Yair’s Reviews > A Personal Matter > Status Update

'“Don’t let me keep you waiting.” The most appealing doctor Bird had encountered in this hospital laid bare the disgust he felt for him.'

-Oe, Kenzaburo. A Personal Matter (pg. 192)

"At this hottest hour of the day, he was the only man in the city on the run."

-Oe, Kenzaburo. A Personal Matter (pg. 182)

"NEXT morning, Bird drove Himiko’s car to school. Parked in the schoolyard full of students, the scarlet MG smelled vaguely of scandal, something that didn’t worry Bird until he had put the keys into his pocket. He sensed that lacunas had formed in each of the pleats of his consciousness since the trouble with the baby had begun."

-Oe, Kenzaburo. A Personal Matter (pg. 147)

"Everyone had been beaten senseless by the summer that had consumed the city prematurely."

-Oe, Kenzaburo. A Personal Matter (pg. 112)

"Bird knew he had discovered the ideal spot for beginning a bottle of Johnnie Walker in the middle of the day. Feeling as though he had entered just one more plus on the psychological balance sheet for the day, he walked back to the front of the house."

-Oe, Kenzaburo. A Personal Matter (pg. 59)

"Like Apollinaire, my son was wounded on a dark and lonely battlefield that I have never seen, and he has arrived with his head in bandages. I’ll have to bury him like a soldier who died at war.

Bird continued to cry."

-Oe, Kenzaburo. A Personal Matter. (pg. 44)

"Bird felt a surge of affection for the young man masquerading as a large woman. Would he succeed in turning up a pervert tonight and making him a pigeon? Maybe I should have found the courage to go with him myself."

-Oe, Kenzaburo. A Personal Matter (pg. 16)