Finished reading Kawakami's book 'The Teacher’s Briefcase' (in dutch 'De tas van de leraar'). Never read a japanese novel before but if this is representative for japanese literature I'm interested. Lovely and slowly moving book. Slowly as a river is fed by water in the yearly seasons. 37-year-old office worker Tsukiko mets her former highschool teacher ('sensei' in japanese) in a pub. Sensei tells Tsukiko that he had seen her a few times before. She had not seen him.
Slowly. Very slowly they fall in love. Mostly meeting by accident. They let time pass by in bars and restaurants. Sometimes eating alone. Mostly eating together. Watch people. Silence. Lots of silence. After a while she realises she is in love with Sensei. She tells him. He doesn't really respond - as readers we don't know why. She falls asleep in his arms. Tired. Very tired.
Distance. Tsukiko takes care that they don't meet by accident for months. One night she enters their favourite pub/ restaurant again, finding out that Sensei is sick. She goes to his home telling "nothing". He is "silent" as well. After a couple of days (weeks?) Sensei calls on the phone. They agree to meet again. They meet. Sensei proposes to have a "real love relation". Tsukiko agrees. After quite some time - Sensei is hesitating because he hadn't made love for a long time - they make love. Finally.
P.s. I wrote about this book before. Interested? Read this.
P.s.s. Bookreview by Janet Ashby.
Slowly. Very slowly they fall in love. Mostly meeting by accident. They let time pass by in bars and restaurants. Sometimes eating alone. Mostly eating together. Watch people. Silence. Lots of silence. After a while she realises she is in love with Sensei. She tells him. He doesn't really respond - as readers we don't know why. She falls asleep in his arms. Tired. Very tired.
Distance. Tsukiko takes care that they don't meet by accident for months. One night she enters their favourite pub/ restaurant again, finding out that Sensei is sick. She goes to his home telling "nothing". He is "silent" as well. After a couple of days (weeks?) Sensei calls on the phone. They agree to meet again. They meet. Sensei proposes to have a "real love relation". Tsukiko agrees. After quite some time - Sensei is hesitating because he hadn't made love for a long time - they make love. Finally.
P.s. I wrote about this book before. Interested? Read this.
P.s.s. Bookreview by Janet Ashby.
It sounds interesting. I don't know Japanese literature either but I read Murakami's "Kafka on the shore". It's a great book ! You should read it.
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