A Boy Called H

Fülszöveg

He might easily have been a perfectly ordinary schoolboy
If, say, he hadn't happened to be born in Japan just when that country was embarking on the militaristic course that would lead to its ruin before he was out of his teens If his family hadn't been just out-of-the-ordinary enough to make him a nonconformist in an overwhelmingly conformist society And if, above all, he hadn't had a precociously inquiring mind that would never be fobbed off with an easy answer
But he was, and he had—and the final result is this personal account of his boyhood, a story so readable and so full of resonances subtly linking past and present that it became a runaway best-seller in Japan and other parts of Asia.
The episodes he describes in fifty short chapters range from humorous scenes of domestic life to the pathetic suicide of an army deserter; from an affectionate picture of country life to the horror of the fire bombs; from the naive celebrations of early victories to the frank... Tovább

Fülszöveg

He might easily have been a perfectly ordinary schoolboy
If, say, he hadn't happened to be born in Japan just when that country was embarking on the militaristic course that would lead to its ruin before he was out of his teens If his family hadn't been just out-of-the-ordinary enough to make him a nonconformist in an overwhelmingly conformist society And if, above all, he hadn't had a precociously inquiring mind that would never be fobbed off with an easy answer
But he was, and he had—and the final result is this personal account of his boyhood, a story so readable and so full of resonances subtly linking past and present that it became a runaway best-seller in Japan and other parts of Asia.
The episodes he describes in fifty short chapters range from humorous scenes of domestic life to the pathetic suicide of an army deserter; from an affectionate picture of country life to the horror of the fire bombs; from the naive celebrations of early victories to the frank bitterness of a war widow; from shock and relief at the Emperor's speech ending the war to the first encounters with the occupation forces; from the author's boyish exploits to the crisis of approaching adulthood that nearly ends his life.
The final effect is of a mosaic. The pieces are multicolored, but they come together to form, not one, but two pictures—of the development under extraordinary conditions of a boy who isn't especially virtuous or charitable and may at times be annoy-ingly overconfident, but who is basically likable and sensitive; and of a particular nation rushing half-blind into a great conflict that could only end in tragedy.
A rich, immediately accessible, eminently enjoyable double portrait that sheds new light on a turbulent period in history, A Boy Called H surely deserves a similar success in the West as well.
Over 2 million copies sold in Japan! Vissza