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    Translucent Tree
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    Translucent Tree
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    Translucent Tree
    Ebook202 pages3 hours

    Translucent Tree

    By Nobuko Takagi

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Chigiri Yamazaki is a divorced single mother who has returned to Tsurugi City with her 11 year old daughter to care for her ailing father--a famouse sword maker whose business has completely faltered. It falls upon Chigiri to keep dept collectors at bay.

    Go Imai, a freelance documentary maker, is on a business trip from Tokyo and has decided to stop by this little town of Tsurugi, where he had come to do a story on Chigiri's father 25 years ago. Go reunites with Chigiri, and the two begin a love story of epic consequence and passion reminiscent of the works of Marguerite Duras and Alice Munro, set against the backdrop of bucolic Japan.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherVertical
    Release dateJan 23, 2024
    ISBN9781647293666
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for Translucent Tree

    3.5/5

    15 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Translucent Tree by Nobuko Takagi - I snagged this one through the Early Reviewers offer. I have to say I really enjoyed this one. I've read a few Japanese modern love stories and have been very impressed with them so I was eager to get this book. Like the others I have read, Takagi manages to capture a really nice blend of true romanticism with a very adult view of sensuality and sexuality. In this case, the story revolves around Go and Chigiri -both in their mid to late 40's. They meet again after a brief encounter decades earlier. Though both feel an immediate romantic attraction to each other, their heistancyto show their hearts leads them to say and do things to complicate the true nature of their feelings. The book is very poignant and beautiful. It's a quick read but packs a silent punch
    • 5/5
      “Translucent Tree” by Nobuko Takagi is an absolutely lovely novel, albeit, a slight culture shock if the reader has not had a lot of exposure to Japanese culture. The novel centers on the love affair between Chigiri, a poor divorcée and Go, a news entrepreneur who met Chigiri when working on a story about Chigiri’s father, the local sword maker. Their paths, as implied by the author, were destined to meet, and change both of the worlds. A incredibly enjoyable read, very fast paced. Overall highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Initially, I had difficulty with this book. I am not a fan of the "romance" genre in general (although I'd never scoff at a good love story!), and there were some particular cultural differences that, while I recognized were probably unexceptional in contemporary Japanese fiction, I had a hard time overcoming (In particular--Chigiri as a prostitute???)
      However, as the relationship between Chigiri, the protagonist, and Go, her lover, progressed, the book turned into a moving and, as I have now completed the novel, resonant love story that actually left me in tears at the end. The two meet by happenstance, as she is the daughter of a swordsmith about whom he filmed a documentary something like 20 years earlier. Their relationship progresses in an erotically charged but emotionally reticent display, until they're finally comfortable with admitting the non-erotic aspect of their love. I do say reticent because, while there are feelings of deep passion present, they cloak these inappropriate feelings for middle-aged people in a patina of sex.
      After their relationship flowers, mortality looms closer to the couple--they are both middle-aged, and Chigiri's father has been dying throughout the narrative--transforming what was at first a somewhat subdued romance of convenience into the stuff of memories which last Chigiri her lifetime. As I mentioned, the ending is fairly heartwrenching, but I ended it feeling almost refreshed, rather than bogged down with thoughts of death and aging.
      What makes this novel so special is its very understatedness that frustrated me at the beginning. There are no marriages, no wild declarations of love, no dissolutions of previously formed bonds; it's simply a story of a convincing, mature relationship which ends, despite its sort of fumbling beginnings, with deep love, respect, and eroticism. If I read more romances like this, well...you could sign me up as a fan :)