Tokyo Cancelled
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Review
‘Only the most gifted writers, like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Jonathan Safran-Foer, can hold the surreal and the real in satisfying equilibrium. This elite now welcomes Rana Dasgupta to its ranks. He makes magic realism his own, and his debut novel is superb. The novel's momentum comes from the narrators, though the plot in which they come together is deceptively mundane: their plane is grounded and they tell stories to pass the night. But this is just the structural glue for a series of spellbinding tales composed in a crisp but poetic prose which already has the hallmarks of a signature style. Dasgupta's gift for inventing stories is quite remarkable: you feel he could go on forever and never get boring. Tokyo Cancelled is profound, but in the humblest and most sensitive way. A treat.’ Andrew Staffell, Time Out 'Book of the Week'
‘Executed with elegance and charm’ The Guardian
‘This is a very bold, very striking book. In an age when so many first fictions are thinly veiled autobiography, and every other creative writing tutor is peddling the 'Write what you know' mantra, it is exceptionally refreshing to read a writer who is daring to imagine, rather than transcribe. Tokyo Cancelled is an unforgettable book, with its own peculiar charms. I shall be fascinated to see what happens next.’ Stuart Kelly, The Scotsman
TLS
‘Thirteen stories ... marvels of fabulation, visions and voices, rich in startling insights.’
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
THERE WAS CHAOS. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
THERE WAS CHAOS. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Rana Dasgupta's first book is a collection of stories, very loosely held together by the conceit that they are being told by a group of passengers stranded for the night in a Tokyo airport. Dasgupta says the concept was inspired by The Cantebury Tales (the comparison is somewhat stretched) and this gives an idea of the level of his ambition.
Unfortunately, he is often over-ambitious, to the point of over-stretching himself. A warning sign comes on p. 1 when the word 'eschatalogical' is used in a context that indicates the author does not know what it means. Capital letters are inserted, apparently at random, (eg: "People were Taking Stock." p. 4) with no obvious function other than to convey to the reader that Dasgupta wishes to push the boundaries of form -- but to what end?
Things do pick up, and some of the stories are reasonably good yarns. But on the whole I felt that the stories themselves, like the writing style, were frequently overblown. They are self-contained sketches that try to convey a profound idea in the space of 20 or 30 pages. That's not easy, and Dasgupta simply is not up to the task. That is not to say that his writing is bad, and he may produce good fiction in the future, but with this first effort I feel he has overshot.
Unfortunately, he is often over-ambitious, to the point of over-stretching himself. A warning sign comes on p. 1 when the word 'eschatalogical' is used in a context that indicates the author does not know what it means. Capital letters are inserted, apparently at random, (eg: "People were Taking Stock." p. 4) with no obvious function other than to convey to the reader that Dasgupta wishes to push the boundaries of form -- but to what end?
Things do pick up, and some of the stories are reasonably good yarns. But on the whole I felt that the stories themselves, like the writing style, were frequently overblown. They are self-contained sketches that try to convey a profound idea in the space of 20 or 30 pages. That's not easy, and Dasgupta simply is not up to the task. That is not to say that his writing is bad, and he may produce good fiction in the future, but with this first effort I feel he has overshot.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
This is not a novel in the traditional sense. Nor is it a collection of short stories by a single author. It falls between the two approaches. The focus of the book, without detailing the plot (illusory as it is), centres on passengers delayed under rather improbable and surreal circumstances at an airport. Each of the passengers has a story they tell. Some stories are compelling, some less so. As a collection I found the book well worth reading and would seek out the author again. I'm not a fan of short stories but I liked this intertwined set of tales.
I'd recommend the book for the slightly adventurous reader.
I'd recommend the book for the slightly adventurous reader.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
After reading mixed reviews of "Tokyo Cancelled" I was apprehensive and unsure of what to expect from this book. If I had come to read it expecting a novel about Tokyo or even the interactions between stranded strangers I would have been disappointed when in fact it is a collection of short stories.
These stories have been described as modern fairytales and I would tend to agree. Each of the thirteen short stories are rooted in real life but have elements of magic and fantasy interweaved. Each story is carefully crafted with dark elements embedded into a folk tale structure. Rana Dasgupta is certainly an accomplished story teller.
However, I feel the links to the Tokyo airport are tenuous and I believe that it would have been marketed better as what it is - a book of short stories.
These stories have been described as modern fairytales and I would tend to agree. Each of the thirteen short stories are rooted in real life but have elements of magic and fantasy interweaved. Each story is carefully crafted with dark elements embedded into a folk tale structure. Rana Dasgupta is certainly an accomplished story teller.
However, I feel the links to the Tokyo airport are tenuous and I believe that it would have been marketed better as what it is - a book of short stories.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good idea, rather badly executed
As the elebenty million reviews before mine have stated, 'Tokyo Cancelled' is not so much a novel in the conventional sense, as a collection of short stories (with some tenuous... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Melanie Pratt
Imaginative twist on a fine old idea
Tokyo Cancelled is based on an intriguing premise - thirteen people are stranded at an airport somewhere (in Asia, I presume) waiting for a connecting flight to snowbound Tokyo,... Read more
Published on 26 Sep 2009 by A. J. Cull
If only it had been
Let me warn you now that I'm going to pay back the infliction of long-hauling through Tokyo Cancelled and relieve myself by invecting all over this sorry waste of finite time,... Read more
Published on 3 Sep 2009 by the antiquary
Rana Dasgupta is now on my 'Read this' list
The basic format of this book is a collection of short stories a collection of stranded passengers tell each other to pass the night. Read more
Published on 30 Aug 2009 by Clive Carter
A magic realism short story collection
Tokyo Cancelled is not a novel. It is not even a 'frame' story (stories within a main story, like One Thousand & One Nights, The Decameron or Canterbury Tales, or on a more... Read more
Published on 23 Aug 2009 by Paul Pinn
Not Canterbury Tales, but not bad either
It's obvious from the outset that this book aims to be a modern Canterbury Tales. In that respect it fails. It's neither clever nor inter-woven enough to do the original justice. Read more
Published on 10 Aug 2009 by Paul B
Ok
I loved the idea for this one - a delayed flight leading to a group of passengers stranded in the terminal overnight telling each other stories. Read more
Published on 20 July 2009 by M. D. Hart
Not for me.
Thisbook did not engage me at all. I found none of the characters interesting, or any of the stories worth delving into. Read more
Published on 20 July 2009 by Rosslock
A good premise, but too whimsical for some tastes
The premise of this book is an excellent one: passengers stranded in an airport begin to talk to each other and swap stories. Read more
Published on 26 Jun 2009 by littlepig littlepig
Diverse and and Thought Provoking
This selection of 13 short stories have the feel of modern, but sometimes grotesque fairytales that lingers in you mind long after you read the book. Read more
Published on 25 Jun 2009 by Bumbobe
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