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Monkey Brain Sushi: New Tastes in Japanese Fiction (Japan's Modern Writers)
 
 

Monkey Brain Sushi: New Tastes in Japanese Fiction (Japan's Modern Writers) (Paperback)

by Alfred Birnbaum (Editor) "It was Sunday evening when the TV PEOPLE showed up ..." (more)
3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 312 pages
  • Publisher: Kodansha International Ltd; New edition edition (Sep 1993)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 4770016883
  • ISBN-13: 978-4770016881
  • Product Dimensions: 18.2 x 11.4 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 562,514 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #56 in  Books > Fiction > Short Stories > World > Japanese
  • See Complete Table of Contents

Product Description

Review
..."The authors in this collection tend towards near-zero emotional chill, stunned urbanity, and a shiny kind of violence. But unlike, say, Bret Easton Ellis, they also have wit and something to say about their society." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Philadelphia Inquirer
"One of the most wholly creative collections I've read in quite a while." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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It was Sunday evening when the TV PEOPLE showed up. Read the first page
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Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining selection, but not without its weaknesses, 4 Feb 2002
By L. C. Jones (Oxford, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This rather oddly-titled collection of '80s Japanese fiction drew together some of Japan's bright new things nearly two decades ago and produced a decidedly mixed anthology. The whole book is irreverent, yet quintessentially Japanese, and hence the unusual title. Birnbaum has done his homework here, and the selection of works is good. There is something for everyone here, from shifting gender relations to metaphysical crisis, but not all readers will
appreciate every story. Each of the chosen works is unusual, sometimes quirky, and they are short, and thus digestible, so even the distasteful segments are soon over and done with. Work like that in Monkey Brain Sushi marked the transition between the eventually boring literary obsession with the Atomic Bomb, as seen in classics like Black Rain, and modern works whose theme and styles are much more liberated. Much of the themes are typically 1980s and some of the stories may look slightly dated, but there is plenty that is still relevant - for instance, games like those described in 'Yamada's Diary' now exist, and worries over the techo-obsessions of Japan's youth are still keen. The major weakness of Monkey Brain Sushi's selection is that many of its 'short stories' are in fact sections of longer works, which read far better in context. This should probably provoke the reader into finding a copy of the complete text, which is certainly no bad thing, but the weakness, nevertheless, remains, and this can be a confusing one at times. Nevertheless, this is probably one of the best varied introductions to modern Japanese literature since the shift; for a more comprehensive sweep that takes in both sides of the divide (with more emphasis on the earlier period), the Showa Anthology (Matsumoto & Gessel, eds.) is probably more up your street. Nevertheless, an entertaining read.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars a taster of contempory japanese writing, 5 Jun 2001
By A Customer
I found this book an interesting taster on contempory japanese writting. As in most anthologies some stories are stronger than others but part of that is undoubtadly down to personal taste so on a whole it provides a good starting base for people who either like me only started to read japanese fiction through works like norweigian wood and was intrested to see what other writers are out there or people looking to see what japanese fiction is about. Some of the stories are written purely as short stories and others are extracts of longer works and there is also a manga comic so its well worth reading by any one intrested in japanese fiction or short stories in general.
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