夕映え天使

by Jirō Asada

東京の片隅で、中年店主が老いた父親を抱えながらほそぼそとやっている中華料理屋「昭和軒」。そこへ、住み込みで働きたいと、わけありげな女性があらわれ……「夕映え天使」。定年を目前に控え、三陸へひとり旅に出た警官。漁師町で寒さしのぎと喫茶店へ入るが、目の前で珈琲を淹れている男は、交番の手配書で見慣れたあの……「琥珀」。人生の喜怒哀楽が、心に沁みいる六篇。

Tankobon Hardcover

First published July 1, 2011

About the author

Jirō Asada (浅田 次郎, born December 13, 1951 in Tokyo) is the pen name of Kōjirō Iwato (岩戸 康次郎), a Japanese writer.

Inspired by Yukio Mishima, who tried to stage a coup d'état among Japan Self-Defense Forces then committed suicide after the coup was failed, Asada enlisted in the SDF after finishing his studies. He changed jobs many times while endeavoring to find writing opportunities, submitting his works to literary competitions.

In 1991, his novel Torarete tamaruka! (とられてたまるか!) started his literary career. After writing several picaresque novels, his novel Metro ni notte (地下鉄に乗って) was awarded the Eiji Yoshikawa Prize for New Writers and made into a 2006 film; a short story collection The Stationmaster and other stories (Poppoya (鉄道員)) was also awarded the Naoki Prize.

He writes not only standard fiction and picaresque novels, but also writes historical and Chinese historical novels such as The Firmament of the Pleiades (Sōkyū no subaru, 蒼穹の昴).

Reviews

[Luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

あらゆる人の人生のハイライトをスパッと横から盗み見ている感じ。誰しも他人との出会いが自分の人生に与える影響は大きい。この本を読むと、職場、家族、ご飯屋さん、いつも乗る電車といったいつもの風景、日々が特別に感じる。「丘の上の白い上」が私のお気に入り。どうしてこの人とこの人がこういう運命になるんだろうと考えさせれる。でも、そういうことの連鎖が結局は人生だなーと。