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One Morning Like a Bird
 
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One Morning Like a Bird (Hardcover)

by Andrew Miller (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
RRP: £16.99
Price: £11.39 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 373 pages
  • Publisher: Sceptre (4 Sep 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0340825146
  • ISBN-13: 978-0340825143
  • Product Dimensions: 22 x 14.2 x 3.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 360,986 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #6 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > M > Miller, Andrew

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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 )


Product Description

1940. Tokyo. Japan is at war with China, and Yuji Takano is clinging to the life he has made for himself as a young poet - the company of his friends, the monthly meetings of the French Club at Monsieur Feneon's house, the days of writing and contemplation made possible by an allowance from his father, a professor at Tokyo's elite Imperial university... But the world is closing in on Yuji. His father is disgraced, the allowance is scrapped, and the threat of conscription is coming ever closer. And then there is Monsieur Feneon's nineteen-year-old daughter Alissa, a girl with her own very definite ideas of what she wants, and whose fate becomes inextricably bound up with Yuji's.

In hauntingly evocative prose, Andrew Miller tells a timeless story about growing up and growing free of self-delusions, about following the heart and making the right choices in life. Vividly conveying its setting, he also draws a fascinating portrait of a bygone Tokyo and of Japan at a critical juncture in its history. (20081019)
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4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars From the little known world of 1940s Tokyo, 2 Feb 2009
By A Common Reader "Committed to reading" (Sussex, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)      
Andrew Miller has created a memorable interpretation of life in Japan as the encroaching climate of World War II changed the lives of his characters forever.

The story is focused on Yuji Tanako, a young man who has been fortunate enough to live on an allowance provided by his father, an eminent professor at the elite Imperial University in Tokyo. However, Yuji's father loses his tenure over mildly critical comments against the Emperor, and as the story opens, Yuji's allowance is scrapped.

Yuji has started to make a living as a writer, having published Electric Dragonfly, a book of poetry (in a nice touch, we see Yuji going round second hand book stalls to seek out his book and place it at the top of the pile). He works occasionally as a hack writer providing commercially-sponsored articles for magazines and newspapers. He also is a member of a literary circle led by a Frenchman, Monsieur Feneon, whose 19 year old daughter, Alissa, exerts her own charms on Yuji at a later stage of the book.

A main theme of the book is the gradual encroachment of the war on Yuji's life. Young men he knows have already been conscripted, and he has only avoided it because of a congenital chest problem which for now has disqualified him (as time progresses, the front-line demands more and more previously exempted men despite their medical problems which are not after all such a great concern).

Yuji has a rich inner life, and it is interesting to see where the author has populated his thoughts with a Japanese flavour, seemingly at odds with some of the European ideals found in the books which Yuji so admires. For example, the Japanese suspicion of the "foreign" has a tragic outcome when Alissa breaks in on Yuji's life: although he is able to achieve some adaptation to the idea of intimacy with a foreign woman, his Japanese sense of abhorrence at such relationships is never far beneath the surface.

The book is written in a sparse, almost Zen-like style. Some chapters are less than a page long and are word-pictures of short episodes. Andrew Miller has lived in Tokyo and describes himself as a "a haphazard Japanophile". Amazon has published some author's comments on the work, and it is evident that Miller went to great pains to get into the skin of the young Japanese poet. The "voice" of the book is convincingly Japanese and this is perhaps partly explained by Miller's willingness to seek advice where needed on all things Japanese.

In summary, the theme of the gradual dissolution of the artisitic life under the increasingly militaristic conditions of the early 1940s is worked out well in this fine and unusual novel. I am encouraged me to seek out this writer's earlier works.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Not quite as good as Ingenious Pain, but still worth reading, 24 Aug 2009
This review is from: One Morning Like a Bird (Paperback)
Ingenious Pain is one of my favourite books, so when I spotted that Andrew Miller had written a book set in Japan, a country I love reading about, I was very excited.

The book is set in Tokyo during WWII and focuses on Yuri, a young man who is unable to fight due to ill-health. He becomes friends with a French trader and his family, but as the war progresses this friendship causes him to have to make some difficult decisions.

As with all books written by Andrew Miller the writing is very good - it is simple, but effective. The book is well researched and explains the lives of the Japanese during the war well. My only criticism would be that it lacks the Japanese atmosphere that I love to read about - I can't picture the sights, sounds and smells of 1940s Japan - this is a minor problem though. The characters are all well developed and believable, and the plot, although not having a fast pace, is engaging.

The lives of Japanese civilians during WWII isn't something I've read about before, so seeing things through their eyes gives a whole new layer to the European war stories we are so used to reading.

I admire Andrew Miller for branching out into a new area and being able to create such a diverse range of books. I will continue to keep an eye out for his new releases and this book will ensure he keeps his place on my list of favourite authors.

Recommended.
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5.0 out of 5 stars A brillliant writer back on form, 28 May 2009
By expatina (Umbria & Berlin) - See all my reviews
Because I loved his other books, I was disappointed not to like The Optimists, and when I started reading this novel, I was afraid it, too, might disappoint. However, once I got used to its Japanese pacing, I found myself looking forward each day to reading more. By the last quarter of the book, I was staying up far too late, captured by the story and by the struggles, internal and external, of the young protagonist. This is a masterful effort by a great storyteller with a beautiful grasp of language who is never afraid to try something new. I highly recommend it, along with Oxygen and Ingenious Pain.
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