flashy language or long, poetic descriptions, but its just clean-cut and emotion-hitting enough to feel like you've been slapped in the face. It was beautiful.
So obviously I adored this book and think everyone should read it - but mainly Murakami/Japanese Literature fans should definitely be checking this out, you don't want to miss out on this book!!
December 13, 2017
Rainbirds is a story about grief, and the lengths we will go through to resolve it. Goenawan writes with precise beauty, as we follow a brother intent on saying goodbye to a beloved sister who died too soon. Equal parts sinister and heartbreaking, Rainbirds will stay with you long after you read the final page. This is a must read for 2018!
April 3, 2018
Clarissa Goenawan
Rainbirds
Gramedia Pustaka Utama
400 pages
5.0
Clarissa Goenawan's debut, Rainbirds, is, by any means, not a bad book, but its sparse and incoherent plot--not to mention its flat characters--somehow gets the better of its tranquil and serene atmosphere that Goenawan tries to create.
In an interview conducted by Suanne Schafer, Clarissa Goenawan has summarized the concept of her debut novel, Rainbirds, as--to quote her--“what if someone I cared about suddenly passed away, and then, I realized too late that I never actually got to know them?” Initially intended as a short story about a man who just lost his older brother, Goenawan later transformed it to older sister so she can explore more on the relationship between two of them. And if that's the mere purpose of the book, then I can say that Goenawan succeeds. The relationship between Ren and Keiko Ishida blossoms fully, like a colorful bouquet of flowers amid the bleak and somber atmosphere of the book, just like the gorgeous cover of its English version.
However, their relationship apparently isn't strong enough to carry this book, with the sparseness of the plot that sprawls awkwardly and the flat and uninspiring narrator become the biggest issues in this book. And it's really unfortunate, since this kind of mystery book can take its readers to a mind-boggling plot twist and emotional journey. The blurb of Rainbirds is intriguing enough. Yet, Goenawan decides to take a safer route, lulling her readers to a serene and tranquil town of Akakawa, Japan in 1990s. And that becomes another problem, as Rainbirds--while clearly takes place in Japan--has no sense of place. Aside from the characters' Japanese name and manner, the novel seems distant and if you take the setting away, you can still have the same story. Goenawan's description is beautiful indeed, relying on short sentences to whet the melancholic tone of the book, but her rendition of Akakawa somehow feels stiff and unlively, even if she's done tons of research. It's probably because of awkward conversations that the characters have, that becomes another issue from the book. The conversations sound so robotic, formal, and forced in your head, like the kind of conversation that you have when you encounter a stranger. Of course, when Ren first moved to Akakawa, he was a stranger for the townsfolk, but after months of interaction, he still maintained the same awkardness.
The whole concept of the book is enchanting. Although starting over your life in a new place is one of the most common tropes in a book, the trope still works since it offers you a fresh point of view and the writer can also play around the back story and the setting and the plot. But, in Rainbirds, the plots are spread everywhere and Goenawan seems to struggle to collect them back. There's a lot of subplots that can stand alone, that actually can be cut from the book to make it fifty percent conciser. One of the things that I can remember is the Ren and Jin's bachelor adventure in Tokyo which only has one purpose: to reintroduce the girl from Ren's past. But, the problem is this girl from Ren's past herself doesn't bring something to the book. Many subplots in the book fall to this category, and it results in some of the unexplained and unanswered mysteries: the dream sequence, the politician and his wife, the back story of its supporting characters. Even some readers complain that they don't find out who the murderer was. Apparently, finding out the murderer is never the intention of the book, and it's too--well--generous to put the book under "mystery" genre. Rainbirds is more like a slice-of-life with a touch of murder mystery, as proven how mundane the first half of the book is. There's also a lot of coincidences and plot-hole that can be avoided. I don't know what this is, but I know it's important is a common trope that scatters throughout the book. Instead of converging its subplots, giving its readers closure and answer that they want, Rainbirds diverges and gives more questions. Goenawan also jumps around from first to third point of view, that's actually unnecessary as the scene that uses third point of view can be omitted.
And the pinnacle of all is its main characters, our narrator, our beloved Ren Ishida, who inexplicably becomes a chick magnet. Ren is probably one of the blandest and most one-dimensional characters that I've ever read, saying "yes" to everything that comes in front of him ("sex", "food", "lodging") and it's hard to sympathize with him. Ren hasn't fully developed. His character is hard to describe, and at the beginning it's hard to convince him that he's a guy as his words sound feminine, but later it's hard to miss since the easiest solution to make your character more "macho" is making him have a lot of sex with women.
So, is Rainbirds bad? No, it's at least readable. Goenawan is able to create beautiful sentences and wonderful setting. But, its characters and sprawling plot are something that need to be fixed.
Rainbirds
Gramedia Pustaka Utama
400 pages
5.0
Clarissa Goenawan's debut, Rainbirds, is, by any means, not a bad book, but its sparse and incoherent plot--not to mention its flat characters--somehow gets the better of its tranquil and serene atmosphere that Goenawan tries to create.
In an interview conducted by Suanne Schafer, Clarissa Goenawan has summarized the concept of her debut novel, Rainbirds, as--to quote her--“what if someone I cared about suddenly passed away, and then, I realized too late that I never actually got to know them?” Initially intended as a short story about a man who just lost his older brother, Goenawan later transformed it to older sister so she can explore more on the relationship between two of them. And if that's the mere purpose of the book, then I can say that Goenawan succeeds. The relationship between Ren and Keiko Ishida blossoms fully, like a colorful bouquet of flowers amid the bleak and somber atmosphere of the book, just like the gorgeous cover of its English version.
However, their relationship apparently isn't strong enough to carry this book, with the sparseness of the plot that sprawls awkwardly and the flat and uninspiring narrator become the biggest issues in this book. And it's really unfortunate, since this kind of mystery book can take its readers to a mind-boggling plot twist and emotional journey. The blurb of Rainbirds is intriguing enough. Yet, Goenawan decides to take a safer route, lulling her readers to a serene and tranquil town of Akakawa, Japan in 1990s. And that becomes another problem, as Rainbirds--while clearly takes place in Japan--has no sense of place. Aside from the characters' Japanese name and manner, the novel seems distant and if you take the setting away, you can still have the same story. Goenawan's description is beautiful indeed, relying on short sentences to whet the melancholic tone of the book, but her rendition of Akakawa somehow feels stiff and unlively, even if she's done tons of research. It's probably because of awkward conversations that the characters have, that becomes another issue from the book. The conversations sound so robotic, formal, and forced in your head, like the kind of conversation that you have when you encounter a stranger. Of course, when Ren first moved to Akakawa, he was a stranger for the townsfolk, but after months of interaction, he still maintained the same awkardness.
The whole concept of the book is enchanting. Although starting over your life in a new place is one of the most common tropes in a book, the trope still works since it offers you a fresh point of view and the writer can also play around the back story and the setting and the plot. But, in Rainbirds, the plots are spread everywhere and Goenawan seems to struggle to collect them back. There's a lot of subplots that can stand alone, that actually can be cut from the book to make it fifty percent conciser. One of the things that I can remember is the Ren and Jin's bachelor adventure in Tokyo which only has one purpose: to reintroduce the girl from Ren's past. But, the problem is this girl from Ren's past herself doesn't bring something to the book. Many subplots in the book fall to this category, and it results in some of the unexplained and unanswered mysteries: the dream sequence, the politician and his wife, the back story of its supporting characters. Even some readers complain that they don't find out who the murderer was. Apparently, finding out the murderer is never the intention of the book, and it's too--well--generous to put the book under "mystery" genre. Rainbirds is more like a slice-of-life with a touch of murder mystery, as proven how mundane the first half of the book is. There's also a lot of coincidences and plot-hole that can be avoided. I don't know what this is, but I know it's important is a common trope that scatters throughout the book. Instead of converging its subplots, giving its readers closure and answer that they want, Rainbirds diverges and gives more questions. Goenawan also jumps around from first to third point of view, that's actually unnecessary as the scene that uses third point of view can be omitted.
And the pinnacle of all is its main characters, our narrator, our beloved Ren Ishida, who inexplicably becomes a chick magnet. Ren is probably one of the blandest and most one-dimensional characters that I've ever read, saying "yes" to everything that comes in front of him ("sex", "food", "lodging") and it's hard to sympathize with him. Ren hasn't fully developed. His character is hard to describe, and at the beginning it's hard to convince him that he's a guy as his words sound feminine, but later it's hard to miss since the easiest solution to make your character more "macho" is making him have a lot of sex with women.
So, is Rainbirds bad? No, it's at least readable. Goenawan is able to create beautiful sentences and wonderful setting. But, its characters and sprawling plot are something that need to be fixed.
January 17, 2018
A journey simmering with melancholy through the alternating haziness and clarity brought on by grief. Three lost daughters and the person who finds them, willingly or not.
March 24, 2020
Ren Ishida is stunned when he learns of his sister Keiko’s murder. He leaves Tokyo and his studies to travel to Akakawa to wrap up his sister’s affairs. Events lead to his taking over his sister’s job as a teacher and moving into her room in a rich politician’s home, taking over Keiko’s arrangement of reading to his housebound wife. As he delves into his sister’s life in Akakawa, he learns that she hid many things from him.
This book is peopled with many interesting characters and has a haunted feeling about it. There is beauty to be found in this book and when I first started reading it, I thought I would love it. But the more of it I read, the less enchanted I became. There are far too many things that happen in this book that I felt were just unrealistic, which kept pulling me out of the story. And while it’s certainly mostly a book about this young man’s journey into the past to work out his relationship with his sister, I felt far too much room was given to his callous exploits with women. While I understood the connection the author was making, I can’t say I enjoyed those sections at all.
I wish I could have liked this one more. It had promise and such a good start but I felt that it fell a bit short. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t like it and I do hope to read more of the author’s work in the future because I believe she has talent. This is her first novel and she’s received awards for her short stories. But I was ultimately left feeling a bit flat by the end of the story.
This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.
This book is peopled with many interesting characters and has a haunted feeling about it. There is beauty to be found in this book and when I first started reading it, I thought I would love it. But the more of it I read, the less enchanted I became. There are far too many things that happen in this book that I felt were just unrealistic, which kept pulling me out of the story. And while it’s certainly mostly a book about this young man’s journey into the past to work out his relationship with his sister, I felt far too much room was given to his callous exploits with women. While I understood the connection the author was making, I can’t say I enjoyed those sections at all.
I wish I could have liked this one more. It had promise and such a good start but I felt that it fell a bit short. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t like it and I do hope to read more of the author’s work in the future because I believe she has talent. This is her first novel and she’s received awards for her short stories. But I was ultimately left feeling a bit flat by the end of the story.
This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.
December 18, 2017
I was fortunate enough to receive an advance manuscript of this book, which is to be published next year. This story was very interesting - it's about a young man named Ren Ishida, who's sister has been murdered. He travels to Akakawa, where she lived at the time of her murder, to try to learn more about her and what happened. Although in the beginning, I anticipated this to be a murder mystery, that turned out to be a minor element of the plot. At times, I totally forgot that we were supposed to be trying to figure out who killed Keiko, because I was completely swept up in Ren's world and his grief at the loss of his sister. The writing is lovely and evocative, yet spartan, almost as if the story is a haiku in novel form. Goenawan says no more than she needs to, and yet there were moments that brought me to tears. Ren's grief is reminiscent of June's in 'Tell the Wolves I'm Home,' another story of grief that I loved.
Five stars. Highly recommended.
Five stars. Highly recommended.
July 1, 2020
This book was exactly what I was hoping it would be. (How often can you say that?)
I picked this one not only for the gorgeous cover, but I wanted a slow building murder mystery set in a small town in Japan. The novel opens with Ren Ishida going to Akakawa to pick up his murdered sister's belongings and wrap up her personal affairs. This was a slow burn that made you want to keep reading. I was so immersed in the culture and the conversations between these well drawn characters. I was rooting for Ren to figure everything out, and while there were many strange parts to this one, it all fit together in a way that was satisfying.
If you are up for a hidden gem, this one would be worthwhile. I appreciated the quirkiness and for once a messy plot worked for me.
I picked this one not only for the gorgeous cover, but I wanted a slow building murder mystery set in a small town in Japan. The novel opens with Ren Ishida going to Akakawa to pick up his murdered sister's belongings and wrap up her personal affairs. This was a slow burn that made you want to keep reading. I was so immersed in the culture and the conversations between these well drawn characters. I was rooting for Ren to figure everything out, and while there were many strange parts to this one, it all fit together in a way that was satisfying.
If you are up for a hidden gem, this one would be worthwhile. I appreciated the quirkiness and for once a messy plot worked for me.
April 27, 2018
First of all -- that cover! Sure to be my favorite of the year. The story itself, while not as favored as the cover, was respectable, especially for a debut. I enjoy reading books that take place in Japan. There is an underlying darkness here as in others I have read, a quiet and steady flow to it. Even when the main character finds out who it was that likely murdered his sister, he remains calm and even polite. While he temporarily moves to his sister's town to wrap up her life as it were, he meets most of the people she had contact with and puts together the puzzle of her existence. Strange that he gets offered his sister's job, and takes it, and also is offered to take over her living arrangement with a local politician and his wife, and does that as well. He is a first-time teacher and struggles with some feelings for one of his students, and I thought this was handled very well.
I would have enjoyed this more were it not interrupted repeatedly by reports of the dreams he had. Hearing about characters' dreams always -- always -- turns me off immediately and makes me think of fantasies. Is it just me, or does anyone else feel this way? It detracts from the story's purpose and it's flow, in my opinion. If you need to convey the character's inner struggles, show me any other way but with dreams.
Very thankful to have won the audio CDs from LibraryThing.com. I don't do CDs so I downloaded the audio from Hoopla and it was quite good, and again, a very quiet atmosphere was maintained throughout. 3.5 stars.
I would have enjoyed this more were it not interrupted repeatedly by reports of the dreams he had. Hearing about characters' dreams always -- always -- turns me off immediately and makes me think of fantasies. Is it just me, or does anyone else feel this way? It detracts from the story's purpose and it's flow, in my opinion. If you need to convey the character's inner struggles, show me any other way but with dreams.
Very thankful to have won the audio CDs from LibraryThing.com. I don't do CDs so I downloaded the audio from Hoopla and it was quite good, and again, a very quiet atmosphere was maintained throughout. 3.5 stars.
October 16, 2017
RAINBIRDS is slightly different from my usual cup of tea. I love that I got the chance to read something outside my comfort zone. Plus, it's set in Japan.
The book opens with a murder. Let me tell you, I've been guessing left and right the entire time and still got it wrong. That should say something about the author's brilliant mind. The ending leaves me thirsty for more, definitely thirsty for (more) vengeance. Though the story tends to lean toward the dark, the writing is clean, beautiful, and to the point. Some might find the interactions between the characters rigid - because they are being too formal and too polite with each other - but that's how Japanese people talk.
The book also gives us many interesting side characters. I love the politician and his wife. I love Seven Stars, the school girl with fire in her veins. So much fire that Ren Ishida - the main MC - is swallowed up in nearly every scene they're together.
It's been an interesting read so far. Such a beautiful literary debut about family, love, and loss 👍.
The book opens with a murder. Let me tell you, I've been guessing left and right the entire time and still got it wrong. That should say something about the author's brilliant mind. The ending leaves me thirsty for more, definitely thirsty for (more) vengeance. Though the story tends to lean toward the dark, the writing is clean, beautiful, and to the point. Some might find the interactions between the characters rigid - because they are being too formal and too polite with each other - but that's how Japanese people talk.
The book also gives us many interesting side characters. I love the politician and his wife. I love Seven Stars, the school girl with fire in her veins. So much fire that Ren Ishida - the main MC - is swallowed up in nearly every scene they're together.
It's been an interesting read so far. Such a beautiful literary debut about family, love, and loss 👍.
April 24, 2018
If I could only recommend one spring read to you, it is going to be Clarissa Goenawan's debut novel, Rainbirds. I was no less than 3 chapters in when I knew this book was going to special. It is a touching, atmospheric read that you will become invested in, and rooting for Ren to find out what happened to his sister and her secrets. I made it to the closing page before crying, because it's this thoughtful family mystery with lyrical prose and hints of magical realism that captivates you as a reader. I've been in a bit of a book rut because life has gotten hectic once again and studies take up a majority of my time so I have not had time to read for leisure despite how much I wanted to. So when it came to reading Rainbirds, I would take any amount of time, no matter how little, to read a couple pages-but I found myself losing track of time because I was invested in the story of Ren and Keiko. There is an eerie otherworldly feeling that surrounds the town of Akakawa with its peculiar characters, and I could never figure out some of the characters intentions, which had me second guessing what I thought and Ren's actions while reading this. While it touches on grief and coping, I thought it was handled really well and wasn't a difficult read. This was exceptionally written and concluded beautifully. I cannot wait to read what Clarissa Goenawan publishes next.
November 8, 2018
What a profound read. Filled with the subtle layers of grief, RAINBIRDS hypnotized me. A touch of mystery regarding Keiko's death gave the plot an ending point, but for me, this story is about Ren. His quiet strength and deep love for his sister created made him easy to connect to, and I fell into the sparse, elegant prose. Overall, I took my time with this one and I'm happy I did as RAINBIRDS isn't a book to be rushed.
Big thanks to Clarissa Goenawan for sending me a review copy!
Big thanks to Clarissa Goenawan for sending me a review copy!
February 8, 2024
4.5 Stars
Video Review: https://youtu.be/-6tcNZLQJpg
This was one of the most gripping novels I have read in a long time. From the first page, I was engrossed in the slow burning character driven mystery.
The writing was absolutely lovely and haunting. As someone fascinated by Japanese culture, I really enjoyed reading the smaller details of day to day life.
While this story centers around a murder case, this one is better described as character study. The actual details of the case fell into the background as the story often moved into flashbacks. The relationship between the siblings was so compelling and well drawn. There is no giant twist or climax but instead a slow gripping journey.
I loved reading this novel. I highly recommend it to those who love beautifully drawn characters and relationships.
Video Review: https://youtu.be/-6tcNZLQJpg
This was one of the most gripping novels I have read in a long time. From the first page, I was engrossed in the slow burning character driven mystery.
The writing was absolutely lovely and haunting. As someone fascinated by Japanese culture, I really enjoyed reading the smaller details of day to day life.
While this story centers around a murder case, this one is better described as character study. The actual details of the case fell into the background as the story often moved into flashbacks. The relationship between the siblings was so compelling and well drawn. There is no giant twist or climax but instead a slow gripping journey.
I loved reading this novel. I highly recommend it to those who love beautifully drawn characters and relationships.
April 5, 2018
Ren Ishida, travels from the bustling streets of Tokyo to the tranquil town of Akakawa. His sister has been murdered, stabbed and discarded on the side of the road. As Ren attempts to put her affairs in order, he is slowly drawn into her life. He is offered and accepts her (now) vacant job at the prestigious local cram school teaching English. Working to retrieve her things, he discovers his sister had an unusual living arrangement. She would receive free room and board at the massive mansion of a wealthy local politician in exchange for reading to his mentally damaged wife. Ren agrees to this as well.
Clarissa Goenawan’s Rainbirds follows the unmoored Ishida as he drifts from one interaction to another, not really working to solve the mystery of his sister’s death but still happening upon clues and hints. This is a really sad book—it says a lot about grief, and loss. Ren is the typically emotionally unavailable Japanese man (not taking into account outliers like Haruto “Big Hugs” Nomo from Yokohama who is always searching for an opportunity to enfold his co-worker into Python caliber squeezes. Then of course there is Touma “Weepy Tissues” Suzuki from Hokkaido who cries at the drop of a dime --oh God he’s talking about Becca and Arie from last season’s The Bachelor! Run, for the love of God, RUN!!! And finally, who could forget about Asahi “Hulk-out” Matsui from Nagoya who flies off into a violent rage at the smallest inconvenience. In fact that stapler heading for your head is from Mr. Matsui’s desk-- he just discovered his expense report was denied. Duck!). Ren walls off his feelings like their name is Fortunato and his life is The Cask of Amontillado (look it up, I’ll wait). But behind all the brick and mortar is a lot of hurt and insecurity. Much of it from deep in his past, a past that was soothed only by his now departed big sis.
Rainbirds is a pretty and haunting book that comes at you all reserved and remote which makes you think you have a handle on it. But then, BLAMMO! It wallops you upside the head and squashes your ticker like an embrace from Haruto Nomo. This is a strong debut from author Goenawan, hopefully the first of many great stories to come.
Clarissa Goenawan’s Rainbirds follows the unmoored Ishida as he drifts from one interaction to another, not really working to solve the mystery of his sister’s death but still happening upon clues and hints. This is a really sad book—it says a lot about grief, and loss. Ren is the typically emotionally unavailable Japanese man (not taking into account outliers like Haruto “Big Hugs” Nomo from Yokohama who is always searching for an opportunity to enfold his co-worker into Python caliber squeezes. Then of course there is Touma “Weepy Tissues” Suzuki from Hokkaido who cries at the drop of a dime --oh God he’s talking about Becca and Arie from last season’s The Bachelor! Run, for the love of God, RUN!!! And finally, who could forget about Asahi “Hulk-out” Matsui from Nagoya who flies off into a violent rage at the smallest inconvenience. In fact that stapler heading for your head is from Mr. Matsui’s desk-- he just discovered his expense report was denied. Duck!). Ren walls off his feelings like their name is Fortunato and his life is The Cask of Amontillado (look it up, I’ll wait). But behind all the brick and mortar is a lot of hurt and insecurity. Much of it from deep in his past, a past that was soothed only by his now departed big sis.
Rainbirds is a pretty and haunting book that comes at you all reserved and remote which makes you think you have a handle on it. But then, BLAMMO! It wallops you upside the head and squashes your ticker like an embrace from Haruto Nomo. This is a strong debut from author Goenawan, hopefully the first of many great stories to come.
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