Review
'[Yuji] is a character so well realised as to engage all of our sympathies' (Peter Carty, Independent )
'A revelatory perspective on an Eastern city in the second world war . . .The prose is as delicate as a Japanese print' (David Grylls, Sunday Times )
'Not only does he combine delicious literary conceits with thought-provoking explorations into the human condition, he has the rare gift of tossing out perfect sentences that make you stop in your tracks' (Claire Allfree, Metro )
'Miller's delicate prose most closely recalls the tone of emotional restraint in Kazuo Ishiguro's early novels . . . Crisply defined characters offer a foil to Yuji's progressive ruminations, which Miller deftly coheres into a typically bittersweet resolution.' (James Urquhart, Independent on Sunday )
'The frank simplicity of Miller's prose, and his search for truth in the reality of the quotidian feels (to this Western reader) convincingly Japanese. Miller places his words and plot developments carefully, like the smooth grey pebbles of a Zen garden, with all but the most essential adjectives weathered away. There are moments of beauty, truth and irony.' (Helen Brown, Daily Telegraph )
'Deeply moving, written with loving attention to language, it felt like Pasternak back from the dead.' (Tom Adair, Scotsman )
'Detail by delicate detail Miller conjures Yuji's dim, mysterious world of gradual dissolution." (Natalie Sandison, The Times )
'Miller's Japanese characters are densely believable, and his recreation of their world is a real achievement' (Christopher Tayler, Guardian )
'Miller's writing is cinematic; it has a heightened visual sense and it shifts smoothly from dialogue to mood to location. At all times the author is in command' (TLS )
'A quite beautifully written coming-of-age novel with a completely convincing Japanese hero and a precisely, lovingly rendered evocation of imperial Japan' (Harry Ritchie, Daily Mail )
'A revelatory perspective on an Eastern city in the second world war . . .The prose is as delicate as a Japanese print' (David Grylls, Sunday Times )
'Not only does he combine delicious literary conceits with thought-provoking explorations into the human condition, he has the rare gift of tossing out perfect sentences that make you stop in your tracks' (Claire Allfree, Metro )
'Miller's delicate prose most closely recalls the tone of emotional restraint in Kazuo Ishiguro's early novels . . . Crisply defined characters offer a foil to Yuji's progressive ruminations, which Miller deftly coheres into a typically bittersweet resolution.' (James Urquhart, Independent on Sunday )
'The frank simplicity of Miller's prose, and his search for truth in the reality of the quotidian feels (to this Western reader) convincingly Japanese. Miller places his words and plot developments carefully, like the smooth grey pebbles of a Zen garden, with all but the most essential adjectives weathered away. There are moments of beauty, truth and irony.' (Helen Brown, Daily Telegraph )
'Deeply moving, written with loving attention to language, it felt like Pasternak back from the dead.' (Tom Adair, Scotsman )
'Detail by delicate detail Miller conjures Yuji's dim, mysterious world of gradual dissolution." (Natalie Sandison, The Times )
'Miller's Japanese characters are densely believable, and his recreation of their world is a real achievement' (Christopher Tayler, Guardian )
'Miller's writing is cinematic; it has a heightened visual sense and it shifts smoothly from dialogue to mood to location. At all times the author is in command' (TLS )
'A quite beautifully written coming-of-age novel with a completely convincing Japanese hero and a precisely, lovingly rendered evocation of imperial Japan' (Harry Ritchie, Daily Mail )
Review
'Miller's delicate prose most closely recalls the tone of emotional restraint in Kazuo Ishiguro's early novels . . . Crisply defined characters offer a foil to Yuji's progressive ruminations, which Miller deftly coheres into a typically bittersweet resolution.' (James Urquhart, Independent on Sunday )
'Miller's Japanese characters are densely believable, and his recreation of their world is a real achievement' (Christopher Tayler, Guardian )
'The frank simplicity of Miller's prose, and his search for truth in the reality of the quotidian feels (to this Western reader) convincingly Japanese. Miller places his words and plot developments carefully, like the smooth grey pebbles of a Zen garden, with all but the most essential adjectives weathered away. There are moments of beauty, truth and irony.' (Helen Brown, Daily Telegraph )
'Detail by delicate detail Miller conjures Yuji's dim, mysterious world of gradual dissolution." (Natalie Sandison, The Times )
'Not only does he combine delicious literary conceits with thought-provoking explorations into the human condition, he has the rare gift of tossing out perfect sentences that make you stop in your tracks' (Claire Allfree, Metro )
'beneath the smoothly civilised surface of this novel, catastrophe and violence are always simmering' ( Sunday Times )
'Miller's Japanese characters are densely believable, and his recreation of their world is a real achievement' (Christopher Tayler, Guardian )
'The frank simplicity of Miller's prose, and his search for truth in the reality of the quotidian feels (to this Western reader) convincingly Japanese. Miller places his words and plot developments carefully, like the smooth grey pebbles of a Zen garden, with all but the most essential adjectives weathered away. There are moments of beauty, truth and irony.' (Helen Brown, Daily Telegraph )
'Detail by delicate detail Miller conjures Yuji's dim, mysterious world of gradual dissolution." (Natalie Sandison, The Times )
'Not only does he combine delicious literary conceits with thought-provoking explorations into the human condition, he has the rare gift of tossing out perfect sentences that make you stop in your tracks' (Claire Allfree, Metro )
'beneath the smoothly civilised surface of this novel, catastrophe and violence are always simmering' ( Sunday Times )
