Стоиеновая певичка, или Райский ангел

by Naomi Suenaga, Наоми Суэнага, Татьяна Редько-Добровольская (Translator)

Роман "Стоиеновая певичка, или Райский ангел" (1997) принадлежит перу популярной японской писательницы Наоми Суэнага, дебютировавшей на литературном поприще в 1996 году и сразу же снискавшей признание как у читательской публики, так и у критики.
В центре повествования – начинающая певица по имени Ринка Кадзуки, талантливая исполнительница песен традиционного жанра "энка".
Книга написана в живой, остроумной манере. Выведенные в ней персонажи психологически достоверны и узнаваемы.
Перевод с японского Татьяны Редько-Добровольской.

Genres: Japan, Japanese Literature, Fiction

352 pages, Hardcover

First published October 20, 1997

About the author

Naomi Suenaga published her first novel in 1996 after a varied career that included spells as a cartoonist's secretary, a bar hostess, and an enka singer. Titled Bara no onigokko (Roses Playing Tag), the work won the Rennyo Award and was followed by several more novels, including Ukarezakura (Floating Cherry Blossom), Apuruapurike, and Bonno haitatsunin (The Troubled Delivery Man). Suenaga has won a large following for her on-target depictions of human nature and her ability to create appealing, lifelike characters.

Reviews

[meltem · Rating 4 out of 5]

p81
Regrets? I had too few to mention. I chuckled. It reminded me of the day I fell in the pond. I swallowed an awful lot of water. I was struggling. When my feet touched the bottom, they slipped on the slimy weed. But what's wrong with getting slimy? And what's wrong with swallowing gallons of water? I might slip and slide, I might ship lots of water, but I wouldn't die. Or even if by some remote chance my body were to die, that would still be better than if my spirit died. The electric current of desire to sing was running through me, and the breaker switch was broken.

[heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

i love the disregard of any attempt at character development

[Joy Ramlogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Curious story of Rinka, an enka singer who travels around Japan, singing at spas, bars and holiday resorts. This novel chronicles a year in her life, living with Daiki (a guy who has left his wife for Rinka). What struck me was how her job as a singer was closely aligned to the seasons with her various outfits and the experiences. It is the life of a travelling singer without any aim save to sing and to make a living. Her cohort of Ken, his girlfriend Kaho and David are all bizarre in their own ways. While Rinka appears to be feisty and single minded in her choice to scrape a living as an enka singer, she doubts herself and tries to pursue fame with a recording contract. This choice of making it big, leads to a break up with her boyfriend and ironically when she chooses not to pursue the recording contract, she finds out that the impressario is a fraudulent trickster. The characters are larger than life and strange to me. Very weird world of entertainment at the lowest level.

[Lyssays · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay. It’s the story of Rinka, a singer of traditional Japanese Enka songs. She isn’t very successful, performing at cheap bars and health spas (hot spring resorts?), but she likes what she
does. The novel takes us through one meandering year of her life as she journeys from gig to gig, questioning how long her current life can go on and what she wants from it. It’s subtle rather than action-packed, a story of self-acceptance rather than any great drama. I kept waiting for something more to happen, but it didn’t really. It’s a quiet read, but not a bad one, and full props to the translator for making the text so natural-sounding.

[Veronika KaoruSaionji · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great! One of best works of Japanese literature for me.
Clever, humorous, witty story told by main heroine Rinka Kazuki, 34 years old cheap (not very famous) singer of traditional ballads enka in spas, cabarets, restaurants and so on. She lives in small flat with her (rather well situated) boyfriend who is married but doesn´t love her wife (but pays her as he would live her, he hids Rinka from her and he hates only to think about his divorce, maybe because his children). He loves Rinka, but he hates her singing. And she loves him, but hates to end her singing because him or to marry him (after his divorce) because this would be end of her singing, too (no good Japanese married woman can do her work, she must gives herself to her family - and singing is totally forbidden!). Also she stubbornly continues in her singing.
Book is about circa one year of her life, from winter till next winter, with changings seasons and because it about changing her singing, too (enka songs are very tied with seasons - in spring with flowering sakuras, in autum with red leaves and festivals of viewing to full moon and so on). At last she can become famous singer, but her boyfriend leaves her because it. She bitterly weeps (I feels so sorry for her - I understand her very much!) and than she abandons her drams about fame because her love for him - and he returns to her (into their happy unmarried co-living). And he allows her to sing in her cheap spas, cabarets and so on, what is not so good (famous) and because it disturbing for him. :o) And she is O.K. with it. She wants to live with her beloved one (never mind that he is no ideal man) and she wants to sing - with fame or not, it is really so important?
This is true picture of life of real modern Japanese woman. Not so ideal and easy life as in Murakami´s books. :o) Rinka is very clever and independent, she can witty think about all aspects of her life, but she wisely reminds sillent because she knows price of her "insolent" speaking to men - and when she tells them something too freely, she gets immediately her punishment... But she is strong as grass, she everytime stands up again and again. Or she is so strong as water - she allways finds somewhere her way in rocks. :o) I really love this heroine!
Naomi Suenaga is former enka singer, also she knows all about singing enka songs. And she is very good writer. I am so glad that I could read this book!

[Illa P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Може ли някой да отрече, че чалгата е част от популярната култура на нашето общество? Колкото и да се гнусим от нея, тя е реалност, с която се сблъскваме на най-невероятни места. „Елате, да чуете японска чалга“, казах. „Това не е чалга – възразиха ми. – Това са стари градски песни“. Да, приех възражението. В енка няма пошлост, само театрална приповдигнатост, която ми идва леко вповече. При това енка е демоде, слушат я само пенсионерите по санаториумите – поне така излиза от романа на Наоми Суенага „Певица за сто йени или Ангел от рая“.

Главната героиня Ринка Казуки е на 32 г., но сценичната й възраст непрекъснато спада – отначало, за пред публиката, е на 26, после – на 24, а в края – на 22. Ринка е добър човек, но не е наивна. Това й помага да оцелее в коварния свят на шоу-бизнеса. Мечтае за слава, но не на всяка цена. Когато описва песента на композитор, оценил таланта й и обещал да организира телевизионния й дебют, тя казва:

„Както и предишната му творба, тя [песента:] беше възхитително безискусна. По принцип, възрастен човек не е способен да създаде нещо толкова просто и ясно. Пък точно тази простота и ясност могат да пронижат душата открай докрай и да предизвикат такова вълнение, че да се превърнат в нещо повече от обикновена непосредственост. Това качество може да се назове само с една дума – „чистота“. Чистота, граничеща с наивност“.

Ето, такава е Ринка – отдадена на нещата, които обича, толкова безискусна и ясна в отношенията си, че я мислят за наивна. Ринка е поставена пред избор – любимия (женен за друга) или така мечтания дебют. Със здравия си разум Ринка взема правилното решение – избира любимия. Изборът й е правилен не за друго, а защото се оказва, че талантливият композитор е изпечен мошеник. Инстинктът на Ринка й подсказва как да избегне фалшиви изкушения.

Чик-лит. Разбира се. Първата книга от този жанр, която съм прочела.

Забавна е. Какво друго да кажа?

[Chris Cabrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really cool, little novel that I think a lot of people might overlook.

There is a lot of wit and clever humor here as the author takes us through Rinka's life as a "hundred-yen singer", singing at hot spring resorts for vacationing customers all over Japan, lugging around a trunk full of her outfits and makeup.
The characters are all really well done here. Admittingly, I'm not very keen on character development and things like that but I really enjoyed the way the author crafted each character as being so incredibly unique yet believable. Rinka especially is fantastic in how she has her good and bad sides, both which are not masked at all by her character which gives her a lot to relate with.

I know a thing or two about Japanese music, too, so getting deep in the underground of these kinds of musicians gave me more insight into another facet of the Japanese music scene. I could also relate some of the characters sentiments about the profession to what I already know about hard-working underground groups trying to make as much noise as possible to get recognized. The author really knows what she's talking about.

Great read on the often overlooked world of the hundred yen singers and told in a way that will make you laugh more times than not. Enjoyed this one a lot.

[Alexianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a relatively interesting book about this 30yrs old Japanese girl who is a professional singer of Enka - traditional songs in Japanese culture and her journey of trying to hit it big and how in the end she is forced to choose about where her life in general is going. The book takes you to a journey across Japan and the life of these 'hundred-yen singers' verging between the amateur and the professional.
It makes overall an interesting read even if the author at times gets lost in useless details or anecdotes that do nothing to the main plot, except for maybe add some more pages to the reading.

[Kiku · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book...though I wonder how much of that is because I not only like music, but I also live in Saitama, the places in which get multiple mentions. It's kind of cool reading a book that's full of places you've actually been!

[Sora Miura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love it.