In the box is an expression Mum and I use when we’re talking about something that’s in the past. We begin in 1997, in the small coastal town of Takahagi, where the nine-year-old Soko is busy settling into yet another elementary school, a familiar experience for a girl used to moving around: God’s Boat (translated by Chikako Kobayashi) is a story told by two women, Yoko and her daughter Soko, with alternating takes on their lives. It’s a worthwhile trip for the reader – I’m not quite as sure that it’s good for the protagonists, though… We’re off on a journey, moving from town to town, not looking for anything but hoping to be found. Kaori Ekuni hasn’t really had much of her work appear in English as yet (just two full novels from different small presses), but on the basis of today’s choice, she deserves much better. Let’s leave the eighties behind now and move on to 1999, with another short novel by an excellent writer.
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